Low-cost EVM built-in test of RF transceivers

We present a novel low-cost built-in test approach for the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) performance of RF transceivers. We rely on built-in sensors to extract low-cost measurements that can be used thereafter to predict implicitly the EVM. The key attribute of the sensors is that they are non-intrusive, that is, they are not electrically connected to the RF transceiver. Hence, the proposed built-in test approach does not necessitate any design modifications in the RF transceiver. The sensors provide measurements that track process variations and, thereby, they can predict drifts in the EVM value that are due to such process variations. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed built-in test predicts the EVM with less than 6% error.