Abstract
Various RF bands, standards, modulation schemes, duplex mechanisms and signal bandwidths needed for the mobile terminal call for a highly adaptable and reconfigurable RF receiver. The biggest bottleneck in achieving this goal lies with the RF pre-select filter at the antenna, which is band specific and creates a bottleneck in being able to share the hardware. Solving this "multi-band" programmability is the biggest challenge in achieving a RF Receiver for software defined radio. A few of the possible architectures and their limitations are presented. However, designing a "multi-mode" RF receiver for a given RF band with highly reconfigurable performance is an achievable goal. A WCDMA/EDGE receiver without inter-stage SAW filter in 90nm digital CMOS is used as an example in illustrating the architecture, circuit and system considerations for such a receiver.

Educational Course Subject Areas
Circuits & Devices ,  Microwave Theory & Techniques

Keywords
Amplitude Modulation ,  Continuous Wave (single tone) ,  Dedicated Physical Channel ,  Enhanced Data GSM Environment ,  Frequency Division Duplex ,  Global System for Mobile communications ,  Inter Modulaton ,  Low Noise Amplifier ,  Local Oscillator ,  Peak to Average Ratio ,  Quality factor ,  Surface Acoustic Wave ,  Time Domain Duplex ,  Wideband Code Division Multiple Access