An Ultralow-Power Wake-Up Receiver Based on Direct Active RF Detection

An ultralow-power direct active RF detection wake-up receiver (WuRx) is presented. In order to reduce the power consumption and system complexity, a differential RF envelope detector is implemented in a complementary current-reuse architecture. The detector sensitivity is enhanced through an embedded matching network with signal passive amplification. A prototype receiver is fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS technology with a core size of 0.46 mm
²
. At the operating frequency of 2.4 GHz, the receiver achieves a -50 dBm sensitivity [10
^-3
bit error rate (BER)] at a data rate of 200 kbps while consuming 4.5 μW from a 0.8 V supply voltage. The WuRx is capable of achieving a 10
^-3
BER for 200 kb/s data rate with a signal to interference ratio greater than -30 dB at ±10 MHz offset.