imec demonstrates world's first sub-5mW UWB transmitter chip

At the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) on February 16, 2021, imec demonstrated the first IEEE 802.15.4z impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) transmitter chip, which can better balance the needs of accuracy and improved energy efficiency in UWB indoor positioning.

It is understood that imec is the world's leading research and innovation center for nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The chip it launched is manufactured using 28nm and is designed to enable the next generation of low-cost, small-size ultra-wideband deployment. It has been custom developed with the goal of achieving standard-compliant operation with a low power consumption of 4.9 milliwatts (mW) while complying with strict radio emission regulations for ultra-wideband. It is also the first ultra-wideband transmitter chip that complies with the newly released IEEE802.15.4z standard for more accurate and safer ultra-wideband ranging.

At present, indoor positioning and micro-positioning applications are becoming increasingly popular, such as keyless entry solutions for vehicles, hotels and office buildings, and asset tracking in warehouses or factories. In essence, ultra-wideband technology is well suited for precise and secure ranging for indoor positioning use cases. Since the launch of the IEEE 802.15.4z standard last year, UWB's physical layer has been strengthened, thereby improving the integrity and accuracy of its ranging. However, UWB's power budget limits the widespread application of this technology. Compared with its competitor Bluetooth BLE, its power consumption is more than 10 times higher than that of its opponent.

“Its innovative, digitally intensive architecture is manufactured in a 28nm CMOS process and therefore uses only 0.15mm² of area,” said Christian Bachmann, Project Manager for UWB and Bluetooth Secure Proximity at imec. “And it also has a record low power consumption of 4.9mW, which is 10 times lower than the power budget of state-of-the-art UWB products.”

This breakthrough is the latest achievement of imec in the development of micro-positioning technology and ultra-low power digital RF circuits. Christian Bachmann said that its goal is to design a complete transceiver, including high-performance ranging, direction finding and positioning algorithms, so that the industry can explore the development opportunities of the next generation of ultra-wideband UWB technology.