IMEC Wakeup Radio (Event Radio)

Posted on by crackingcontraptions_3voi0v
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Dear Mik,

This is Li Huang, responsible for the business development of imec’s ultra low power radios. imec is still working within the wake up radio, and collaborating with a big semiconductor company to commercialize it.
Thus, we can consider a two phase project. In the first phase, as an early access to future chips, imec can provide the demo boards for your evaluation. In the second phase, you can engage with imec’s partner to develop your final product.
Do you have any specs on the radio?
Best Rgs,
Li
Li Huang, PhD
Business Development Manager
Perceptive Systems for the Internet of Things
Mobile: +31 6 3104 4404
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Mik: <obvious questions>
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Hi Mik,

Thanks for your clarification. Imec’s radio has a continuous power consumption of 310uW (including AFE and DBB) with the sensitivity ~-70dBm. Assuming the crystal oscillator is shared with other and its power is not considered in the wake up radio, the power can be reduced to by half. Without power conversion unit, the power can be even lower.  Do they meet your spec?
If you are interested, we can further set up a call to discuss the details. However, I am currently out of office and will be back on Feb. 10. It would be good if we can still contact via email and have a call after Feb. 10. By the way, will you join WMC? We can also discuss then.
Best Rgs,
Li
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David Carkeek
Jan 27 (2 days ago)
to me
I think this is not a stand-alone radio. I think it’s IP that can be purchased to put on your die. Of course this is out of the question for us.

But we do need to ask, since he said he trying to commercialize it. Maybe they *will* try to make a separate WUR device.
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Mik Lamming mik@lamming.com
9:54 AM (2 hours ago)
to David
Can you explain the implications of 310uW and -70dBm for me in terms that I might understand?   e.g A CR2032 for a week, but an antenna the size of a bus?
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David Carkeek
11:54 AM (9 minutes ago)
to me
310uW @3V-> 0.000310/3= 103uA or 0.103 mA

That matches this chart closely.
Inline image 1
The battery would last 900 hours (one month) if the radio was on continuously. It’s not good enough.
I think -70dBm refers to the receiver sensitivity. It’s not really good.
The WUR sensitivity is much less than the BLE radio. This would be a problem.
If we had the WUR radio we could make use of it through some sort of hybrid operation but it would not be good enough to reliably wake up the system at the edges of its range.
But then there’s the high current consumption to worry about. It’s too high for battery-only operation but with energy harvesting it could be low enough.
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David,  That’s an excellent analysis pitched exactly at my pea-brain’s level.  Thanks.
I think we can just sit on the margin and wait to see if something happens?

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