Digital IF filter technology for 3G systems: an introduction

Contemporary digital communication systems such as those being developed for the deployment of third-generation cellular require ever increasing performance levels in their signal processing chains to extract higher data rates and to provide decreasing price/performance ratios. Additionally, communication systems like 3G that must support multimode flexibility, such as the software radio, must be able to reconfigure their signal processing chains while keeping circuit complexity to a minimum. Given these constraints, DSP is the only viable alternative for baseband processing and digital IF processing. DSP is in many cases the only viable alternative to analog IF processing. Digital IF affords greater flexibility and higher performance in terms of attenuation and selectivity. It also offers better time and environment stability and lower equipment production costs than traditional analog techniques