Compact and ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz LNA for on-body communication devices

The development and characterization of an extremely compact, ultra-low-power, and detuning-robust Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) for Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) applications is presented in this paper. The amplifier is designed and then implemented with only seven high-density surface-mount components. The noise figure is as low as 1:5 dB with an associated power gain of 6.2 dB while it consumes less than 1 mW drawn from a 1 V supply. The input third-order intercept point (IIP₃) and the 1-dB compression point (P_1dB) are -11 and -9 dBm, respectively. The input and output return loss are better than 6 dB and 14 dB, respectively, in the 2.45 GHz ISM band.