An In-Field Programmable Adaptive CMOS LNA for Intelligent IoT Sensor Node Applications

As the Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly, there is an emerging need to facilitate development of IoT devices in the design cycle while optimized performance is obtained in the field of operation. This article develops reconfiguration approaches that enable post-production adaptation of circuit performance to enable RF IC reuse across different IoT applications. An adaptable low noise amplifier (LNA) is designed and fabricated in 130-nm CMOS technology to investigate the post-production reconfiguration concept. A statistical model that relates circuit-level reconfiguration parameters to circuit performances is generated by characterizing a limited number of samples. A deep learning algorithm is used to generate the model. This model is used to predict the performance parameters of the device in the field. The estimation error for LNA performance parameters are obtained in the simulation environment as well as chip measurements.