ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the design of ultra-low power wireless interfaces for wireless sensor networks. Traditional quality metrics for radios used in wireless local area networks are the data throughput, spectral efficiency, and energy-efficiency. Complex wireless transceivers tend to use sophisticated algorithms such as interference cancellation and complex modulation schemes to improve bandwidth efficiency. In addition to increasing the size, off-chip passives add to the complexity and cost of the board manufacturing and package design. The field of radio-frequency (RF) microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) includes the design and utilization of RF filters, resonators, switches, and other passive mechanical structures constructed using integrated circuit fabrication techniques. One of the most exciting aspects of RF micromachined components is the potential for codesigning the MEMS devices with the Complementary metal oxide semiconductor circuitry. The RF gain needed, however, is very high due to the noisy detection circuitry.
