A Fast LO Leakage Calibration Method for MIMO Transmitter

Authors

  • Jianhong Xie School of Information Science and Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China and Transcom (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd. Shanghai 201600, China
  • Zhaopeng Fu Aqronos (Nanjing) Optical Integrated Chip Technology Co. Ltd. Nanjing 210000, China
  • Zhengbo Jiang School of Information Science and Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
  • Jingxin Liu Transcom (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd. Shanghai 201600, China
  • Zhangcheng Hao School of Information Science and Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/2026.ACES.J.410510

Keywords:

Calibration, in-phase/quadrature offset, local oscillator leakage, multiple-input multiple-output transmitter, Newton’s method

Abstract

Local oscillator (LO) leakage caused by in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) offsets severely degrades the performance of direct-conversion multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmitters in 5G and emerging 6G systems. Existing LO leakage calibration methods often require many measurements or suffer from slow convergence, making them inefficient for multi-channel and multi-frequency applications. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a fast LO leakage calibration method based on Newton’s method. For each channel at each frequency point, the I/Q offset compensation values are determined from only nine groups of I/Q settings and the corresponding LO leakage measurements. Simulations and experiments on an 8-channel MIMO transmitter show that the proposed method achieves an average LO leakage suppression of −55.6 dBc while reducing the number of calibration samples by more than 95% compared with traditional methods, demonstrating its efficiency and practicality for large-scale MIMO transmitters in 5G and 6G communications.

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Author Biographies

Jianhong Xie, School of Information Science and Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China and Transcom (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd. Shanghai 201600, China

Jianhong Xie was born in Nantong, Jiangsu, China, in 1987. She received the B.S. degree in applied physics from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, in 2010, and the M.S. degree in electronics and communication engineering from Southeast University, Nanjing, in 2018. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology at Southeast University, Nanjing. Her major research interests include RF system design, microwave circuit development, and MIMO communication technologies. Since 2013, she has been with Transcom (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., where she serves as senior engineer, focusing on research and development of RF and microwave technologies. She has led or participated in several national major projects.

Zhaopeng Fu, Aqronos (Nanjing) Optical Integrated Chip Technology Co. Ltd. Nanjing 210000, China

Zhaopeng Fu was born in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China, in 1986. He received the B.S. degree in electronic information science and technology from Nantong University, Nantong, in 2009, and the M.S. degree in electronics and communication engineering from Southeast University, Nanjing, in 2019. His major research interests include RF system design, microwave circuit development, and LiDAR system development. Since 2021, he has been with Yuanjiang (Nanjing) Photonic Integrated Circuit Technology Co. Ltd., where he serves as R&D Director, focusing on research and development of RF and microwave technologies and FMCW LiDAR. He has led or participated in several major projects.

Zhengbo Jiang, School of Information Science and Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Zhengbo Jiang was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1980. He received the B.S. degree in radio engineering and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electromagnetic field and microwave technique from Southeast University, Nanjing, in 2002, 2004, and 2009, respectively. In 2023, he was a Short-Term Visiting Scholar with the University College London, UK. He is currently a professor with the School of Information Science and Engineering. His current research interests include over-the-air testing, channel emulation, microwave measurement, antenna measurement, and measurement instruments. He was a recipient of the National Science and Technology Progress Prize in 2023 and the FirstClass Science and Technology Prize of Jiangsu Province in 2020. He is a senior member of CIE and a member of the CIE Young Scientists Club.

Jingxin Liu, Transcom (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd. Shanghai 201600, China

Jingxin Liu was born in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, in 1993. He received the B.S. degree in Microelectronics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, in 2015. Since 2015, he has been with Transcom (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., where he has been engaged in the research and development of channel emulator design and wireless channel simulation technologies. His current research focuses on channel emulation for MIMO wireless communication systems, and the development and optimization of related instrumentation.

Zhangcheng Hao, School of Information Science and Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Zhangcheng Hao received the B.S. degree in microwave engineering from XiDian University, Xi’an, China, in 1997, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degree in radio engineering from Southeast University, Nanjing, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. In 2006, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Laboratory of Electronics and Systems for Telecommunications (LEST), École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne (ENSTB), Bretagne, France, where he was involved with developing millimeter-wave antennas. In 2007, he joined the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, as a Research Associate, where he was involved with developing multilayer integrated circuits and ultra-wide-band components. In 2011, he joined the School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, as a professor, and as a chief-professor in 2019. He holds 30 granted patents and has authored and coauthored over 200 referred journal and conference papers. His current research interests involve microwave and millimeter-wave systems, super-massive and super-wideband phased array antennas, and submillimeter-wave and terahertz components and systems.

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Published

2026-09-19

How to Cite

[1]
J. Xie, Z. Fu, Z. Jiang, J. Liu, and Z. Hao, “A Fast LO Leakage Calibration Method for MIMO Transmitter”, ACES Journal, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 480–487, Sep. 2026.

Issue

2026: Vol 41 Iss 5

Section

General Submission

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