Architecture Considerations for 60 GHz Pulse Transceiver Front-Ends

While Impulse ultra wideband (I-UWB) is well established in the frequency range between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz, the application of pulse modulation in the frequency band around 60 GHz is a recent development. In this paper, the properties of 60 GHz pulses are outlined. Different architectures for pulse based transceiver front-ends are compared. It is distinguished between the up-conversion of UWB-pulses and their direct generation at millimeter-wave (mmwave) frequencies. Both non-coherent and coherent receiver front-ends are considered. These considerations form the basis for a future 60 GHz UWB transceiver in 65 nm CMOS SOI that can be employed as part of a system on chip (SoC) for sensor networks.