The increasing demand for high-data rate communications in the connected world imposes various challenges in analog and radio frequency (RF) circuits. Although continued scaling in advanced processes offers faster devices, it is accompanied by increasing complexity in circuit design and layout strategy, resulting in diminishing benefits for analog/RF circuits. In order to enable new breakthroughs in speed, cost, and power efficiency, simplifying analog/RF circuits with the assistance of signal processing is becoming a clear trend. This paper provides an overview of this trend by reviewing the signal processing algorithms commonly deployed in wireless communications, data converters, and wired data links. The discussion covers design considerations, as well as algorithms used to compensate for circuit imperfections, so as to demonstrate the cross-discipline interactions between signal processing and analog/RF circuit design.
