Preliminary circuits for Smart Dust

Abstract

In this paper we present a miniature system that is being designed for the Smart Dust project to test the communication link and simulate basic functionality. The system includes an optical receiver to process the incoming laser signal, digital circuits to generate a pseudorandom number sequence, a corner cube reflector (CCR) to passively transmit data to the base station, and a charge pump to generate the voltages required for the CCR. The circuits are being fabricated in a 0.25 /spl mu/m twin-well 5 metal layer CMOS process and the CCR has been fabricated in the MCNC MUMPS 3 structural polysilicon layer (MEMS) process. The components are to be mounted onto a 1.4 V zinc-air hearing aid style battery and the entire system can fit into a 5.8 mm/spl times/5.8 mm/spl times/2.4 mm package.