D-Bone
Apr 24th '06, 12:13 PM
Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1919
Injection Locked Frequency Dividers (ILFDs) pave the way for more efficient wireless devices
Researchers at the University of Rochester have further developed a wireless chip design (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/uor-ncd041906.php?www.dailytech.com) that allows wireless devices such as cell phones or WiFi-enabled laptops and PDAs to use much less power. In fact, the new chip design is reported to use one tenth of the battery power required by a more traditional approach.
Hui Wu, an EE and CE professor at the University of Rochester, has improved upon injection locked frequency divider (ILFD) circuit design. While the low-power benefits of ILFD designs have been known for quite some time by researchers and wireless chip manufacturers, two hurdles have prevented the technology from being adopted by the industry. The first issue was the inability of the circuit design to handle a wide range of frequencies. Wu and Ali Hajimiri, an associate professor of EE at Caltech, solved that issue back in 2001. The second hurdle was the inability to offer a high enough resolution within a given frequency range.
Wu's latest research efforts have paid off in the form of a solution to the second hurdle facing researchers and chip manufacturers in regards to ILFD circuits. From the University of Rochester:
He introduced a new topology into this circuitry--instead of the old three-transistor design, his has five transistors--creating what he calls "differential mixing." The new circuitry topology allows the ILFD to divide by three as well as two.
This tiny change has huge ramifications. A circuit design that can divide by two or three can, for instance, divide 9,999 clock pulses by two, and the 10,000th by 3, giving an average of 2.0001, which could be the frequency at which the cell phone is trying to communicate. Should the phone need to communicate at 2.0002 gigahertz, the ILFD could divide 9,998 clock pulses by two, and the 9,999th and 10,000th by three, yielding an average of 2.0002. By varying how many clock pulses are divided by two or by three, any frequency can be selected, making the power-saving ILFD method viable for the first time.
Wu's breakthrough in ILFD design paves the way for more power efficient designs as more wireless networking devices approach the 60GHz band (http://www-1.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/multipage/imc/executivetech/a1005013?cntxtId=a1000074&www.dailytech.com).
Injection Locked Frequency Dividers (ILFDs) pave the way for more efficient wireless devices
Researchers at the University of Rochester have further developed a wireless chip design (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/uor-ncd041906.php?www.dailytech.com) that allows wireless devices such as cell phones or WiFi-enabled laptops and PDAs to use much less power. In fact, the new chip design is reported to use one tenth of the battery power required by a more traditional approach.
Hui Wu, an EE and CE professor at the University of Rochester, has improved upon injection locked frequency divider (ILFD) circuit design. While the low-power benefits of ILFD designs have been known for quite some time by researchers and wireless chip manufacturers, two hurdles have prevented the technology from being adopted by the industry. The first issue was the inability of the circuit design to handle a wide range of frequencies. Wu and Ali Hajimiri, an associate professor of EE at Caltech, solved that issue back in 2001. The second hurdle was the inability to offer a high enough resolution within a given frequency range.
Wu's latest research efforts have paid off in the form of a solution to the second hurdle facing researchers and chip manufacturers in regards to ILFD circuits. From the University of Rochester:
He introduced a new topology into this circuitry--instead of the old three-transistor design, his has five transistors--creating what he calls "differential mixing." The new circuitry topology allows the ILFD to divide by three as well as two.
This tiny change has huge ramifications. A circuit design that can divide by two or three can, for instance, divide 9,999 clock pulses by two, and the 10,000th by 3, giving an average of 2.0001, which could be the frequency at which the cell phone is trying to communicate. Should the phone need to communicate at 2.0002 gigahertz, the ILFD could divide 9,998 clock pulses by two, and the 9,999th and 10,000th by three, yielding an average of 2.0002. By varying how many clock pulses are divided by two or by three, any frequency can be selected, making the power-saving ILFD method viable for the first time.
Wu's breakthrough in ILFD design paves the way for more power efficient designs as more wireless networking devices approach the 60GHz band (http://www-1.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/multipage/imc/executivetech/a1005013?cntxtId=a1000074&www.dailytech.com).