Challenges in portable RF transceiver design

As wireless products such as cellular phones become an everyday part of people´s lives, the need for higher performance at lower costs becomes even more important. Overcoming the challenges involved in the design of radio-frequency (RF) transceivers can help meet this need. This article provides an overview of RF electronics in portable transceivers and describes design issues as well as current work toward achieving both high performance and low cost. To understand the implications in the design of RF integrated circuits (ICs) we look at the properties of the mobile communications environment. We then study receiver and transmitter architectures and their viability in present IC technologies. An example of an RF transceiver is given and the design of transceiver building blocks is discussed. We conclude by looking at future directions in RF design