A highly integrated IR-UWB transceiver for communication and localization

This paper describes a monolithic integrated single-chip transceiver intended for Impulse Radio (IR) Ultra-wide Band (UWB) applications compliant with the IEEE 802.15.4a standard. The transmitter is designed to operate in the upper UWB band on the mandatory channel #9 (7.9872 GHz). In order to assure compliance with the standard, the transceiver components are designed towards higher degree of integration, low cost and low power consumption operation. The receiver employs a direct down-conversion concept. The transmitter is an implementation of the gated-oscillator-principle to generate short impulses of 2 ns duration. It provides OOK and BPSK modulation capability in accordance with the standard. A fully integrated frequency synthesizer delivers all necessary LO and clock signals for the receiver and the transmitter. In order to minimize the on-chip cross-talk all supply voltages are internally regulated. The circuit was fabricated in a 0.25 μm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology occupying a Si area of 2.25 × 2.35 mm².