Energy Efficient Communication and Sensing Front-Ends Enabled by Innovative Frequency Generation Techniques

In this talk we will address the application of innovative frequency generation techniques based on large integer frequency multiplication to RF front-ends for communication and sensing. These techniques allow efficient generation of many local oscillator signals at mm-wave and sub-THz frequencies from a common reference of much lower frequency. The properties of the generated signals allow tackling some of the most constraining requirements for communication and sensing systems requiring phase coherence and precise synchronization between the multiple RF signals such as distributed MIMO, beam forming and channel aggregation multichannel transceivers, and MIMO radar systems. Several examples including high-data rate point-to-point link transceivers and FMCW radars recently developed at CEA-Leti based on these novel frequency generation techniques will be presented.