1. A unit comprising an array of sample containers, said containers being connected together and arranged in a planar configuration, each container having multiple optically transparent windows arranged such that the sample contained therein can be interrogated using simultaneous multiple optical analytical techniques, the array of containers being configured so as to allow optical access to the windows of each container in the array, at least one of the windows of each container being inclined to the plane of the array.
2. A unit according to claim 1 wherein each sample container comprises a polyhedron.
3. A unit according to claim 1 wherein each sample container comprises a cylinder or sphere.
4. A unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the cross sectional dimensions of each of the containers is sufficiently small that surface tension forces will ensure a liquid sample spans the cross sectional area of the container such that the liquid sample is in contact with all of the container windows irrespective of the orientation of the container with respect to the gravitational field.
5. A unit according to any preceding claim wherein each sample container has multiple non-parallel optically transparent windows.
6. A unit according to any preceding claim wherein each of the walls of the containers comprise optically transparent windows.
7. A unit according to any preceding claim wherein the array comprises thermally conductive material.
8. A unit according to any preceding claim further comprising one or more channels through which samples may be filled into the containers.
9. A unit according to any preceding claim formed from an optically transparent thermoplastic material.
10. A unit according to any preceding claim further comprising a mirror, the mirror being located below the array of containers and parallel to the plane of the array.
11. An apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the array is enclosed in a thermally conductive jacket with optical access holes being provided in the jacket to allow illumination and collection of light from the sample.
12. A unit according to any preceding claim wherein at least one of the windows of each container forms an included angle to the plane of the array of greater than zero and less than 90 degrees.
13. A unit according to claim 12 wherein the at least one window forms an included angle to the plane of the array of 45 degrees.
14. A unit according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein the sample containers are connected together by a joining material which is sufficiently thin to allow optical access from both sides of the plane of the array.
15. A unit according to claim 14 wherein the containers are arranged such that they extend above and below the plane of the array.
16. A unit according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein the sample containers are embedded in a solid material which is provided with holes allowing optical access to the container.
17. An apparatus for carrying out simultaneous multiple optical analytical techniques on a sample, said apparatus comprising means for receiving a unit according to any one of claims 1 to 16, means for illuminating a sample contained in said unit and means for detecting light emerging from said sample.
18. An apparatus according to claim 17 adapted to receive more than one unit according to any one of claims 1 to 16.
19. An apparatus according to claim 17 or claim 18 further comprising means for heating or cooling the samples in the unit or units.
20. An apparatus according to any one of claims 17 to 19 further comprising means for positioning the unit to enable the individual sample containers to be located at the required location for the analysis to be performed.
21. An apparatus according to claim 19 further comprising means for controlling the unit positioning means.
22. An apparatus according to any one of claims 17 to 21 further comprising means for recording andor displaying the results of the analysis.
23. A method of analysing multiple samples by introducing each individual sample into an individual container of a unit according to any one of claims 1 to 16, loading said unit into an apparatus according to any one of claims 17 to 22, illuminating the samples and detecting light emerging therefrom.
24. A method according to claim 23 wherein an individual sample is simultaneously illuminated with multiple different light sources.
25. A method according to claim 23 wherein an individual sample is serially illuminated with multiple different light sources.
26. A method according to any of claims 23 to 25 wherein the sample is illuminated from multiple input directions.
27. A method according to any of claims 23 to 26 wherein the emerging light is collected simultaneously or serially at multiple included angles with respect to the input light.
28. A method according to any of claims 23 to 27 wherein the samples in the containers are analysed using one or more optical analytical techniques selected from fluorescence spectroscopy, ultra-violet to visible optical absorption spectroscopy, near-infra red spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, light scattering.
29. A method according to any of claims 23 to 28 wherein the illuminating light is selected from one or more sources selected from lasers, lamps or light emitting diodes.
30. A method according to any of claims 23 to 29 wherein the sample is a protein in solution.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for IQ imbalance calibration of a transmitter, comprising the steps of:
initializing parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p;
estimating a loop delay factor L;
generating a test signal xn=x(n\xb7TS), wherein x(t)=ej\u03c9Tt and \u03c9T is a preset radian frequency and TS is sampling interval;
generating a compensated signal xcomn by compensating the test signal xn according to a first function with parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p;
converting the compensated signal xcomn to an analog signal xcom(t);
applying IQ modulation to the analog signal xcom(t) and outputting a modulated signal xmod(t);
obtaining a characteristic signal xc(t) of the modulated signal xmod(t);
obtaining a sampled characteristic signal xSn by sampling the characteristic signal xc(t) and obtaining statistics U1 and U2 of the sampled characteristic signal xSn, where U1 and U2 are values indicative of the frequency response of xc(t) at radian frequency \u03c9T and 2\u03c9T, respectively; and
updating the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p respectively by one of the second functions, the loop delay factor L, the statistics U1 and U2, and the current values of the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of estimating the loop delay factor further comprises the steps of:
generating a test signal x\u2032n=cos(\u03c9TnTS)+\u03b3T which is a discrete-time signal and \u03b3T is a predetermined number;
converting the test signal x\u2032n to an analog signal x\u2032(t);
applying IQ modulation to the analog signal x\u2032(t) and outputting a modulated signal x\u2032mod(t);
obtaining a characteristic signal x\u2032c(t) of the modulated signal x\u2032mod(t);
obtaining a sampled characteristic signal x\u2032Sn by sampling the characteristic signal x\u2032c(t) and obtaining a statistics v of the sampled characteristic signal x\u2032Sn, where V is a value indicative of the frequency response of x\u2032c(t) at radian frequency \u03c9T; and
estimating the loop delay factor L based on the statistics V.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the statistics V is obtained by taking FFT of the sampled characteristic signal x\u2032Sn.
4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the estimated loop delay factor L is V|V|.
5. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the characteristic signal is derived by taking the square of an envelope of the modulated signal.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first function is xcomn=Ap\xb7xn+Bp\xb7x*n\u2212\u03b3p.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the statistics U1 and U2 are obtained by taking FFT of the sampled characteristic signal xSn.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p are updated by the steps of:
computing the updated Ap based on the current Ap and Bp, the loop delay factor L, and the statistic U2;
computing the updated Bp based on the current Ap and Bp, the loop delay factor L, and the statistic U2; and
computing the updated \u03b3p based on the current \u03b3p, the loop delay factor L, and the statistic U1.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second functions for updating the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p are:
A\u2032p=Ap\u2212\u03bc\xb7Bp\xb7U*2\xb7L\xb7L;
B\u2032p=Bp\u2212\u03bc\xb7Ap\xb7U2\xb7(L\xb7L)*; and
\u03b3\u2032p=\u03b3p+\u03bc\xb7U1\xb7L*;
where A\u2032p, B\u2032p and \u03b3\u2032p are the updated values, Ap, Bp and \u03b3p are the current values, and \u03bc is a preset step size parameter.
10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the characteristic signal is derived by taking the square of an envelope of the modulated signal.
11. An apparatus for IQ imbalance calibration in a transmitter comprising:
a discrete-time signal generator generating a first test signal x1n=cos(\u03c9TnTS)+\u03b3T, where \u03c9T is a preset radian frequency, TS is a predetermined sampling interval, and \u03b3T is a predetermined number, in an estimation phase, and generating a second test signal x2n=ej\u03c9TnTS in a calibration phase which follows the estimation phase;
a correction module receiving the test signal from the signal generator, compensating the test signal according to a first function with parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p to produce a compensated signal;
a first and second DA converter converting the compensated signal to an analog signal, wherein the first DA converter converts the real part of the compensated signal to the real part of the analog signal, and the second DA converter converts the imaginary part of the compensated signal to the imaginary part of the analog signal;
a modulator applying IQ modulation to the analog signal, and outputting a modulated signal;
a detector obtaining a characteristic signal of the modulated signal;
an AD converter converting the characteristic signal to a sampled characteristic signal; and
a processor implementing the steps of:
initializing the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p;
obtaining a statistic V based on the sampled characteristic signal in the estimation phase, where V is a value indicative of the frequency response of x\u2032c(t) at radian frequency \u03c9T;
estimating a loop delay factor L based on the statistic V in the estimation phase;
obtaining statistics U1 and U2 based on the sampled characteristic signal in the calibration phase, where U1 and U2 are values indicative of the frequency response of xc(t) at radian frequency \u03c9T and 2\u03c9T, respectively; and
updating the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p based on the loop delay factor L, the statistics U1 and U2, and the current values of the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p in the calibration phase.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the statistics V are obtained by taking FFT of the sampled characteristic signal in the estimation phase.
13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the loop delay factor L is V|V|.
14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the first function is xcomn=Ap\xb7xn+Bp\xb7x*n\u2212\u03b3p, where xn and xcomn denote the test signal and the compensated signal, respectively, and xn=x1n in the estimation phase, xn=x2n in the calibration phase.
15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the statistics U1 and U2 are obtained by taking FFT of the sampled characteristic signal in the calibration phase.
16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor updates the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p by the steps of:
computing the updated Ap based on the current Ap and Bp, the loop delay factor L, and the statistic U2;
computing the updated Bp based on the current Ap and Bp, the loop delay factor L, and the statistic U2; and
computing the updated \u03b3p based on the current \u03b3p, the loop delay factor L, and the statistic U1.
17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the processor updates the parameters Ap, Bp and \u03b3p by the equations:
A\u2032p=Ap\u2212\u03bc\xb7Bp\xb7U*2\xb7L\xb7L;
B\u2032p=Bp\u2212\u03bc\xb7Ap\xb7U2\xb7(L\xb7L)*; and
\u03b3\u2032p=\u03b3p+\u03bc\xb7U1\xb7L*
where A\u2032p, B\u2032p and \u03b3\u2032p are the updated values, Ap, Bp and \u03b3p are the current values, and \u03bc is a preset step size parameter.
18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the characteristic signal is derived by taking the square of an envelope of the modulated signal.