This paper proposes a dual-conduction class-C VCO for ultra-low supply voltages. Two cross-coupled NMOS pairs with different bias points are employed. These NMOS pairs realize an impulse-like current waveform to improve the phase noise in the low supply conditions. The proposed VCO was implemented in a standard 0.18 µm CMOS technology, which oscillates at a carrier frequency of 4.5 GHz with a 0.2-V supply voltage. The measured phase noise is -104 dBc/Hz@1 MHz-offset with a power consumption of 114 µW, and the FoM is -187 dBc/Hz.

Large capacity tags are becoming available to meet the demands of industry, but the UHF RFID protocol is unable to reliably and efficiently read large data sets from tags. First of all, large data sets are not well protected. The tag merely relies on 16-bit CRC for ensuring the validity of up to 4,096-bit user-specific data in EPCglobal C1G2 protocol. Furthermore, the reliability will be even worse if large capacity tags are implemented using semi-active technology which is likely to prevail among sensor-integrated RFID tags. Since semi-active tags greatly alleviate the performance limitation imposed by the turn-on power of the tag chip, backscattering signal of semi-active tags could be a serious challenge for most readers because it is much weaker than signals emitted by passive tags due to longer reading distance. In this paper, Interim CRC is presented to enhance transmission reliability and efficiency when the tag is backscattering a large data set. By taking advantage of Interim CRC, the large data set can be divided into several blocks, and 16-bit checksum is calculated over each block. The tag backscatters all blocks at the first time and only retransmits certain blocks if CRC error occurs in those blocks. The result of simulation shows that the reading error rate can be confined to a preset threshold and the accumulative total of transmitted data are greatly reduced if optimal block size and transmission times are complied with. The simulation also conclusively proves that semi-active tags derive even longer reading range from Interim CRC. In addition, Interim CRC is totally compliant with the EPCglobal C1G2 protocol. It fully makes use of CRC-16 encoder and does not involve any other data encoding schematics and hardware modifications.

In dense passive radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA) techniques can be used to alleviate severe collisions and thus enhance the system performance. However, conventional CDMA techniques are challenging to implement, especially for passive tags due to cost and power constraints. In this paper, we design a CDMA-based multi-reader passive ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID system in which a reader detects only the strongest tag signal and a tag uses Gold codes only on the preamble and the data bits of RN16 without increasing its clock frequency. We present a new communication procedure based on dynamic framed slotted ALOHA (DFSA). In order to optimize the system, we theoretically analyze the system performance in terms of slot capacity and identification rate, and formally show how the code length and the number of readers affect the identification rate. Furthermore, we propose an effective method for tag estimation and frame size adjustment, and validate it via simulations. Through an example, we demonstrate how the analysis-based technique can be used to optimize the system configurations with respect to the number of readers and the number and length of Gold codes.

We propose a capacitive averaging technique applied to a double-tail latched comparator without a preamplifier for an offset reduction technique. Capacitive averaging can be introduced by considering the first stage of the double-tail latched comparator as a capacitive loaded amplifier. This makes it possible to reduce the offset voltage while preventing an increase in power dissipation. A positive feedback technique is also used for the first stage, which maximizes the effectiveness of the capacitive averaging. The capacitive averaging mechanism and the relationship between the offset reduction and the linearity of the amplifier is discussed in detail. Simulation results for a 90-nm CMOS process show that the proposed technique can reduce the offset voltage by 1/3.5 (3 mV) at a power dissipation of only 45 µW.

A 6–10-GHz broadband low noise amplifier (LNA) and transmitting amplifier (TA) for direct sequence ultra-wideband (DS-UWB) are presented. The LNA and TA are fabricated with the 0.18-µm 1P6M standard CMOS process. The CMOS LNA and TA are checked by on-wafer measurement with the DC supply voltage of 1.5 V. From 6–10 GHz, the broadband LNA exhibits a noise figure of 5.3–6.2 dB, a gain of 11–13.8 dB, a P1 dB of -15.7 - -10.8 dBm, a IIP3 of -5.5 - -1 dBm, a DC power consumption of 12 mW, and an input/output return loss higher than 11/12 dB, respectively. From 6–10 GHz, the broadband TA exhibits a gain of 7.6–10.5 dB, a OP1 dB of 2.8–6.1 dBm, a OIP3 of 12.3–15.1 dBm, and a PAE of 8.8–17.6% @ OP1 dB, and a η of 9.7–21.1% @ OP1 dB, and an input/output return loss higher than 6.8/3.2 dB, respectively.

In this paper, we consider multiple source and destination antennas based on relay selection scheme to improve the end-to-end outage performance for decode-and-forward cooperative networks. We derive an exact closed-form expression of the outage probability for the proposed system over a Rayleigh fading channel and describe the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff of the system. We then analyze the effects of the number of source and destination antennas on the outage probabilities and diversity-multiplexing tradeoffs.

In this letter, a two-stage TOA estimation scheme is proposed for positioning in OFDM-based WLAN systems under indoor environments. The estimation scheme consists of coarse estimation and fine estimation. The presented scheme effectively exploits the preamble of the OFDM-based WLAN for accurate estimation. The simulation results exhibit that the performance of the proposed approach is comparable to that of super-resolution estimation even with lower computational complexity.

The concept of regional diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) is introduced by extending the asymptotic outage probability expression for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels. It is shown that for both Rayleigh and Rician MIMO channels, the regional diversity gain is a linear function of the regional multiplexing gain and that the original DMT curve can be obtained from the set of regional DMT lines. As a result, vital information for capturing both finite and infinite signal-to-noise ratio characteristics in terms of DMT is provided.

An on-chip temperature compensation active bias circuit having tunable temperature slope has been proposed, and its application to an X-band GaAs FET monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) is described. The proposed bias circuit can adjust the temperature slope of gate voltage according to the bias condition of the PA, and also realizes the higher temperature slope of the gate voltage by employing the diode and the FET which operates at near threshold voltage (Vt) in the bias circuit. As a result, the gain of PAs operated at any bias conditions is kept almost constant against temperature by applying the proposed bias circuit. Moreover, the proposed bias circuit can be integrated in the same chip with the MMIC PA since it does not need off-chip components, and operates with only negative voltage source. The fabricated results of the on-chip temperature compensation active bias circuit shows that the temperature slope of the gate voltage varies from 2.1 to 6.3 mV/, which is enough to compensate the gain of not only class-B PA but also class-A PA. The gain deviation of the developed GaAs FET MMIC PA with the proposed bias circuit has been reduced from 3.3 dB to 0.6 dB in the temperature range of 100.

In this paper, to clarify the thermal effect of the bridge for long lifetime contacts, the effects of heat conductivity on bridge break at different material contact pairs were discussed experimentally. To examine the relationship between the bridge and material, the electrode materials of the anode and the cathode were chosen as the same and the different material pairs in this experiment. Ag, AgPd60 and Pd were chosen as the electrode materials, because Ag, AgPd60 and Pd had the different thermal diffusivity. Firstly, the voltage waveforms in the bridge with different material pair were compared to the voltage waveform with the same material pair case. Secondary, the effects of heat conductivity on the break of bridge were discussed. In the results, the bridge voltage waveform depends on the electrode material at anode side. The length of the bridge at bridge break depends on the heat conductivity of the electrode material at anode side. This study provides the basic considerations on the thermal condition of the bridge break.

The address discharge characteristics formed when an address pulse is applied in AC plasma display panels are investigated by changing the ramp-down voltage during the reset period. The address discharge time lag can be reduced when the difference between the ramp-down voltage and the scan-low voltage is set at a high value during the ramp-down period because the loss of the wall charges accumulated between the scan (Y) and address (A) electrodes during the reset period is minimized. In addition, the voltage applied to the X electrode during the ramp-down period can prevent the voltage margin from reduction even though applying high voltage difference on the Y electrodes.

A spectrum sensing scheme for cognitive radio that includes coarse and fine sensing stages based on cyclostationarity is proposed in this paper. The cyclostationary feature detection (CFD) based on a single cyclic frequency (SCF) is used in the coarse sensing stage and that based on multiple cyclic frequencies (MCF) is employed in the fine sensing stage. Whether the fine sensing stage is performed or not is decided by comparing the statistic constructed in the coarse sensing stage with two thresholds. Theoretical analyses and simulation results show that the proposed sensing scheme has superior sensing performance and needs shorter sensing time.

In this letter, a study on the end-to-end outage performance of dual-hop non-regenerative relaying in the presence of co-channel interference is presented. We assume that both the desired and the interfering signals are subjected to Nakagami-m fading. Exact analytical expressions, as well as tight lower bounds of the end-to-end outage probability, are derived. An asymptotic expression for the outage probability at high values of Signal-to-Interference Ratio is also presented. Furthermore, we also propose the optimal power allocation for high values of Signal-to-Interference Ratio. Extensive numerically evaluation and computer simulation results are presented to verify the validity and the accuracy of the proposed analysis.

The past decade has seen a surge of research activities in the fields of mobile computing and wireless communication. In particular, recent technological advances have made portable devices, such as PDA, laptops, and wireless modems to be very compact and affordable. To effectively operate portable devices, energy efficiency and Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning are two primary concerns. Dynamic Voltage Scaling (DVS) is a common method for energy conservation for portable devices. However, due to the amount of data that needs to be dynamically handled in varying time periods, it is difficult to apply conventional DVS techniques to QoS sensitive multimedia applications. In this paper, a new adaptive DVS algorithm is proposed for QoS assurance and energy efficiency. Based on the repeated learning model, the proposed algorithm dynamically schedules multimedia service requests to strike the appropriate performance balance between contradictory requirements. Experimental results clearly indicate the performance of the proposed algorithm over that of existing schemes.

In this letter, we focus on the spectrum sharing cognitive radio system, wherein a single-input multi-output cognitive fading channel is considered. Subject to the joint average interference constraint and peak interference constraint at the primary receiver, the outage capacity of the cognitive channel involving joint beamforming and power control is analyzed. We derive the optimal beamforming and power control strategy and deduce the closed-form expression for the outage capacity under Rayleigh fading model, the functional regions of two kinds of interference constraints are discussed as well. Furthermore, considering zero-outage transmission, we investigate the delay-limited capacity and introduce a new concept called the zero-outage average interference wall. Extensive simulations corroborate our theoretical results.

This paper introduces a random selection cooperation scheme that takes the Decode-and-Forward (DF) approach to solve the unfairness problem in selection cooperation. Compared to previous work which obtained fairness but introduced performance loss, the proposed scheme guarantees fairness without performance loss. Its essence is to randomly select from the relays that can ensure the successful communication between the source and the destination, rather than to select the best relay. Both a theoretical analysis and simulation results confirm that the proposed scheme could achieve fairness and introduce no performance loss. We also discuss the conditions under which the proposed scheme is practical to implement.

An analog controlled Variable Gain LNA (VGLNA) with tunable operating frequency bands is reported. The analog control circuit for the continuous gain variation is proposed as a low voltage version. The fabricated LNA based on 0.18 µm CMOS shows a gain range of 15-12 dB (27 dB gain control), a noise figure (NF) of 2 dB, and an IIP3 of -10 dBm while 5 mA is drawn from a 1.2 V supply over the frequency range of 470880 MHz.

The tag collection algorithm in ISO/IEC 18000-7 has difficulty in collecting data from massive numbers of active RFID tags in a timely manner, so it should be improved to allow successful application in a wide variety of industrial fields. We propose two novel methods, a reduced-message method to improve the performance of data-tag collection and an efficient-sleep method to improve the performance of ID-tag collection. The reduced-message method decreases the slot size for a tag response by reducing the response size from the tag and reduces the number of commands issued from the reader. The efficient-sleep method utilizes redundant empty slots within the frame period to transmit sleep commands to the tags collected previously. We evaluated the performance improvement of tag collection by the proposed methods experimentally using an active RFID reader and 60 tags that we prepared for this study. The experimental results showed that the reduced-message method and the efficient-sleep method decreased the average tag collection time by 16.7% for data-tag collection and 9.3% for ID-tag collection compared with the standard tag collection. We also developed a simulation model for the active RFID system, reflecting the capture effect in wireless communication, and performed simulations to evaluate the proposed methods with a massive number of tags. The simulation results with up to 300 tags confirmed that the proposed methods could improve the tag collection performance, confirming the experimental results, even with larger numbers of tags.

This letter investigates the performance of amplify-and-forward relaying systems using maximum ratio transmission at the source. A closed-form expression for the outage probability and a closed-form lower bound for the average bit error probability of the system are derived. Also, the approximate expressions for the outage probability and average bit error probability in the high signal-to-noise ratio regime are given, based on which the optimal power allocation strategies to minimize the outage probability and average bit error probability are developed. Furthermore, numerical results illustrate that optimizing the allocation of power can improve the system performance, especially in the high signal-to-noise ratio regime.

Clocked cascade voltage switch logic (C2VSL) circuits with gated feedback were newly designed for synchronous systems. In order to investigate single event transient (SET) effects on the C2VSL circuits, SET effects on C2VSL EX-OR circuits were analyzed using SPICE. Simulation results have indicated that the C2VSL have increased tolerance to SET.