Ultra-low Power, Short-Range, Miniature Transceiver for Wireless Distributed Sensor Networks

Puneet Newsaskar (puneet@caltech.edu)

Motivation

The vision of peer-to-peer radio communication between nodes in a network
represents an exciting new domain in wireless connectivity. Each node would
contain a tiny, inexpensive on-chip transceiver that consumes very little
power (running only on a watch battery or parasitic power), thus making the
widespread deployment of hundreds or even thousands of such nodes
cost-effective. The potential applications of such technology are enormous.
One such application is remote sensing. Radio links between a large number
of sensors would enable us to constantly gather useful information without
the cost and hassle of wiring. This could be used to monitor operating
conditions inside remote and hazardous areas like a nuclear power plant or
in the design of fully networked “intelligent” homes in which
air-conditioners, lights and sprinklers could be automatically adjusted.



Project Goals

The aim of this project is the design and implementation of an innovative
direct-conversion transceiver for such an application. The design parameters
we seek to minimize are size and power dissipation. We have chosen to ignore
cost in order to simplify the design. Therefore, instead of a fully
integrated single-chip solution, we envision a system with a small number of
off-chip passive components. The core of the transceiver is to be
implemented in a 0.35 mm CMOS process.