CEA-LETI-MINATEC, Grenoble, France, Sigfox, Labège, France

Ultra-narrow-band (UNB) signaling is an enabling technology for low-power wide-area (LPWA) networks for the 'Internet-of-Things'. Indeed, UNB signaling, based on spectrally efficient modulations such as DBPSK, simultaneously optimizes network capacity while maximizing the communication link budget. However, UNB signaling poses many technical challenges. In the receiver, carrier frequency offsets (CFO) can shift the desired signal from the expected channel. In the transmitter, the difficulty resides in generating the modulated signal with the required spectral purity. This work presents an 850-to-920 MHz RF transceiver dedicated to UNB communication systems employing the DBPSK/GFSK modulations. The receiver is resistant to CFO offsets and drifts of ±75Hz (i.e. 150% of the 100Hz channel) and 35Hz/s, respectively, with only 1dB sensitivity loss, thus allowing the circuit to function without a TCXO. In DBPSK 100b/s transmission mode, an error vector magnitude (EVM) better than 5% is measured for output powers up to 10dBm. © 2017 IEEE.

Budget control, Crystal oscillators, Frequency allocation, Internet of things, Low power electronics, Modulation, Signal receivers, Space optics, Transceivers, Wide area networks, Carrier frequency offsets, Enabling technologies, Error vector magnitude, Network Capacity, Technical challenges, Transmission mode, Ultra narrow band, Ultra narrow bands (UNB), Radio transceivers