Active Components IQ modulators advance reconfigurable radio

T popularity of reconfigurable radios is increasing as wireless infrastructure equipment manufacturers try to design platforms that cover multiple frequencies and air interfaces. The market continues to strive to achieve the ideal of a softwaredefined radio (SDR). While this research continues, incremental developments are taking place that provide common platform designs. Designs are then configured during manufacture, providing an overall savings in development costs. Because of their simplicity and the limited number of spurious components they generate, direct-conversion signal chains are becoming a popular architectural choice in many radios, especially in reconfigurable platforms. IQ modulators and demodulators are key components in direct-conversion transmitters and receivers. This article will focus on using IQ modulators in reconfigurable radio transmitters.