A 900 MHz Zero-IF RF Transceiver for IEEE 802.15.4g SUN OFDM Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a 900 MHz zero-IF RF transceiver for IEEE 802.15.4g Smart Utility Networks OFDM systems. The proposed RF transceiver comprises an RF front end, a Tx baseband analog circuit, an Rx baseband analog circuit, and a fractional-N frequency synthesizer. In the RF front end, re-use of a matching network reduces the chip size of the RF transceiver. Since a T/Rx switch is implemented only at the input of the low noise amplifier, the driver amplifier can deliver its output power to an antenna without any signal loss; thus, leading to a low dc power consumption. The proposed current-driven passive mixer in Rx and voltage-mode passive mixer in Tx can mitigate the IQ crosstalk problem, while maintaining 50% duty-cycle in local oscillator clocks. The overall Rx-baseband circuits can provide a voltage gain of 70 dB with a 1 dB gain control step. The proposed RF transceiver is implemented in a CMOS technology and consumes 37 mA in Tx mode and 38 mA in Rx mode from a 1.8 V supply voltage. The fabricated chip shows a Tx average power of -2 dBm, a sensitivity level of -103 dBm at 100 Kbps with PER of -11 dBm, and an Rx input IP3 of -2.3 dBm.