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A low power consumption CMOS differential-ring VCO for a wireless sensor

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Abstract

This paper describes a new three-stage voltage controlled ring oscillator (VCO) based on 0.35 μm standard CMOS technology. The VCO was designed for a transmitter operating in the 863–870 MHz European band for wireless sensor applications. The transmitter is designed for binary frequency-shift keying (BFSK) modulation, communicating a maximum data rate of 20 kb/s. In addition to the VCO, the transmitter combines a BFSK modulator, an up conversion mixer, a power amplifier and an 863–870 MHz band pass filter. The modulator uses the frequency hopping spread spectrum and it is intended for short range wireless applications, such as wireless sensor networks. The oscillation frequency of the VCO is controlled by a voltage VCTRL. Simulation results of the fully differential VCO with positive feedback show that the estimated power consumption, at desired oscillation frequency and under a supply voltage of 3.3 V, is only 7.48 mW. The proposed VCO exhibits a phase noise lower than −126 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset frequency.

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Acknowledgments

This work was done thanks to financial support of the Franco-Tunisian Integrated Action of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology of Tunisia (Project Grant 09G1126).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EMC Research Group, National Engineering School of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Hanen Thabet & Mohamed Masmoudi

  2. IM2NP Laboratory, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Hanen Thabet, Stéphane Meillère, Jean-Luc Seguin, Hervé Barthelemy & Khalifa Aguir

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  1. Hanen Thabet
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  2. Stéphane Meillère
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  3. Mohamed Masmoudi
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  4. Jean-Luc Seguin
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  5. Hervé Barthelemy
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  6. Khalifa Aguir
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Correspondence to Hanen Thabet.

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Thabet, H., Meillère, S., Masmoudi, M. et al. A low power consumption CMOS differential-ring VCO for a wireless sensor. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 73, 731–740 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-012-9914-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-012-9914-8

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