IMEC: 60-GHz transceiver offers 7-Gbps short range data rate

LONDON – The IMEC research institute, in collaboration with industrial research partner Panasonic Corp., has developed a prototype 60-GHz radio transceiver that demonstrates 7-Gbit per second data rates over short distances and at low power consumption.

IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) did not indicate what distances that means but the device is being aimed at battery-operated mobile devices so it would seem to be means of connecting devices to peripherals for purposes such as display for which high bandwidth communications would be required.

The prototype achieves an EVM (error vector management) figure of better than -17dB for QAM16 modulation in the 4 channels specified by the IEEE802.11ad standard, IMEC said.

The IC is implemented in 40nm low power digital CMOS. The transmit signal path, consisting of a power amplifier (PA) and a mixer, consumes 90mW. The receive signal path, consisting of a low noise amplifier (LNA) and a mixer, consumes 35mW with a noise frequency of 5.5dB and 30dB gain.

The die size is 0.7 square millimeters making it suitable for use in phased arrays. The front-end is now further being integrated into a beamforming transceiver prototype.

"These results prove that our 60-GHz R&D program pioneers industry-relevant design solutions for low cost and low-power 60-GHz phased array radios covering the system level, IC design and antenna design," said Liesbet Van der Perre, scientific program director green radios at IMEC, in a statement. "We invite other companies to join our 60-GHz R&D program as research partner or they can have access to the technology for further development through licensing."


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