What is RF Agile Transceiver | RF Agile Transceiver Manufacturers

This page mentions RF Agile Transceiver basics. It mentions list of RF Agile Transceiver Manufacturers or vendors in table format.

What is RF Agile Transceiver ?

The transceiver which houses RF front end along with configurable digital interface to processor/FPGA and flexible baseband is known as RF agile transceiver. This transceiver takes care of CFR (Crest Factor Reduction) and DPD (Digital Predistortion) to meet PAPR (Peak to Average Power Ratio) requirement of RF system. "RF Agile Transceiver" term is used by Analog Devices Inc. as trade mark for their transceivers designed for 3G, 4G and 5G applications.

The RF Agile transceiver supports tunable channel bandwidth and centre frequency over wide range. It contains integrated ADCs/DACs, synthesizers, LNA, PA, duplex filter etc. It is located between digital baseband section (FPGA/DSP) and RF antenna. It can easily be interfaced with digital baseband I/Q streams.

RF Agile Transceiver

The figure depicts typical components in an RF agile transceiver IC. For illustration purpose, single input and single output chain have been used in the figure. As shown there are two major sections in a transceiver viz. transmit chain and receive chain. The term "transceiver" has been derived from "transmitter" and "receiver". Transmitter part converts baseband input to analog RF output where as receiver part converts analog RF input to digital data output. The transmit chain consists of IQ interface from baseband output, interpolation filters, DACs (Digital to Analog Converters), Digital Low pass filters, RF mixers, analog filters, Power amplifier (PA), RF attenuators etc. The receive chain consists of LNA, RF mixers, I/Q amplifiers, Low pass filters, ADCs, Band shaping filters etc. This receive chain also takes care of AGC (Automatic Gain Control), DC offset correction, Quadrature correction etc. Refer I/Q imbalance compensation >> and Automatic Gain Control >>.

Antenna radio switching is controlled using GPIO pins. The RF agile transceiver can usually be communicated from processor using SPI interface. It supports digital interface using CMOS/LVDS specifications. It takes reference clock from external crystal oscillator using differential or single line.

RF Transceiver can take either differential or single ended input and generate differential or single ended output. RF transceiver supports multiple transmitter and receiver chains based on MIMO Tx/Rx configuration requirement in 4G or 5G wireless system.

RF Agile Transceiver Manufacturers or vendors

Following table lists vendors or manufacturers of RF Agile Transceiver.

RF Agile Transceiver Manufacturers Description
Analog Devices, Inc. ➨Part number AD9361 : Tx Band from 47 MHz to 6 GHz, Rx band from 70 MHz to 6 GHz, 2 x 2 RF transceiver with 12 bit DACs/ADCs, TDD/FDD, Channel BW from <200 KHz to 56 MHz, Dual transmiter (4 diffential outputs) and dual receiver (6 diffential or 12 single ended inputs), CMOS/LVDS interface and so on.
➨Part number AD9364 : Band from 70 MHz to 6 GHz, TDD/FDD, RF 1 x 1 transceiver with 12 bit ADCs/DACs, channel BW from <200 KHz to 56 MHz, 3 differential or 6 single ended inputs, 2 band differential output, CMOS/LVDS interface and so on.
➨Part number ADRV9026 : 24.33 Gbps JESD204B/JESD204C digital interface, 4 differential transmitters, 4 differential receivers, TDD/FDD, 75 MHz to 6 GHz center frequency
➨Part number ADRV9029 : In addition to features supported as mentioned in ADRV9026, it supports CFR and DPD required to meet PAPR specifications.
• Refer website www.analog.com for more information.
Texas Instruments Inc. ➨Features of RF Sampling Transceivers series AFE79XX are as follows.
• Consists of ADCs/DACs, DUC/DDCs, digital step attenuators, NCO, PLL/VCO etc.
• Supports JESD204B/JESD204C digital interface
• Refer website www.ti.com for more information.
Maxim Integrated ➨Part number MAX2175 supports baseband interface using I2S. Host microprocessor can be interfaced using I2C interface. Supports AM/FM reception, Supports VHF band-III and L band etc.
➨Part number MAX5868 functions as 16-bit 5Gsps RF DAC.
➨Part numbers MAX2837 and MAX2839 function as MIMO wimax RF transceiver and supports 2.3 to 2.7 GHz band. It can be interfaced with basedband I/Q data. IC takes care of I/Q error, DC offeset cancellation, carrier leakage and so on.
➨Part number MAX2838 functions as wireless broadband RF transceiver and supports 3.3 to 3.9 GHz band.
• Refer website www.maximintegrated.com for more information.
Microchip Technology Inc. ➨Part numbers : AT86RF212 (700/800/900 MHz), AT86RF231 (2.4 GHz) and AT86RF233 (2.4 GHz)
• These RF transceivers can be used between antenna and microcontroller designed to be compatible with IEEE 802.15.4-2011 zigbee standard.
• Refer website www.microchip.com for more information.


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