Arbiter-based automatic gain control

摘要

A system and method employ an arbiter-based automatic gain control (AGC) for managing a series of power adjustment circuits, such as amplifiers and/or attenuators. A central arbiter is employed for managing each stage of a series of power adjustment circuits, rather than each stage solely managing itself via a localized control loop. In one embodiment, a system comprises a series of gain stages each having at least one power adjustment circuit, such as at least one attenuator or amplifier. A power detector may be implemented to detect the power level of the output signal of each gain stage, and communicate information about the detected power levels for each stage to a central arbiter. Based at least in part on the received information, the arbiter controls each of the gain stages in a coordinated fashion.

主权项

1. A system comprising:
a series of gain stages each comprising at least one power adjustment circuit; and a central arbiter device for monitoring power output of a plurality of said gain stages and controlling a respective gain amount of each of the plurality of said gain stages, wherein said central arbiter device is operatively connected to make a prediction whether increasing gain at an upstream gain stage of said series of gain stages would cause irreversible distortion at a downstream gain stage of said series of gain stages, and control respective gain amounts of said upstream gain stage and said downstream gain stage conditioned on an outcome of said prediction, including incrementally increase gain at the upstream gain stage at a rate that accommodates incremental decrease of gain at the downstream gain stage in order to reverse distortion at the downstream gain stage; a plurality of predefined actions for said arbiter to trigger for correcting distortion in one or more of the gain stages; and a plurality of predefined actions for said arbiter to trigger for correcting noise in one or more of the gain stages; wherein priority is given to said predefined actions for correcting distortion over said predefined actions for correcting noise.