Reconfigurable Si RF Receiver Front-Ends for Multistandard Radios

Enabling factor for the success of future highly integrated multi-standard transceiver is reconfiguration and programmability. This is especially true for the radio frequency (RF) receiver front-end, where today a significant fraction of the power and area are consumed. After a brief overview of circuit requirements, this paper focuses on design of reconfigurable low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and mixers for the most diffused wireless standards. Extensive hardware sharing and programmability are shown to be the key to keep area and power consumption within acceptable levels. Different circuit architectures and topologies, exploiting wideband and selective-narrow-band approaches will be discussed, and practical design examples will be shown.