Design and analysis of a 1.2V, 2.4 GHz Low Power ASK Transmitter for Wireless Micro Sensor Nodes

A 1.2 V, 2.4 GHZ ASK transmitter for low-rate WPAN is designed and implemented. The transmitter topology is based on a PLL based direct modulation scheme. Emphasis was placed on observing device reliability constraints such as leakage current, switching current, supply voltage and the operating frequency at low power to maximize the life time of the wireless sensor nodes. Optimizations of architecture and circuit design level in order to reduce the power consumption are described. The performance of the CMOS ASK transmitter is compared with previously reported low power transmitters operating in similar frequency ranges.