Resumen:
Millimeter wave links are an attractive solution for mobile network backhaul. In order to cope with the requirements of future networks, these millimeter wave links should achieve Gigabit data rates. These data rates can be achieved by using wide-band and high order modulations in E-Band. Heterodyne architectures are good candidates for integrated transceivers, but, the design of integrated transceivers at these frequencies is a challenging issue. An important source of degradation is I/Q imbalance, which can significantly reduce the performance of a communication system with zero-second-IF transceivers if it is not appropriately compensated. The article analyzes the source of this IQ imbalance and proposes the use of different digital processing techniques, including a linear adaptive equalizer scheme. The performance of the transceiver is analyzed at system level by means of simulations. The results presented in the article suggest that the use of those techniques is able to mitigate the impact of the IQ imbalance effects, in order to allow the use of a high-order modulation such as 64QAM.
