A −90dBm sensitivity wireless transceiver using VCO-PA-LNA-switch-modulator co-design for low power insect-based wireless sensor networks

This paper presents a wireless transceiver for WSNs using insects. It employs current reuse, switch-less switching, and fast PLL on/off switching techniques to reduce the power, size, cost, and weight of the sensor node. Implemented in 130-nm CMOS technology, the transceiver merges VCO, PA, LNA, TX/RX switch, and modulator into a common branch to reduce its power and complexity. In TX mode, the transmit-power can be tuned from -30dBm to -4.4dBm. The sensitivity measured for 0.1% BER in RX mode is -90dBm.