Low-Power RFED Wake-Up Receiver Design for Low-Cost Wireless Sensor Network Applications

Self Cite

Wireless sensor network (WSN) applications are under extensive research and development due to the need to interconnect devices with each other. To reduce latency while keeping very low power consumption, the implementation of a wake-up receiver (WuR) is of particular interest. In WuR implementations, meeting high performance metrics is a design challenge, and the obtention of high-sensitivity, high data rate, low-power-consumption WuRs is not a straightforward procedure. The focus of our proposals is centered on power consumption and area reduction to provide high integrability and maintain a low cost-per-node, while we simultaneously improve circuit sensitivity. Firstly, we present a two-stage design based on a feedback technique and improve the area use, power consumption and sensitivity of the circuit by adding a current-reuse approach. The first solution is composed of a feedback amplifier, two op-amps plus a low-pass filter. The circuit achieves a sensitivity of –63.2 dBm with a power consumption of 6.77 µA and an area as low as 398 × 266 µm2. With the current-reuse feedback amplifier, the power consumption is halved in the second circuit (resulting in 3.63 µA), and the resulting circuit area is as low as 262 × 262 µm2. Thanks to the nature of the circuit, the sensitivity is improved to –75 dBm. This latter proposal is particularly suitable in applications where a fully integrated WuR is desired, providing a reasonable sensitivity with a low power consumption and a very low die footprint, therefore facilitating integration with other components of the WSN node. A thorough discussion of the most relevant state-of-the-art solutions is presented, too, and the two developed solutions are compared to the most relevant contributions available in the literature.

Section: Overview and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cmos-integrated Wur Design With a Feedback Configuration And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Area-Efficient Integrated Current-Reuse Feedback Amplifier for Wake-Up Receivers in Wireless Sensor Network Applications

Galante-Sempere

Ramos-Valido

Khemchandani

et al. 2022

Self Cite

“…Obviously, this approach requires the use of a radio frequency wake up circuitry and an antenna. In addition to the area increase on the printed circuit board (PCB) and the antenna orientation problems [ 28 ], its power consumption must be taken in consideration [ 29 ], and, in particular, its quiescent current [ 30 ].…”

Section: System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Method for Gaining the Control of Standalone Underwater Sensor Nodes Based on Power Supply Sensing

García

Montiel–Nelson

Bautista

et al. 2021

In this paper, a new method for gaining the control of standalone underwater sensor nodes based on sensing the power supply evolution is presented. Underwater sensor networks are designed to support multiple extreme scenarios such as network disconnections. In those cases, the sensor nodes involved should go into standalone, and its wired and wireless communications should be disabled. This paper presents how to exit from the standalone status and enter into debugging mode following a practical ultra-low power design methodology. In addition, the discharge and regeneration effects are analyzed and modeled to minimize the error using the sensor node self measurements. Once the method is presented, its implementation details are discussed including other solutions like wake up wireless modules or a pin interruption solution. Its advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The method proposed is evaluated with several simulations and laboratory experiments using a real aquaculture sensor node. Finally, all the results obtained demonstrate the usefulness of our new method to gain the control of a standalone sensor node. The proposal is better than other approaches when the hibernation time is longer than 167.45 μs. Finally, our approach requires two orders of magnitude less energy than the best practical solution.

“…The envelope detector is one of the critical elements in the weak signal front ends in various applications (sensing, communications, energy harvesting) due to its power-consumption to sensitivity trade-off [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In [ 17 ] we studied the impact of the envelope detector on sensitivity and power consumption of the wake-up sensor interface in the lower audio frequency range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Power Sensor Interface with a Switched Inductor Frequency Selective Envelope Detector

Gazivoda

Bilas

2021

With the growing need to understand our surroundings and improved means of sensor manufacturing, the concept of Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more interesting. To enable continuous monitoring and event detection by IoT, the development of low power sensors and interfaces is required. In this work we present a novel, switched inductor based acoustic sensor interface featuring a bandpass filter and envelope detector, perform a sensitivity, frequency selectivity, and power consumption analysis of the circuit, and present its design parameters and their qualitative influence on circuit characteristics. We develop a prototype and present experimental characterization of the interface and its operation with input signals up to 20 mV peak-to-peak, at low acoustic frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 kHz. The prototype achieves a sensitivity of approximately 2 mV/mV in the passband, a four times lower sensitivity in the stopband, and a power consumption of approximately 3.31 µW. We compare the prototype interface to an interface consisting of an active bandpass filter and a passive voltage doubler using a prerecorded speedboat signal.