A low-power highly digitized receiver for 2.4-GHz-band GFSK applications

Abstract

This paper describes the design and measurement results of a low-power highly digitized receiver for Gaussian frequency-shift keying modulated input signals at 2.4 GHz. The RF front-end has been based on a low-IF architecture and does not require any variable gain or filtering blocks. The full dynamic range of the low-IF signal is converted into the digital domain by a low-power high-resolution time-continuous /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ analog-to-digital converter (ADC). This leads to a linear receive chain without limiters. A fifth-order poly-phase loop filter is used in the complex /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ ADC. The digital block performs filtering and demodulation. Channel filtering is combined with matched filtering and the suppression of noise resulting from the /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ ADC. The high degree of digitization leads to design flexibility with respect to changing standards and scalability in future CMOS generations. The receiver has been realized in a standard 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process and measures 3.5 mm/sup 2/. The only external components are an antenna filter and a crystal. The power consumption is only 32 mW in the continuous mode, which is at least a factor of two lower than state-of-the-art CMOS receivers.