Low-Power, Infrared Communications Transceiver

A low-power Infrared communications transceiver is presented. It is used in an integrated label data communications environment for retail business applications (Super markets). The circuit features a novel active shunt circuit [1] and a novel AGC structure [2]. Low power consumption is the key criterion of this design. It operates under 2.1 V of power supply voltage, consuming less than 60 μA and achieving a sensitivity of less than 40 pApp in dark environment. The signal frequency range is situated in a band of ± 1.2 KHz around 16.4 KHz. The circuit is designed in a 2 μm Low-voltage CMOS technology.