An Ultra-Low-Power Energy-Harvesting Wireless Transmitter with Nanowatt Duty-Cycled Operation for Autonomous Sensor Networks

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/Report › Conference contribution › Contributed › peer-review

Abstract

This paper presents and investigates an ultra-low-power wireless transmitter (TX), fabricated in a standard 130nm BiCMOS technology for energy-harvesting sensor network applications, and demonstrates its operation when powered by a thermoelectric generator (TEG). The proposed ultra-low-power transmitter enables battery-less short-range communication while maintaining a compact feature size. To achieve low-power operation, the transmitter employs injection-locking and frequency-multiplication techniques for ultra-low-power frequency synthesis, combined with on-off keying (OOK) modulation and an integrated duty-cycling mechanism for further power reduction. Operating in the 433MHz ISM band and supplied by dual voltages of 0.25V and 0.9V, the TX delivers -21dBm output power with a continuous-mode power consumption of approximately 100μW. Under aggressive duty-cycling, the average power is reduced to the nanowatt range (≈ 150nW), enabling operation from a compact thermoelectric generator driven by a small body-to-ambient temperature difference (ΔT< 10°C). The fabricated chip occupies an active area of 0.019mm2. These results demonstrate a significant advancement toward fully integrated, energy-autonomous wireless transmitters for wearable and industrial Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationISCAS 2026 - 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages2952-2956
Number of pages5
ISBN (electronic)979-8-3315-7769-8
ISBN (print)979-8-3315-7770-4
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2026
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesProceedings - IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems
ISSN0271-4310

Conference

TitleIEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems 2026
SubtitleCircuits and Systems for Intelligent Society
Abbreviated titleISCAS 2026
Duration24 - 27 May 2026
Website
LocationShanghai International Convention Center
CityShanghai
CountryChina

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-6778-7846/work/222762126

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Autonomous communication, duty-cycling, edge-combiner, energy-harvesting, Internet of Things, low-power, ring oscillator, transmitter