Ultra-low power FSK receiver for body area networks with automatic frequency control

In this paper we present an ultra-low-power receiver geared towards body area networks (BAN). The presented wideband-FSK receiver consumes only 382.5μW while achieving a BER of 10-3 at -81dBm sensitivity for 12.5kbps. The bit rate is scalable up to 625kbps, enabling a trade-off between sensitivity and bit rate. Taking advantage of the short-range nature of BAN applications, a mixer-first architecture is proposed, leading to a good dynamic range, given the DC power consumption. To further decrease the power consumption a free-running digitally controlled oscillator (DCO), tunable from 782MHz to 932MHz, is implemented, that is controlled by a data-aided automatic frequency control (AFC) loop, making the receiver resilient against DCO frequency variations.