An adaptive mixed-signal narrowband interference canceller for wireline transmission systems

Narrowband radio transmitters like radio amateurs and broadcast radio stations are considered to be a serious problem for high-bitrate data transmission over twisted pairs. Due to its high power level, radio frequency interference (RFI) has the potential of overloading the receiver's analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Once the ADC is in saturation, any countermeasure taken in the digital domain will fail, so the problem has to be faced at least partly in the analog domain. This paper proposes an adaptive, mixed-signal, narrowband interference canceller employing a modified recursive least-squares (RLS) algorithm which is split into an analog and a digital part. The mixed-signal approach enables the circuit to generate an interference-cancelling signal of several MHz while operating the adaptive algorithm at some kHz. The structure is fast enough to prevent the ADC from overloading due to radio amateur interference, thus protecting the data transmission from interruption. Simulation results as well as measurements indicate a practical disturbance rejection potential of about 40-50 dB.