A highly digitized multimode receiver architecture for 3G mobiles

A highly digitized multimode receiver architecture is described. It is configured primarily for the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) modes, but has the potential to operate in other modes such as cdma2000 as well. The receiver uses a single down conversion to mix the RF signal to a zero intermediate frequency (IF) for UMTS mode and a low IF for GSM. It uses a reconfigurable analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to digitize the IF signals as early as possible and to transfer most of the channel filtering into the digital domain. Only a minimum of automatic gain control (AGC) is employed. The architecture aims to maximize reuse of common hardware and to make significant gains in terms of design costs, size, and adaptability. System simulations confirm the feasibility and performance of the new concept.