Nanowatt Wake-Up Radios: Discrete-Components and Integrated Architectures

This work focuses on nano-watt wake-up radio architectures designed to improve the energy efficiency of medium range wireless communication. An integrated solution is presented with the aim of pushing the sensitivity vs. power trade-off to the limit. The key blocks are an envelope detector based on a MOSFET operated in the subthreshold region and an amplifier partly sharing the same bias current. According to simulations, a design based on the STMicroelectronics 90-nm BCD technology achieves an estimated -54-dBm sensitivity at 1.2-V supply with 11-nA total bias current for the envelope detector, the amplifier and the Schmitt trigger. We also present a comparison between integrated solutions and a solution based on discrete components in terms of power consumption, bitrate, addressing capabilities and sensitivity.