An IR-UWB Angle-of-Arrival Sensor IC Using Auto-Toggled Time-to-Digital Converter

This letter introduces an impulse radio-ultrawideband (IR-UWB) angle-of-arrival (AoA) sensor integrated circuit (IC) using an auto-toggled time-to-digital converter (TDC). The detectable range of the proposed AoA sensor can be extended by a factor of 2 by utilizing an auto-toggle operation that toggles the TDC's input signal according to the target's position. The analog front end (AFE) of the receivers is designed with a 3-5 GHz band and the system comprises two AFEs and one digital back end (DBE). The proposed IR-UWB AoA sensor IC was fabricated using a 65-nm CMOS process. The measurable angular range was ± 40°, and an angle error of ± 1.5° was measured.

I. Introduction

There is a growing interest in wireless positioning or localization as well as conventional wireless communication. Therefore, many studies have been conducted on wireless positioning or localization, and applications using those technologies are becoming very diverse [1], [2]. Accordingly, the impulse radio-ultrawideband (IR-UWB) is suitable for wireless positioning or localization.