Costas 2
Costas 2
Receiver
Maarten Tytgat, Michiel Steyaert and Patrick Reynaert
K.U. Leuven ESAT-MICAS
Kasteelpark Arenberg 10
B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
[email protected]
Abstract—A complete Matlab model is made for a millimeter are shown of the complete system with realistic quantities for
wave wireless communication system including a four-phase data communication around 100GHz with Gbit/s data rates.
Costas loop for carrier recovery and QPSK demodulation.
Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the dynamic
behaviour of the Costas loop and the effects of noise, linearity and II. T HE QPSK COSTAS LOOP
bandwidth limitations. The time domain results are compared to
the frequency domain transfer function derived from the Costas
A. Operation
loop parameters. The Costas loop was first proposed by J. Costas as a phase
tracker for (suppressed-carrier) AM signals [3]. It was later
I. I NTRODUCTION
modified to demodulate QPSK and MPSK signals [4], [5].
The continuous demand for increasing data rates has pushed The circuit diagram of the four-phase Costas loop is shown in
the operating frequency of wireless communication systems Fig. 1a. Suppose the RF signal VRF is QPSK modulated:
into the millimeter wave region. Larger bandwidths are thus
available, allowing higher data rates with less complicated VRF = I(t) sin (ωt + θ) + Q(t) cos (ωt + θ) (1)
modulation schemes such as ASK, BPSK and QPSK.
An important issue when dealing with these high frequencies Where I(t) and Q(t) can be ±1, varying at the symbol
and high data rates is the problem of carrier recovery. Coherent rate. Amplitudes are disregarded for simplicity. This signal
detection requires a good phase and frequency reference with is multiplied with an LO with the same frequency and an
respect to the carrier of the RF signal. instantaneous phase of θ′ and a 90◦ phase shifted version of
If carrier recovery has to be done at baseband, high speed this LO. Then after low pass filtering the signals are:
A/D-converters are needed, increasing power consumption and
ZI (t) = I(t) cos φ − Q(t) sin φ (2)
design complexity [1].
The carrier recovery can also be performed in the analog ZQ (t) = I(t) sin φ + Q(t) cos φ (3)
domain. Three important techniques are known: differential
With φ = θ − θ′ . If we assume that the pahse error is always
demodulation using a delay line to mix with a previous
|φ| < 45◦ , the output of the limiters is:
symbol, frequency multiplying and the Costas loop.
The problem with a delay line is that it has to provide a delay LI (t) = I(t) (4)
of one symbol period. For data rates in the order of several
LQ (t) = Q(t) (5)
Gbit/s, that would mean delay lines with lengths in the order
of tens of millimeters. Furthermore, the data rate is fixed by The error signal is then:
the length of the delay element [2].
Using frequency multiplying would require circuits working at ǫ(t) = ZQ LI − ZI LQ
twice the carrier frequency for BPSK and four times the carrier
= I 2 (t) sin φ + Q(t)I(t) cos φ
frequency for QPSK, which is unrealistic for frequencies
exceeding 100GHz. − I(t)Q(t) cos φ + Q2 (t) sin φ
The Costas loop is therefore a suitable candidate for carrier = 2 sin φ
recovery and demodulation at millimeter wave frequencies, as ≈ 2φ (for very small φ) (6)
already demonstrated in [1].
This paper presents a Matlab model and simulation results of This way, a phase error signal is obtained, which can adjust
a wireless communication system operating at 100GHz. Time the VCO in order to maintain phase and frequency lock. If
domain simulations allow to analyze the dynamic properties the absolute phase error is initially larger than 45◦ , the loop
and the behavior in the presence of noise of the Costas loop. will still lock, but the received constellation will have a fixed
The paper starts with the operation of the four-phase Costas rotation of a multiple of 90◦ with respect to the transmitted
loop and the discrete time equivalent. Then, simulation results constellation.
Fig. 2. Overview of the simulated wireless data communication link.
TABLE I
C OSTAS LOOP DESIGN PARAMETERS
100.15
100.1
f (GHz)
1 1
0 0
100.05 fc
−1 −1 instantaneous fVCO
100
99.95
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
t (ns)
ZQ.LI ZI.LQ ε = ZQ.LI−ZI.LQ
10
−2
0 10
BER
−10
E(s)
Magnitude (dB)
−20 |φ|/|θ| −3
10
−30
−40
−4
10
−2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
SNRLNA (dB)
−50
−60 7 Fig. 9. Simulated Bit Error Rates in function of SNR at the LNA output.
8 9 10 11
10 10 10 10 10
Frequency (rad/s)
100GHz.
Fig. 6. Error transfer function E(s) and time domain simulations of phase
error. The influence of noise is shown in the form of a constellation
diagram, an eye diagram and a BER versus SNR graph.
This model can be used to predict and optimize the perfor-
mance of a Costas loop based receiver.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is partly supported by the ERC Advanced
1
Grant 227680 (DARWIN).
R EFERENCES
[1] S.-J. Huang, Y.-C. Yeh, H. Wang, P.-N. Chen, and J. Lee, “An 87GHz
Q
0
QPSK transceiver with costas-loop carrier recovery in 65nm CMOS,” in
Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers (ISSCC), 2011
IEEE International, feb. 2011, pp. 168 –170.
[2] H. Takahashi, T. Kosugi, A. Hirata, K. Murata, and N. Kukutsu, “10-
−1 Gbit/s quadrature phase-shift-keying modulator and demodulator for 120-
GHz-band wireless links,” Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE
Transactions on, vol. 58, no. 12, pp. 4072 –4078, dec. 2010.
−1 0 1 [3] J. Costas, “Synchronous communications,” Proceedings of the IRE,
I vol. 44, no. 12, pp. 1713 –1718, dec. 1956.
[4] C. Weber and W. Alem, “Demod-remod coherent tracking receiver for
Fig. 7. Constellation plot for SNR = 11.5dB at output of LNA. The data QPSK and SQPSK,” Communications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 28,
rate is 8Gbit/s. no. 12, pp. 1945 – 1954, dec 1980.
[5] H. Osborne, “A generalized ”polarity-type” costas loop for tracking
MPSK signals,” Communications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 30, no. 10,
pp. 2289 – 2296, oct 1982.
[6] F. M. Gardner, Phaselock techniques. John Wiley and Sons, July 2005.
Z
I
1.5
0.5
Amplitude
−0.5
−1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (s) x 10
−10