Wake-Up Receiver with Equal-Gain Antenna Diversity ^†

Area of Science:

• Wireless communication
• Sensor networks
• Signal processing

Background:

• Multipath propagation causes fading signals, leading to significant variations in signal strength.
• Fluctuating signal strengths decrease the reliability of wake-up packet reception in wireless sensor nodes.
• Antenna diversity is a known technique to mitigate fading effects in wireless systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel wireless sensor node with a wake-up receiver.
• To implement an equal-gain diversity method using two antennas in the wake-up path.
• To improve the robustness and reliability of wake-up packet reception in multipath environments.

Main Methods:

• A wireless sensor node with a novel wake-up receiver was designed.
• An equal-gain diversity method was employed, using two antennas in the wake-up path.
• Signal summation was performed after passive demodulation, minimizing active components and power consumption.

Main Results:

• The proposed wireless sensor node demonstrated improved wake-up robustness.
• Experimental results confirmed enhanced wake-up reliability in a multipath environment.
• The diversity technique effectively mitigated signal strength variations caused by fading.

Conclusions:

• The implemented equal-gain diversity method significantly enhances the performance of wake-up receivers.
• This approach offers a power-efficient solution for improving wireless sensor node reliability.
• The findings are crucial for robust communication in challenging multipath environments.