CMOS For Ultra Wideband and 60 GHZ Communications

IEEE SCV Communications Society Lecture
CMOS for Ultra Wideband and

60 GHz Communications
Bob
Brodersen
Dept. of
EECS
Univ. of
http://bwrc.eecs.berkeley.eduCalif.
Berkeley
Berkeley Wireless Research Center
17 GHz of Unlicensed Bandwidth!

UWB
UWB
10
0
ID Comm
Mm
Wave
Band
UWB
20
30
Vehicular
40
50
60 GHz
Comm
The UWB bands have some use restrictions, but

FCC requirements will allow a wide variety of new
applications
The 59-64 GHz band can transmit up to .5 Watt
with little else constrained
How can we use these new resources?
UWB and 60 GHz radios potentially extend the

range of application of radio technology
Peak Data Rate (bps)
1G
UWB
HDTV motion picture,

Pt.-to-Pt. links
100 M
802.11a
60 GHz
Pt.-to-Pt.
NTSC video;
rapid file
transfer
10 M
802.11b
MPEG video;
PC file transfer
1M
100 k
60 GHz
WLAN
3G
Bluetooth
Voice,
Data
UWB
Cellular
ZigBee
10 k
0.1
10
Carrier Frequency (GHz)
100
Lets start with UWB

AccordingtotheFCC:
Ultrawidebandradiosystemstypicallyemploypulse
modulationwhereextremelynarrow(short)burstsof
RFenergyaremodulatedandemittedtoconvey
information.theemissionbandwidthsoften
exceedonegigahertz.Insomecasesimpulse
transmittersareemployedwherethepulsesdonot
modulateacarrier.
FederalCommunicationsCommission,
ETDocket98153,FirstReportandOrder,Feb.2002
Signaling Approach
Sinusoidal, Narrowband
Frequency
Time
Impulse, Ultra-Wideband
Time
Frequency
FCC Emissions Limit for Indoor Systems
/MHz
Allowed emissions from a PC
Exploring a new regime of Shannons curve

Bits/sec/Hz
4
Usual goal
Energy Limited 3
2
Bandwidth Limited
1
-5db
UWB
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/16
5 db
10 db
15 db
Eb/N0
First Major Application Area

High Speed, Inexpensive Short Range
Communications (3.1-10.6 GHz)
FCC limit of -41dBm/Mhz at 10 feet severely limits
range
Even using all 7.5 GHz of bandwidth the maximum power that
can be transmitted is equivalent to having -2dBm (.6 mW) from
an isotropic radiator (EIRP)
For short range communications this may be OK e.g. line of
sight from 10 feet for connecting a camcorder to a set-top box,
wireless Firewire
Advantage is that it should be less expensive and lower

power than a WLAN solution (since 802.11a > 100
Mbits/sec for short range)
Sample waveforms
Transmitted Signal
Outdoor Rcvd Clear LoS
4.5
150
1.5
200 ns
3.5
20 ns
Office Rcvd Clear LoS

20 ns
100
0.5
50
-0.5
-50
-1
-100
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
time (nanoseconds)
2200
2400
-1.5
980
2600
4.5
1000
1020
1040
1060
time (nanoseconds)
1080
1100
1120
-150
1.5
150
100
0.5
50
-0.5
-50
-1
-100
980
1000
1020
1040
1060
1080
time (nanoseconds)
1100
1120
988
989
4
3.5
1 ns
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
953
954
955
956
957
958
time (nanoseconds)
959
960
961
962
-1.5
994
995
996
997
998
999
time (nanoseconds)
1000
1001
1002
1003
(From Bob Scholtz USC Ultralab)
-150
981
982
983
984
985
986
time (nanoseconds)
987
990
High Rate UWB Communications

1
1
0.8
M a g n it u d e (V )
0.6
Biphase signalling
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
6
Time (nS)
10
12
Basically pulsed rate data transmission sort of optical

fiber without the fiber
Key design problem, as in wireline transmission, is
synchronization
New design problems that do not exist in wireline
Interference from other RF sources
Multipath (delay spreads of 10s of ns at least)
High Data Rate UWB
To Minimize Interference
Break 7.5 GHz into smaller bands (> 500MHz)
and transmit in clear bands
Filter out bands that are likely to have use (e.g.
5GHz wireless LAN bands)
Directional antennas
Multipath
Equalizers (as used in SERDES), but much
longer delay compensation digital?
Directional antennas
Second Major Application Area

Low Data Rate, Short Range Communications
with Locationing (< 960 MHz)
Round trip time for pulse provides range
information multiple range estimates provides
location
Used for asset tracking a sophisticated RFID tag
that provides location
Can be used to track people (children, firemen in
buildings)
Sensor networks
Location Determination Using UWB
Transmit short discrete pulses instead of

modulating code onto carrier signal
Pulses last ~1-2 ns
Resolution of inches
UWB provides
Indoor measurements
Relative location
Insensitivity to multipath
Material penetration (0-1 GHz band)
Time of flight
Material penetration
35
Painted 2X6 Board
Concrete Block
Clay Brick
T o ta l O n e W a y A tte n u a tio n (d B )
30
25
3/4" Plywood
20
15
3/4" Pine Board
10
Wet Paper Towel
Glass
Drywall
Asphalt Shingle
10
20
30
50
Frequency (GHz)
(from Bob Scholtz)

80 100
Kevlar Sheet
Polyethylene
Paper Towel (Dry)
Fiberglass Insul.
200
Avoiding Interfering With Other Users

Co-existence through very low power transmission:
Operate so that aggregate Interference from UWB Transmissions is
Undetectable (or Has Minimal Impact) to Narrow-Band Receivers .
What you can do with that for communications and

locationing is a research question we are looking at
UWB
Thermal (kT) Noise Floor
Interference From other Users

Everyone is an in-band interferer why isnt the UWB signal
swamped?
Energy in Pulse is Concentrated in Time
Amplitude
If Equate Energies, Find

Ratio of Amplitudes is:
Time
Apulse
A sin
1/2
DutyCycle
For a duty cycle of 1%, this implies a pulse amplitude 7x

an equivalent power sinusoid.
Ex: -77dBm (50noise) per MHz over 1GHz is a 40mV
pulse
BWRC: UWB Transceiver Chip

A single chip CMOS UWB transceiver at power levels of
1 mW/MHz for locationing and tracking applications
Flexible design for a wide range of data rates to investigate
UWB transmission characteristics
For low rate applications, transmission at minimum possible
signal level
Develop limits of locationing accuracy
Being Implemented by PhD students Ian ODonnell, Mike

Chen, Stanley Wang
Analog Circuits - Pulse Reception

Energy of Pulse is Contained in Small Time Window
Tsamp
Time
Twindow
Only Need Limited Amount of Fast Sampling

Use Parallel Sampling Blocks
Have Rest of Time in Cycle to Process Samples
Do Digital Correlation for Synchronization and

Detections
Minimum of Analog Blocks Run at Full Speed to Reduce Power
Chip Architecture
Transient
Capture
LNA
A/D
AGC
A/D
..
.
Pulser
Parallel
A/Ds
..
.
A/D
Correlation, detection and

synchronization
Programmable
Correlators
Detector
AGC
Timing &
Control
Synchronization
Encoder
PLL
Din
ECC
Oscillator
Crystal
1 GHz bandwidth (2 Gsample/sec A/D)

Dout
1 Bit A/D is Adequate at Typical Interference

Levels
1 GHz BW
RX @ kTB Noise Floor
1-bit ADC Is Adequate
(No AGC)
NF Not Critical
Specs for Baseband

PN0
PN1
Nripple
<= 64 ns
Trep
10ns ~ 100ns
Pulse Repetition Rate: 100MHz to 1 MHz

Maximum receivable Pulse ripple length
(Nripple=Npulse+Nspread): < 64ns (128 samples)
Sampling rate: 2 GHz
PN spreading is ranging from 1 to 1024 chips
RX: Digital Backend

To Analog
V[31:0]
Data Out
Acquisition: 128-Tap Matched Filter x 128 x 11 PN Phases

Synchronization: Early/On-Time/Late PN Phases
Receiving with Eb/No = -11db

PN sequence length requirement ( design max is 1024).
(1) Acquisition mode, ~400 chips is enough for suppressing the
acquisition error below 1e-3.
Chips Prob. of Miss lock Prob. of False alarm
EbNo @ output
300
0.0037
0.0041
14.4245 dB
400
0.86e-3
1.3e-3
15.6643 dB
(2) Data recovery mode, ~100 chips could achieve an uncoded

bit error rate of 1e-3.
Chips
BER
10
100
200
0.1663
1.1e-3
2e-5
MF/Correlator Area vs. Acquisition Time

Area ~ 55 mm2
Area = 5.3 mm2
Power Budget
Block
Duty
Cycle
Power
(Always On)
Power
(Per Period)
Low Noise Amp
Twin/Trep
600W
60W
Variable Gain Amp
Twin/Trep
1.8mW
180W
Sample/Hold
100%
1W
1W
A/D Converter
100%
100W
100W
Oscillator
100%
100W
100W
Sampling Clock Gen
100%
400W
400W
TX: Pulse Generation
2ns/Trep
10mW
100W
100%
60W
60W
Digital Logic
Total Power Per Period:
= 1001W
Status
Chip tape out by summer in .13 micron
technology
Stay tuned at
http://bwrc.eecs.berkeley.edu/Research/UWB/
17 GHz of Unlicensed Bandwidth!

UWB
UWB
10
0
ID Comm
Mm
Wave
Band
UWB
20
30
Vehicular
40
50
60 GHz
Comm
The UWB bands have some use restrictions, but

FCC requirements will allow a wide variety of new
applications
The 59-64 GHz band can transmit up to .5 Watt
with little else constrained
How can we use these new resources?
60 GHz Unlicensed Allocation (1998)

Oxygen absorption band
Radar
Wireless LAN
Unlicensed
ISM
U.S.
Road Info.
Europe
Mobile ICBN
Unlicensed
Pt.-to-Pt.
Prohibited
Test
Japan
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
Frequency GHz
64
65
Space and fixed & mobile apps.
Wireless LAN
66
Exploiting the Unlicensed 60 GHz Band

5 GHz of unlicensed and pretty much
unregulated bandwidth is available
Requires
New approaches for design of CMOS

integrated circuits (distributed, transmission line
based)
New system architectures
Application Scenarios
Communications Backbone
Last 100 meters
Building-to-Building
Ad Hoc Video Links

XBC
In-Building Backbone and/or LAN
60 GHz Beams
Highway Applications
Why Isnt 60 GHz in Widespread Use?

Oxygen absorbs RF energy at 60 GHz
The technology to process signals at 60
GHz is very expensive
The signal radiated is attenuated by the
small antenna size i.e. the power
transmitted at 60 Ghz from a quarter wave
dipole is 20 dB less than at 5GHz.
Oxygen attenuation
The oxygen attenuation is about 15 dB/km,
so for most of the applications this is not a
significant component of loss
For long range outdoor links, worst case rain
conditions are actually a bigger issue
The technology to process signals at 60

GHz is very expensive
Yes, it has been expensive, but can

we can do it in standard CMOS?
CMOS modeling at microwave frequencies
Maximum unilateral gain
Current gain
fmax is the important number to look at

Need to Model CMOS at Microwave

Frequencies
ft
fmax
gm
2 Cgg
ft
2 Rg (gmCgd Cgg) (Rg rch Rs ) gds
And we find that CMOS can do it!
If the device is designed correctly and enough current is used, with .

13 micron fmax can easily surpass 60 GHz
Phillips reported 150 GHz fmax in .18 micron technology
However, New Kinds of CMOS Circuits are

Needed
Since the device dimensions are on the order of the

wavelength, distributed structures can be used
Distributed techniques allow for extremely wideband
linear-phase amplification approaching fmax
This a new circuit style for CMOS
60 GHz Microwave CMOS Oscillators

0.13 standard
CMOS process
Use coplanar
waveguide inductors
and capacitors
Calibration structures
on same chip
Siemanns presented
circuit in .18 micron
at ISSCC 2002
Overcome the Small Antenna Problem by Using

Multiple Antenna Beamformers
a0
b0
a1
b1
Single Channel
Transceiver
a2
b2
PA
PA
PA
Wavelength is 5mm, so in a few square inches a large

antenna array can be implemented
Antenna gain provides increased energy to receiver
without extra noise and power
Multiple antenna implementation may actually reduce
analog requirements
New Design Strategies:

Traditional Radio vs. Microwave CMOS
Operate device far away from fT to enhance

gain (cell phones at 1-2 GHz, fT ~ 50 GHz)
Many off-chip front-end components (filters,
switches, matching networks, antenna)
Clear separation between lumped circuits onchip and limited consideration of distributed
effects off-chip (package and board)
Operate close or beyond fT
Integrated front-end (antenna/filter)
Many structures electrically large &

distributed
60 GHz Radio Frequency Planning
Use 5 GHz as an IF frequency

The open question
What is the best way to use 5 GHz of

bandwidth to implement a high datarate
link?
Extremely inefficient modulation but at a very
high rate? (say 2 GHz of bandwidth for 1
Gigabit/sec) requires analog processing
Or use an efficient modulation, so lower
bandwidth. e.g. OFDM but needs digital
processing and a fast A/D
Conclusions
UWB radios provide a new way to utilize the spectrum and
there is a wide variety of unique applications of this
technology
However, it takes a completely new kind of radio design
At the present state of technology CMOS is able to exploit

the unlicensed 60 GHz band
However, it will take a new design and modeling
methodology
There is 17 GHz of bandwidth ready to be used for

those willing to try something new!

CMOS For Ultra Wideband and 60 GHZ Communications

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IEEE SCV Communications Society Lecture

CMOS for Ultra Wideband and

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

17 GHz of Unlicensed Bandwidth!

The UWB bands have some use restrictions, but

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

UWB and 60 GHz radios potentially extend the

Peak Data Rate (bps)

HDTV motion picture,

Carrier Frequency (GHz)

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Lets start with UWB

FCC Emissions Limit for Indoor Systems

Allowed emissions from a PC

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Exploring a new regime of Shannons curve

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

First Major Application Area

Advantage is that it should be less expensive and lower

Outdoor Rcvd Clear LoS

Office Rcvd Clear LoS

(From Bob Scholtz USC Ultralab)

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

High Rate UWB Communications

Basically pulsed rate data transmission sort of optical

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

High Data Rate UWB

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Second Major Application Area

Location Determination Using UWB

Transmit short discrete pulses instead of

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Painted 2X6 Board

(from Bob Scholtz)

Avoiding Interfering With Other Users

What you can do with that for communications and

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Interference From other Users

If Equate Energies, Find

For a duty cycle of 1%, this implies a pulse amplitude 7x

BWRC: UWB Transceiver Chip

Being Implemented by PhD students Ian ODonnell, Mike

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Analog Circuits - Pulse Reception

Only Need Limited Amount of Fast Sampling

Do Digital Correlation for Synchronization and

Correlation, detection and

1 GHz bandwidth (2 Gsample/sec A/D)

1 Bit A/D is Adequate at Typical Interference

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Specs for Baseband

Pulse Repetition Rate: 100MHz to 1 MHz

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

RX: Digital Backend

Acquisition: 128-Tap Matched Filter x 128 x 11 PN Phases

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

Receiving with Eb/No = -11db

(2) Data recovery mode, ~100 chips could achieve an uncoded

Berkeley Wireless Research Center

MF/Correlator Area vs. Acquisition Time

Area = 5.3 mm2

Berkeley Wireless Research Center