Techniques maintaining receiver reliability, including determining a present attenuation level for an attenuator, wherein the attenuation level is set by a gain controller, determining a relative reliability threshold based on the present attenuation level, receiving a radio frequency (RF) signal, determining a voltage level of the received RF signal, comparing the voltage level of the received RF signal to the relative reliability threshold to determine that a reliability condition exists, and overriding, in response to the determination that the reliability condition exists, the present attenuation level set by the gain controller with an override attenuation level based on the present attenuation level.

Dynamic automatic gain controller configuration in multiple input and multiple output receivers is provided by monitoring a given section of wireless spectrum for higher-priority signals using a first antenna set associated with a first Automatic Gain Controller (AGC) set while concurrently monitoring the given section of wireless spectrum for wireless packet-based traffic using a second antenna set associated with a second AGC set; in response to detecting a packet via the second antenna set: re-associating the first antenna set and the second antenna set to a third AGC set; receiving the packet via the first antenna set and the second antenna set using the third AGC set; and in response to the packet being received, re-associating the first antenna set to the first AGC set and the second antenna set to the second AGC set.

Embodiments of a gain control circuit and a wideband communication circuit that uses the gain control circuit are disclosed. In an embodiment, gain control circuit includes first and second output terminals to output gain control signals and first and second diode-connected transistors connected between a supply voltage and the first and second output terminals, which are connected to input terminals of a communication component circuit with a plurality of input transistors. The gain control circuit further includes a current digital-to-analog converter connected to the diode-connected transistors to generate first and second currents for the diode-connected transistors based on an N-bit input code, wherein a ratio of the first and second currents sets voltages of the gain control signals that are output from the gain control circuit to the communication component circuit to control signal gain provided by the communication component circuit.

An example VGA includes a transistor arrangement having a plurality of transistors configured to realize one or more gain step circuits of the VGA, and a cross-couple switching arrangement having a plurality of switches configured to selectively change the coupling of the terminals of at least some of the transistors depending on whether a given gain step circuit is supposed to be in an ON state or in an OFF state. Using the cross-couple switching arrangement advantageously allows keeping all of the transistors ON at all times during operation and changing the coupling of some transistor terminals to either realize an in-phase addition of currents flowing through various transistors to apply the maximum gain or realize a subtraction of currents to apply the minimum gain. Such a VGA may be inherently wideband, enabling a highly linear, wideband operation without having to resort to significant trade-offs with other performance parameters.

A wireless repeater is disclosed. The wireless repeater can include a main booster with a first gain unit with a first adjustable gain and a second gain unit with a second adjustable gain. The wireless repeater can include a front end booster communicatively coupled to the main booster, with a coaxial cable coupled between the main booster and the front end booster. A test signal generator is configured to generate a direct current test signal or a radio frequency test signal to determine a signal loss of the coaxial cable. The wireless repeater can include a control unit to adjust one or more of the first adjustable gain or the second adjustable gain based on the determined signal loss of the coaxial cable.

Various technologies described herein pertain to variable gain amplification for a sensor application. A multistage variable gain amplifier system provides variable gain amplification of an input signal. The multistage variable gain amplifier system includes a plurality of amplification stages. The multistage variable gain amplifier system further includes a power detector configured to detect a power level of an input signal received by the multistage variable gain amplifier system. The multistage variable gain amplifier system also includes a controller configured to control the amplification stages based on the power level of the input signal. The multistage variable gain amplifier system can output an output signal such that the amplification stages are controlled to adjust a gain applied to the input signal by the multistage variable gain amplifier system to output the output signal.

Various methods and circuital arrangements for protection of an RF amplifier are presented. According to one aspect, the RF amplifier is part of switchable RF paths that may include at least one path with one or more attenuators or switches that can be used during normal operation to define different modes of operation of the at least one path. An RF level detector monitors a level of an RF signal during operation of any one of the switchable RF paths and may control the attenuators or switches to provide an attenuation of the RF signal according to a desired level of protection at an input and/or output of the RF amplifier. According to another aspect, the RF level detector may control a switch to force the RF signal through a different switchable RF path.

Various technologies described herein pertain to variable gain amplification for a sensor application. A multistage variable gain amplifier system provides variable gain amplification of an input signal. The multistage variable gain amplifier system includes a plurality of amplification stages. The multistage variable gain amplifier system further includes a power detector configured to detect a power level of an input signal received by the multistage variable gain amplifier system. The multistage variable gain amplifier system also includes a controller configured to control the amplification stages based on the power level of the input signal. The multistage variable gain amplifier system can output an output signal such that the amplification stages are controlled to adjust a gain applied to the input signal by the multistage variable gain amplifier system to output the output signal.

A variable gain amplifier (VGA) is provided. The VGA includes at least one amplifier circuit, at least one current-steering circuit and at least one bias voltage circuit. Each current-steering circuit is coupled to its corresponding amplifier circuit. Each bias voltage circuit is coupled to its corresponding current-steering circuit to provide a positive bias voltage to each current-steering circuit.

An electronic device may include wireless circuitry with a baseband processor, a transceiver circuit, a front-end module, and an antenna. The front-end module may include amplifier circuitry such as a low noise amplifier for amplifying received radio-frequency signals. The low noise amplifier is operable in a non-carrier-aggregation (NCA) mode and a carrier aggregation (CA) mode. The low noise amplifier may include a first input stage, a second input stage, a complementary degeneration transformer, and an input impedance compensation circuit. During the NCA mode, the first input stage is turned on while the second input stage is turned off, the degeneration transformer is controlled to provide maximum inductance, and the compensation circuit is turned on to provide input matching. During the CA mode, the first and second input stages are turned on, the degeneration transformer is adjusted to provide less inductance, and the compensation circuit is turned off.