Improving the Performance of Software Defined Radio by Employing Digital Feedback of Radio Frequency Properties

This dissertation provides tools for the analysis and integration of the hardware and software components of a software defined radio for optimum radio frequency performance. A device is introduced that is able to give baseband feedback of radio frequency properties suitable for analysis in software. Three applications for the device are devised. The first is an image rejection upconverter that achieves greater than 65 dB of image rejection over a broad frequency range without the use of a radio frequency filter. The second application is a baseband correction scheme for extending the bandwidth and improving the magnitude and phase match of an off-the-shelf IQ mixer. The third application is a receive filter that can reject a near-band, high-power interferer again without the use of a radio frequency filter. The theoretical development and experimental verification of each system is included