This project is sponsored by National Science Foundation Award 1408019 with collaboration from Dr. Joerg Kliewer at New Jersy Institute of Technology. In this project, we address several important problems related to the design and analysis of low-power short-range wireless communication systems for the next generation body area network systems, using asynchronous wireless technology combined with ultra wideband impulse radio technology. The project aims at building integrated low power transmitter circuits and receiver circuits, to study the fundamental performance limits of such radio systems, as well as to investigate practical design methods to approach these limits.
System design block diagram
System testing setup and chip microphotographs
System testing result
The specific objective of all research activities performed under this project is to design and implement novel architecture of low power wireless sensors based on the asynchronous operation. The radio circuit, sensor circuit, algorithms and other research outcomes make a complete low power wireless sensor solution for future battery-powered wearable sensors.
We have demonstrated several asynchronous sensing and communication methods, including novel circuit structures (asynchronous radio front-end, delta-sigma encoder), system architectures (prediction based ADC), and algorithms (networked image sensors). The asynchronous method, by removing local clocks, can take advantage from the low duty-cycling nature of biomedical signals, and limited spatial frequency of images, to further reduce system power for battery-powered, portable and wearable devices
Patent generated from this research project:
- Provisional Patent Pending: Application # 62/362,700 Filed on 7/15/2016 entitled ASYNCHRONOUS WIRELESS SENSING USING ULTRA-WIDEBAND IMPULSE RADIO WITH FSK-OOK MODULATION
Publications generated from this research project:
- Xiaochen Tang, Qisong Hu, Wei Tang: “Delta-Sigma Encoder for Low Power Wireless Bio-sensors using Ultra Wideband Impulse Radio”. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems – II Express Briefs (TCAS-II). vol 64, no. 7, pp. 747-751, July 2017. [ieeexplore link]
- Qisong Hu, Xiaochen Tang, Wei Tang: “Integrated Asynchronous Ultra Wideband Impulse Radio with Automatic Clock and Data Recovery”. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters (MWCL). vol 27, no. 4, pp. 416-418, April 2017. [ieeexplore link]
- Hang Yu, Wei Tang, Menghan Guo, Shoushun Chen: “A Two-Step Prediction ADC Architecture for Integrated Low Power Image Sensors”. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems – 1 Regular Paper (TCAS-I), vol. 64, no. 1, pp.50-60, January 2017. [ieeexplore link]
- Yifei Liu, Xiaoyu Yu, Shoushun Chen, Wei Tang. “Object Localization and Size Measurement Using Networked Address Event Representation Imagers”. IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 16, no. 9, Page 2894-2895. May 2016. [ieeexplore link]
- Hu, Q., Yi, C., Kliewer, J., Tang, W. “Asynchronous communication for wireless sensors using ultra wideband impulse radio”. 2015 IEEE 58th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS), August 2015. [ieeexplore link]