Highly Programmable Low-Power RF Front Ends for Adaptive Long-Range Internet-of-Things Receivers
(2026)
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Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
- Bol, David
- Abstract
- Despite outstanding advances in energy efficiency in IoT devices, wireless communication remains one of the most significant contributors to their overall power consumption. The contribution from RF receivers comes partly from the small amplitude of the input signal. This is due to the high channel attenuation linked to communicating over the air, especially over long distances. The stochastic variability of this channel attenuation is an aggravating factor. To overcome this, transceivers for long-range IoT communications are conventionally designed to operate correctly under certain worst-case conditions. However, these worst-case conditions are rarely encountered in practice. Operating under this hypothesis causes a non-negligible power overhead on RF receivers. Reducing the power consumption of IoT devices is especially important for battery-powered or energy-harvesting ones, as it is key to maximizing their lifetime. In this thesis, we explore a different design approach in which the receiver adapts its performance to the state of the wireless channel with programmable circuits in the RF front end of the receiver that can dynamically trade off noise for power. The goal is to minimize its power consumption while maintaining an acceptable quality of service. The design of such circuits is the main focus of this thesis, and we tackle it in three parts: (i) how to design programmable analog circuits, (ii) two prototypes showcasing the potential power savings, and (iii) a specific use case where the noise-power trade-off is pushed to its limit to enable an ultra-low-power receiver mode.
- Affiliations
Citations
Gonzalez Gonzalez, M. A. (2026). Highly Programmable Low-Power RF Front Ends for Adaptive Long-Range Internet-of-Things Receivers.