Abstract
This thesis describes an investigation into the design of RF front ends with minimum
power dissipation. The central question is:
"What are the fundamental limits for the power dissipation of
telecommunication front ends, and what design procedures can be followed that
approach these limits and, at the same time, result in practical circuits?"
After a discussion of the state of the art in this area, the elementary operations of
a front end are identified. For each of these elementary operations, the fundamental limits
for the power dissipation are discussed, divided into technology imposed limits and
physics imposed limits. A traditional DECT front end design is used to demonstrate the
large difference between the fundamental limits and the power dissipation of existing
circuits.
To improve this situation, first the optimum distribution of specifications across
individual subcircuits needs to be determined, such that the requirements for a specific
system can be fulfilled. This is achieved through the introduction of formal transforms
of the specifications of subcircuits, which correspond with transforms of the subcircuit
itself. Using these transforms, the optimum distribution of gain, noise, linearity and
power dissipation can be determined. As it turns out, this optimum distribution can even
be represented by a simple, analytical expression. This expression predicts that the power
dissipation of the DECT front end can be reduced by a factor of 2.7 through an optimum
distribution of the specifications.
Using these optimum specifications of the subcircuits, the boundaries for further
power dissipation reduction can be determined. This is investigated at the system, circuit
and technology level. These insights are used in the design of a 2.5GHz wireless local
area network, implemented in an optimized technology ("Silicon on Anything"). The
power dissipation of the complete receiver is 3.5mW, more than an order of magnitude
below other wireless LAN receivers in recent publications.
Finally, the combination of this minimum power design method with a platform
based development strategy is discussed.
Original language | English |
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Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
Awarding Institution |
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Supervisors/Advisors |
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Award date | 16 Sept 2004 |
Place of Publication | Eindhoven |
Publisher | |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2004 |