Wireless sensor networks mark the confluence of the technological trends in sensing, computation, and wireless communications towards smaller size, lower power and lower cost electronics. They can be used for a plethora of applications: from the elimination of the wiring cost for light switches, thermostats, fire alarm, chemical sensors, etc., to inventory monitoring, location of boxes and pallets in warehouses, inertial sensing in some entertainment applications, wearable or implanted medical devices.
The preferred solution to realize a radio link for such networks must feature an ultra low power consumption (0.1-10mW) while conveying a relatively low data rate (0.01-10Mb/s) over a short-range (0.1-10m).
Our research investigates the design of ultra low power integrated transceiver front-ends taking advantage of both a classic narrow band radio architecture operating in the 2.4GHz ISM band, and an ultra wide band impulse radio approach in the 7.25-8.5GHz band.