Multiphase direct RF frequency to digital converter and related method

摘要

The disclosure provides an effective means for fine-resolution determination of the frequency content of an RF signal using low speed digital circuits. The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for decomposing a high frequency RF signal into several low frequency signals or data streams without loss of any information and without the use of extraneous circuit components such as local oscillators, mixers or offset phase-locked loops. Single or multiple phase oscillator outputs are fed directly to a single or multiple direct RF frequency-to-digital (DrfDC) circuits. The front end of the DrfDC circuit decomposes a high frequency signal into several low frequency signals without loss of any information. The low frequency signals are processed by the back-end of the DrfDC and converted into digital data streams. The digital data streams are then combined and averaged to represent the frequency of the input RF signal.