A 1.1-V 9.9-mW MC-CDMA Downlink Baseband Receiver IC for Next-Generation Cellular Communication Systems

A baseband receiver IC for a downlink multicarrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system suitable for the next generation mobile communication in urban areas is designed and implemented. To meet mobile receiver requirements, we have proposed a synchronization algorithm, which tracks and reduces residual synchronization errors, and a channel estimation algorithm, which provides accurate channel state information up to mobility of 120 km/hr. Low-power and low-complexity architectures are designed for hardware implementation. The superior performance of the proposed chip as a low-power solution for mobile communication is demonstrated by the experimental results. It consumes only 9.9 mW at nominal frequency 5.76 MHz from a supply voltage of 1.1V. Its core area is 2.6 mm × 2.6 mm in 0.18-µm technology. The highest throughput can achieve 21.7 Mbps in a 5-MHz bandwidth.