A pulsed multiband UWB transmitter and receiver with beamforming for high data-rate WPAN applications

Personal devices for recording high-quality video and photographs, and display systems for their playback are ubiquitous. Currently, the resolution for ultra high definition (UHD) video format is more than 33 megapixels (7680x4320), while cameras for mobile phones have reached the range of 40 megapixels. The media files used or generated in such devices can be very large. Sharing and using these files across devices such as smartphones, personal computers, and external storage drives, requires fast-transfer capability, which can be of the order of Gbps or higher. Additionally, high-resolution monitors and televisions also require streaming of display data at similar rates unless video compression is employed, which may not be desirable since it can cause noticeable latency or visual defects. With the popularity of smartphones and mobile devices, it is preferable to perform the tasks of transferring files and display streaming by employing power-efficient wireless data links, in order to ensure a good user experience. This dissertation presents an ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless communication system for such high data-rate and short-range applications. The proposed pulsed, multiband signaling with frequency hopping complies with the UWB regulation in Europe. This regulation is chosen merely for the purpose of demonstration. The approach itself can be easily adapted to different frequency bands, and hence is inherently flexible. It enables low-power implementation by adopting a low-complexity architecture, that allows for pulse-based signaling with subband channelization. Moreover, dividing the target spectrum into multiple narrow subbands reduces the power overhead in implementing beamforming at the receiver. Beamforming helps to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and provides directivity in the receiver for immunity against multipath and interference, which enhances overall link robustness. A 1-Gbps wireless communication link is demonstrated over a range of 2-meters, as part of this research, employing prototype integrated transceiver ICs that were implemented in a 65-nm CMOS technology. The transmitter IC consumes 221 mW, and the receiver IC with 4-element beamforming dissipates 211 mW. The system employs UWB spectrum from 6-8.5 GHz