Tutorial: Digital Calibration for RF Transceivers

Designing high-precision RF transceivers in deep submicron technologies is increasingly challenging due to reduced supply headroom, non-linearities of transistors, and large process parameter spread. By taking advantage of the cheaper and faster digital computing power, digital calibration is becoming an increasingly common practice to overcome such challenges and enhance transceiver performance. Calibration techniques covered include I/Q mismatch calibration, DC offset and LO leakage removal, closed-loop power control and envelope tracking, analog filter response calibration, digital pre-distortion for PAs, and antenna tuning. The tutorial will also cover DSP methods and algorithms and provide specific examples of digitally calibrated transceivers.