A 5mW multi-standard Bluetooth LE/IEEE 802.15.6 SoC for WBAN applications

Abstract

In this work we present Bodysense, a low-power radio with sensor interface for WBAN applications. The SoC comprises a transceiver operating in the frequency range 2.36-2.483GHz and adhering to the IEEE 802.15.6 Narrow Band (NB) and Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) standards. The chip was fabricated in a 65nm technology and absorbs 5.5mA/5mA when operating in Rx/Tx mode. The receiver noise figure of 6dB leads to excellent sensitivity in both standards (-94/-96 for the BLE/NB). The π/4-DQPSK transmitter has a measured EVM and ACPR of 6.8% and -30dBc that exceed the NB specifications.