An IR-UWB Angle-of-Arrival Sensor IC Using Auto-Toggled Time-to-Digital Converter

This letter introduces an impulse radio-ultrawideband (IR-UWB) angle-of-arrival (AoA) sensor integrated circuit (IC) using an auto-toggled time-to-digital converter (TDC). The detectable range of the proposed AoA sensor can be extended by a factor of 2 by utilizing an auto-toggle operation that toggles the TDC's input signal according to the target's position. The analog front end (AFE) of the receivers is designed with a 3-5 GHz band and the system comprises two AFEs and one digital back end (DBE). The proposed IR-UWB AoA sensor IC was fabricated using a 65-nm CMOS process. The measurable angular range was ± 40°, and an angle error of ± 1.5° was measured.