A review on radio-frequency transceiver architectures for low-power wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have garnered significant scientific attention because of their many uses, but their power usage is a fundamental barrier to their deployment. Energy constraints have a direct effect on important design elements including battery capacity, energy harvester effectiveness, and network longevity. To enable sustainable WSN operation, radio-frequency (RF)-based transceiver (TR) design has become a key area of study. A thorough examination of current RF-TR architectures is given in this paper, with a focus on low-power (LP) implementations designed for WSN applications. Amplifier-sequenced hybrid (ASH), superheterodyne (SHD), zero-intermediate frequency (Zero-IF), low-intermediate frequency (Low-IF), sliding-intermediate frequency (Sliding-IF), and super-regenerative (SRG) architectures are among the TR system designs that are categorized, with an emphasis on the performance trade-offs associated with each. Comparative evaluation shows that Zero-IF and SRG architectures are more energy efficient than other designs that were studied, which makes them viable options for ultra-low-power (ULP) WSN installations. Along with outlining important research issues in RF-TR design, such as hardware minimization, security, synchronization, and energy optimization, this review also suggests possible future paths to improve the sustainability and performance of WSN-based RF-TRs.