NON-RECIPROCAL, TUNABLE NOTCH AMPLIFYING RF FRONT-ENDS BASED ON DISTRIBUTEDLY MODULATED CAPACITORS (DMC)

摘要

A tunable notch filter/amplifier based on the non-reciprocal operation of distributedly modulated capacitors (DMC) formed for an RF front end. In one embodiment within the DMC is formed into a ring resonator with a filter between its ends to allow resonance to build up only at an up-converted frequency, and tune the frequency of the whole received band instead of the resonant frequency of the filter alone. In addition a circulator is described for passing different signals in different directions, but at the same frequency, while maintaining signal separation.

主权项

1. A distributedly modulated capacitor (DMC) tunable notch filter apparatus, comprising:
a ring resonator comprising distributedly modulated capacitors (DMC) in a ring structure comprising at least one transmission line; a high pass filter (HPF) interposed within said ring resonator to allow resonance to build up only at an up-converted frequency; a receiver input and carrier signal coupled to said ring resonator which is coupled to a receiver output; wherein said transmission line has a direction dependency for propagating carrier waves in a first direction, and propagating signal waves in a second direction; wherein said distributedly modulated capacitors (DMC) comprise a plurality of time-varying capacitance elements configured for shunt capacitance modulation in response to carrier wave frequency; and wherein said ring resonator notches out a fixed up-converted frequency, providing continuous tunability of a received band in response to changing the carrier frequency, so that it frequency tunes an entire received band instead of a resonant frequency of the high-pass filter (HPF).