Analog to Feature Conversion

The analog to digital conversion of signals constrains their processing due to the limitation of bandwidth, power and size required for the wide band signals being processed in emerging wireless standards. The solution proposed in this paper is a specially constructed analog processing block ahead of the traditional ADC within a typical RF front-end involving an antenna, filter, LNA, and AGC. This analog block includes a structured matrix of tuneable analog delay elements together with analog summers and attenuators. The analog block can be programmed on-the-fly to form spectral estimates, narrow band filters, correlation detectors, and more. Finally, we show some improved results from the design of FIR filters for these structures.