ULP super regenerative transmitter with digital quenching signal controller

This paper demonstrates an on–off keying (OOK) super-regenerative quenching transmitter operating in 402–405 MHz MICs band applications. To reduce power consumption, the transmitter is controlled by a novel digital quenching signal controller that generates a digital control signal to start transmitter operation when a baseband signal is input to the transmitter. The digital signal controller consists of an envelope detector, a comparator, and a quench timer designed using a state machine to synchronize the operation between the digital controller and the input baseband signal. The transmitter consists of a Colpitts oscillator operating in double operating frequency followed by a frequency divider by 2; this configuration reduces system area and improves phase noise and signal spectrum. The proposed transmitter is implemented using UMC 130 nm CMOS technology and a 1.2 V supply. Simulation shows that the proposed transmitter can meet MICS band mask specifications with data rates up to 1 Mbps and total power dissipation of 537 uW.