A Low-Power Single-Weight-Combiner 802.11abg SoC in 0.13 µm CMOS for Embedded Applications Utilizing An Area and Power Efficient Cartesian Phase Shifter and Mixer Circuit

A low-power 802.11abg SoC which achieves the best reported sensitivity as well as lowest reported power consumption and utilizes an extensive array of auto calibrations is reported. This SoC utilizes a two-antenna array receiver to build a single weight combiner (SWC) system. A new signal-path Cartesian phase generation and combination technique is proposed that shifts the RF signal in 22.5deg phase steps. A 3 dB improvement in received SNR is achieved in comparison to the single path receiver. The radio and AFE occupy 10 mm² of area in a digital 0.13 mum CMOS process of which 0.29 mm² is occupied by the SWC RF receiver. The radio+AFE consume 85 mW of power in active Rx mode of which 30 mW is utilized by the SWC RF front-end.