An all-digital frequency tunable IR-UWB transmitter with an approximate 15th derivative Gaussian pulse generator

This work presents a new frequency-tunable, OOK–modulated, impulse-radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) transmitter, where approximate 15th derivative Gaussian pulses are produced by a monopulse-synthesis pulse generator. The center frequency of our output UWB pulses can be easily adjusted between 4 and 9 GHz by controlling delay time. Thus, the whole UWB frequency band from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz can be covered and utilized. Since the proposed monopulse-synthesis pulse generator already includes a pulse shaping function, RF bandpass filters are not required, thus realizing the extremely low complexity and small circuit area. The proposed IR-UWB transmitter has been implemented and fabricated in a standard 0.18 μm CMOS 1p6m process. The power supply voltage is 1.8 V and the targeted data rate is 31.25 Mbps. Chip measurement results show that the power spectrum density conforms to the FCC spectrum masks, and the peak-to-peak voltage of output UWB pulses is 56 mV. In addition, the core area of the chip is 0.02 mm2, the measured frequency tuning range is 3.1–10.6 GHz, and the measured energy dissipation is only 12.5 pJ/bit. Compared to the state-of-the-art designs in the literature, the chip area and tunable frequency range are improved by at least 33% and 53%, respectively.