ABSTRACT Digital beamforming based on oversampled delta-sigma (ΔΣ) analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion can reduce the overall cost, size, and power consumption of phased array front-end processing. The signal resampling involved in dynamic ΔΣ beamforming, however, disrupts synchronization between the modulators and demodulator, causing significant degradation in the signal-to-noise ratio. As a solution to this, we have explored a new digital beamforming approach based on non-uniform oversampling ΔΣ A/D conversion. Using this approach, the echo signals received by the transducer array are sampled at time instants determined by the beamforming timing and then digitized by single-bit ΔΣ A/D conversion prior to the coherent beam summation. The timing information involves a non-uniform sampling scheme employing different clocks at each array channel. The ΔΣ coded beamsums obtained by adding the delayed 1-bit coded RF echo signals are then processed through a decimation filter to produce final beamforming outputs. The performance and validity of the proposed beamforming approach are assessed by means of emulations using experimental raw RF data.
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