Ultra-Flexible Radios for Networks of Avian RF Tags

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The objective of this research is to develop radios for multi-function bird tracking tags. Each radio tag will support geo-localization, in-flight telemetry and networking. The approach is to develop a passive-mixer-first radio architecture that connects highly flexible baseband circuitry to the antenna through a "transparent front-end."State-of-the-art radios provide programmable gain, bandwidth, and center frequency, but have fixed antenna interfaces, dramatically reducing their flexibility. The proposed ?transparent front-end? allows direct interaction between highly controllable baseband circuitry and variable, poorly controlled antennas. Thus, all important properties of the radio are made programmable, including previously fixed properties such as impedance matching, allowing on-the-fly reconfiguration. Furthermore, this flexibility comes with little or no cost in terms of power consumption or performance. By developing the theoretical and practical aspects of the design of transparent front-ends, this project will complete a multi-decade trend from fixed, single function radios to fully flexible multi-function transceivers.Because transparent front-end radios enhance performance while reducing cost and size, they are likely to find use in a variety of scientific and commercial applications. The project also provides a showcase of different aspects of wireless technology which will be used in educational demonstrations. By permitting link-ups between RF tags and commercial handheld devices, this project will also add a new dimension to citizen science in field ornithology. The research program will support graduate research and undergraduate design projects and outreach activities to K-12 students.