Radio frequency and broadband circuits

拟议的研究包括探索完全集成的超低功耗，短距离无线通信电路，这些电路将用于与传感器进行通信，并可能用于射频识别（RFID）。为了实现超低功耗，这些电路将与脉冲进行通信，这使得系统可以在一组脉冲之间轻松关闭。这项研究的新方面包括利用片上天线和利用扫掠功率的完全集成电源，其中扫掠功率源可以是环境光，射频场，热梯度或振动。虽然脉冲模式通信系统、完全集成的天线和片上电源已经被单独演示，但这里的新奇在于它们都被一起使用，并且电路的设计考虑到了天线和电源。结果，整个收发器具有功率更低、更小（几平方毫米的量级）、并且完全集成、成本更低的潜力。小尺寸对于生物医学传感器具有明显的益处，其中大尺寸可能导致生物医学传感器所附接的患者的不适。作为一个示例，在放射治疗中使用的传感器的情况下，小尺寸和不存在电池导致辐射的较少阻挡或偏转。在RFID应用中，小尺寸将允许标记较小的物品，例如珠宝。低成本的好处可以使这些设备被认为是一次性的生物医学应用。在RFID应用中，较低的成本意味着这些设备更有可能用于识别较低成本的物品，例如取代杂货店中的条形码。所提出的低功耗，低成本的通信系统的设计，应用于生物医学传感器将有利于医疗界。如果取代条形码的最终目标得以实现，这样的系统将对所有消费者带来巨大的好处。最后，实现更低的功耗、更小的尺寸和更低的成本是电子行业的普遍目标，因此本研究的各个方面可以应用于其他领域，例如消费电子、通信和娱乐。

The proposed research consists of the exploration of fully integrated ultra-low power, short-range wireless communications circuits These circuits will be used to communicate to and from sensors, and potentially for radio-frequency identification (RFID). To achieve ultra-low power, these circuits will communicate with pulses which allows the system to be turned off easily between a set of pulses.Novel aspects of this research include the exploitation of on-chip antennas and of a fully integrated power source making use of scavenged power, where scavenged power sources could be ambient light, radio frequency fields, thermal gradients or vibration. While pulse mode communications systems, fully integrated antennas, and on-chip power sources have been demonstrated individually, the novelty here is that they are all used together, and the circuits are being designed with the antenna and power source in mind. As a result, the overall transceiver has the potential to be lower in power, smaller (of the order of a few square mm), and being fully integrated, to be lower cost. The small size is of obvious benefit to bio-medical sensors where large size can cause discomfort to patients to whom biomedical sensors are attached. As one example, in the case of sensors used in radiation therapy, small size and the absence of a battery results in less blockage or deflection of radiation. In RFID applications, small size will allow smaller items to be tagged, for example, jewelry. Benefits of low cost could allow these devices to be considered disposable in biomedical applications. In RFID applications, lower cost means it is more likely these devices would be used to identify lower cost items, for example to replace the bar codes in a grocery store. The design of the proposed low-power, low-cost communcations systems as applied to biomedical sensor would benefit the medical community. If the final goal of replacing barcodes is achieved, such a system would be of enormous benefit to all consumers. And finally, achieving lower power, smaller size and lower cost are universal goals in the electronics industry, so aspects of this research could be applicable to other fields, for example, consumer electronics, communications, and entertainment.