Modulation/Coding Options for Coin Cell Battery Operated Transmitters

Wireless sensors have been used in many applications over the last decade. Size and power consumption remain the two principal challenges impeding their widespread use. To address both issues, batteries with smaller form factors such as coin cells can be deployed. The lifetime performance of linear modulation transmitters when deploying coin cell batteries has not been addressed previously. Here, we develop battery lifetime expressions for M-QAM transmitters utilizing coin cells. Then battery life performance of M-QAM transmitters is compared, and a number of operational regions are identified. Our results indicate that choice of specific linear modulation has a significant impact on battery life. The impact of forward error correction coding gain on the battery life is also investigated.