A remotely-powered, 20 Mb/s, 5.35 pJ/bit impulse-UWB WSN tag for cm-accurate-localization sensor networks

Abstract

This paper presents an ultra-low-power, low-voltage sensor node for wireless sensor networks. The node scavenges RF energy out of the environment, resulting in a limited available power budget and causing an unstable supply voltage. Hence, accurate and extensive power management is needed to achieve proper functionality. The fully integrated, autonomous system is described, including the scavenging circuitry with integrated antenna, the power detection and power control circuits, the on-chip clock reference, the UWB transmitter and the digital control circuitry. The wireless sensor node is implemented in $$0.13 \,\upmu \hbox {m}$$ 0.13 μ m CMOS technology. The only external components are a storage capacitor and a UWB transmit antenna. The system consumes only $$113\, \upmu \hbox {W}$$ 113 μ W during burst mode, while only 8 nW is consumed during the scavenging operation, enabling an efficiency of 5.35 pJ/bit which is significantly better than current state-of-the-art UWB tags. Due to the use of impulse-radio UWB, also cm-accurate localization of the tag can be achieved.