Programmable/Reconfigurable ADCs For Multistandard Wireless Terminals

During the last years, there has been an evolution in wireless communication systems towards multifunction and multistandard terminals, supporting several standards, like GSM, Bluetooth, DECT, wireless LANs and UMTS. This paper presents the necessity to employ a fully programmable and reconfigurable (P/R) ADC in the implementation of multistandard terminals. Moreover, it explores the programmability and reconfigurability capabilities of ADC architectures, keeping focus on ADCs that are commonly used in telecom applications. We review and propose P/R ADC structures and we comment on their advantages and disadvantages