24 GHz LNA and Vector Modulator Phase Shifter for Phased-Array Receiver in CMOS Technology

With the rapid development of the applications in short range communication, phased-array receiver working at 24 GHz can provide enhanced gain performance at desired transmission direction. Also there is the wide signal bandwidth, i.e. 250 MHz free licensed spectrum at this frequency. In the phased-array front-end, the key component is the phase shifter, which decides the tuning resolution of beam-forming. The challenge of the design work comes from the low-power, low-noise and low-cost requirement. This paper explores the design procedure of a Vector Modulation Phase Shifter (VMPS), consisting of a 90 degree hybrid, a variable gain amplifier and the Wilkinson combiner. The variable gain amplifier is fabricated in 90 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, and the passive hybrid and the Wilkinson combiner are designed on the printed circuit board with RO4003 substrate. After combining the measurement results of each block, the VMPS shows 45 degree phase shifts with 7 degree phase error, and 9 mW consumption.

Building Blocks for a 24 GHz Phased-Array Front-End in CMOS Technology for Smart Streetlights

Cyril Botteron, Pierre-André Farine, Gabriele Tasselli, Ban Wang

According to a recent European Union report, lighting represents a significant share of electricity costs and the goal of reducing lighting power consumption by 20% demands the coupling of light-emitting diode (LED) lights with smart sensors and communication networks. In this context, this paper proposes the integration of these three elements into a smart streetlight, incorporating a 24 GHz phased-array (Ph-A) front-end (FE). The main building blocks of this Ph-A FE integrated in a low cost 90 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology are fully characterized. The selected FE’s architecture allows the implementation of transceivers as well as Doppler radar sensors functionalities. More specifically, the Ph-A technology is applied to a Doppler radar sensor in order to realize multi-lane road scanning and pedestrian detection. That way, the smart streetlight can become eco-friendly by turning on the LEDs only when necessary as well as to measure traffic parameters such as vehicle speed, type and direction. Intercommunication between the smart streetlights is based on a time-sharing mechanism that uses the same FE reconfigured as transceiver. Thanks to this functionality, the recorded traffic information can be relayed through adjacent streetlights to a control center, and control commands and warnings can be spread through the network. The system requirements are derived assuming a simplified model of the operating scenario with a typical inter-light distance of 50 m and line-of-sight between lights. The radar range is around 60 m, which allows for continuous coverage from one streetlight to the adjacent one. Meanwhile, a communication range of 140 m is derived as a fundamental requirement for reliable communication between streetlight sensors because it allows bypassing of one node in case of failure. For the developed building blocks — a low-noise amplifier, a variable-gain amplifier, a voltage-controlled oscillator and a vector modulation phase shifter — the design methodology is presented together with measurement results. The system power, consumption, noise figure and gain are estimated by means of a system analysis based on the measured data from the implemented blocks and the state of the art performances for the missing parts. It is shown that the requirements can be fulfilled with a total power consumption of around 375 mW in Doppler radar sensor mode and around 190 mW in transceiver mode. To the authors’ knowledge, this kind of integration is new and overcomes some limitations of the currently used solutions based on infrared sensors and low-throughput communications.

2014

184 mu W ultrasonic on-off keying/amplitude-shift keying demodulator for downlink communication in deep implanted medical devices

Catherine Dehollain, Francesco Mazzilli

An ultrasonic on-off keying/amplitude-shift keying demodulator using standard 0.18 mu m CMOS technology is proposed, intended for recovering the identification number of an implanted medical device transmitted from an external base station. The CMOS integrated ultrasonic demodulator consists of a low-noise amplifier, variable-gain-amplifiers, an offset cancellation circuit, an envelope detector circuit and a hysteresis comparator. Downlink data transmission of 50 kb/s data signals in the 1 MHz band is successfully demonstrated, the power consumption is about 184 mu W from a 1.5 V supply. The architecture is described, and the measurements performed confirm the theoretical result.

Institution of Engineering and Technology2016

Building Blocks for a 24 GHz Phased-Array Front-End in CMOS Technology for Smart Streetlights

Cyril Botteron, Pierre-André Farine, Gabriele Tasselli, Ban Wang

2014