An approach for area- and power-efficient low-complexity implementation of multiple antenna transceivers

In this paper, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain is used to resolve the limits of circuit chip area and power consumption in multiple antenna systems. Multiple antennas promise greatly increased capacity, but increase chip area and power consumption due to multiple RF front ends and additional resources to process multiple streams. However, trading capacity for diversity gain decreases the SNR required for similar data rates as a single antenna system. For analog circuits, the SNR gain relaxes noise requirements, making viable both inductorless and reduced power consumption circuits. For example, simulations of a inductorless low noise amplifier (LNA) show a 3 dB increase in noise figure but threefold decrease in area when compared with a conventional narrowband LNA. Similarly, a narrowband LNA has a slightly higher noise figure when operated at half its original power consumption. For digital circuits, the lowered complexity of high diversity systems decreases the size and power consumption of the digital processor.