A high-level design and optimization tool for analog RF receiver front-ends

This paper presents a high-level analysis and optimization tool for the design of analog RF receiver front-ends, which takes all design parameters and all aspects of performance degradation (noise, distortion, self-mixing...) into account. The simulations are performed in the spectral domain with a behavioral model library for the RF building blocks. The tool allows to explore alternative RF receiver topologies as well as to investigate design trade-offs within each topology. By having integrated the performance analysis routine within a simulated annealing optimization loop, the tool can also perform an optimal high-level synthesis of a given topology towards a specific application. It then determines the optimal specifications for the RF building blocks such that the required receiver signal quality is met while the overall power and/or area consumption is minimized.