A Fully-Integrated Low Power PAM/PPM Multi-Channel UWB Transmitter

A new transmitter for ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radio is described in this paper. The proposed architecture features the simple design, low-power operation, and enables the pulse-shape generation for 2 modulation schemes for a multi-channel UWB. The average power calculation is presented for pulse trains using Pulse-Amplitude Modulation (PAM) and Pulse-Position Modulation (PPM). The design is based on a 0.18-mu m CMOS process. The core layout size is only 0.35 mm(2). The simulation results show that the generated signals satisfy the FCC spectrum mask, and the average power consumption is less than 1.7mW for these two types of signaling at a 1.8 V supply voltage. Pulses are transmitted at a PRF (Pulse Repetition Frequency) of 52MHz in 520 MHz bandwidth channels equally spaced within the 3.1-10.6 GHz ultra-wideband band.