TY - GEN
T1 - A Dual-Rate Hybrid DAC for High-Speed 6G Massive MIMO Transceivers
AU - Akbari, Akram
AU - Wantiez, Eric
AU - Perez, Cristobal
AU - Jabbour, Chadi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 IEEE.
PY - 2025/1/1
Y1 - 2025/1/1
N2 - This paper presents the design, modeling, and simulation of a dual-rate hybrid digital-to-analog converter (DAC) architecture optimized for 6G massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmitters. The proposed structure splits the digital input into a low-resolution Nyquist-rate path for the most significant bits (MSBs) and a high-speed delta-sigma modulator (DSM) path for the least significant bits (LSBs). This configuration enables a favorable trade-off between bandwidth, linearity, and power efficiency, while addressing the limitations of conventional Nyquist and DSM-only DACs. We demonstrate how the architecture improves robustness without dynamic element matching (DEM), and analyze the spectral behavior including out-of-band (OOB) noise suppression. Simulation results using sinusoidal and 256-QAM modulated inputs confirm that the hybrid DAC achieves spectral cleanliness compared to pure DSM DACs, even in the presence of 1% mismatch. These findings position the hybrid DAC as a scalable and efficient solution for wideband digital radio frequency (RF) applications.
AB - This paper presents the design, modeling, and simulation of a dual-rate hybrid digital-to-analog converter (DAC) architecture optimized for 6G massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmitters. The proposed structure splits the digital input into a low-resolution Nyquist-rate path for the most significant bits (MSBs) and a high-speed delta-sigma modulator (DSM) path for the least significant bits (LSBs). This configuration enables a favorable trade-off between bandwidth, linearity, and power efficiency, while addressing the limitations of conventional Nyquist and DSM-only DACs. We demonstrate how the architecture improves robustness without dynamic element matching (DEM), and analyze the spectral behavior including out-of-band (OOB) noise suppression. Simulation results using sinusoidal and 256-QAM modulated inputs confirm that the hybrid DAC achieves spectral cleanliness compared to pure DSM DACs, even in the presence of 1% mismatch. These findings position the hybrid DAC as a scalable and efficient solution for wideband digital radio frequency (RF) applications.
KW - 6G Massive MIMO
KW - DSM
KW - Hybrid DAC
KW - OOB Noise
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105030470284
U2 - 10.1109/ICECS66544.2025.11270801
DO - 10.1109/ICECS66544.2025.11270801
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105030470284
T3 - 2025 32nd IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, ICECS 2025
BT - 2025 32nd IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, ICECS 2025
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 32nd IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, ICECS 2025
Y2 - 17 November 2025 through 19 November 2025
ER -