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We report on the fabrication and room temperature measurements of a high frequency electrical signal detector. The device is based on the ballistic transport in graphene to detect a high frequency signal. The observed response is linear in the considered power range (-40dBm - 0dBm) and exhibits a sensitivity as high as 10 Volts/Watt. Finally the device detected signals up to 50GHz with a maximum response at 10GHz. This device outperforms any previously reported carbon based detectors in frequency response and compares to current state of the art Schottky based detectors in dynamic range.

This paper gives an overview of radio interfaces devoted for high data rate Wireless Sensor Networks. Four aerospace applications of WSN are presented to underline the importance of achieving high data rate. Then, two modulation schemes by which High Data Rate can be achieved are compared : Multi carrier approaches, represented by the popular Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Single carrier methods, represented by Single Carrier Frequency division Equalization and its application for multiple access Single Carrier Frequency division multiple Access (SC-FDMA). SC-FDMA, with a very low Peak Average Power Ratio (PAPR), is as strong alternative to the OFDM scheme for highly power constraint application. The Chosen radio interface will be, finally, tested by a model based design approach based on Simulink and FPGA realization. SC-FDMA, with a very low Peak Average Power Ratio (PAPR), is as strong alternative to the OFDM scheme for highly power constraint application. The Chosen radio interface will be, finally, tested by a model based design approach based on Simulink and FPGA realization.

The impact of the type of implementation is considered on the IR-UWB channel capacity. This study is lead for analog and mostly digital implementation. Key parameters and theirs impacts on the channel capacity are exposed in each case: data converters for mostly digital implementations and pulse generators capabilities for analog implementations. These two implementations are compared from a data rate point of view. Their behaviors regarding an increase of the operating frequency are also studied

This paper describes a detailed performance evaluation of distributed Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks based on Impulse Radio Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) Physical layer (PHY). Two main classes of Medium Access Control protocol have been considered: Slotted and UnSlotted with reliability. The reliability is based on Automatic Repeat ReQuest (ARQ). The performance evaluation is performed using a complete Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) simulator built on the Global Mobile Information System Simulator (GloMoSim). The optimal operating parameters are first discussed for IR-UWB in terms of slot size, retransmission delay and the number of retransmission, then a comparison between IR-UWB and other transmission techniques in terms of reliability latency and power efficiency.

Impulse Radio Ultra Wide Band (IR-UWB) is a promising technology to address Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) constraints. However, existing network simulation tools do not provide a complete WSN simulation architecture, with the IR-UWB specificities at the PHYsical (PHY) and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layers. In this paper, we propose a WSN simulation architecture based on the IR-UWB technique. At the PHY layer, we take into account the pulse collision by dealing with the pulse propagation delay. We also modelled MAC protocols specific to IRUWB, for WSN applications. To completely fit the WSN simulation requirements, we propose a generic and reusable sensor and sensing channel model. Most of the WSN application performances can be evaluated thanks to the proposed simulation architecture. The proposed models are implemented on a scalable and well known network simulator: Global Mobile Information System Simulator (GloMoSim). However, they can be reused for all other packet based simulation platforms.

A new model is proposed giving the channel capability of a MB-IR-UWB system versus the number of subband and the duty cycle. The architecture simulated shows data rate ranging from 1.434 Gbits/s to 0.9 Gbits/s for 16 to 10 subbands and duty cycle ranging from 20% to 12%.

Starting from the Shannon channel capacity, we propose an IR-UWB channel capacity based on the delay spread for multipath time variant channels. This IR-UWB channel capacity is obtained from the no ISI (Inter Symbol Interference) assumption and for binary modulations. The impact of the kind of implementation is considered on the IR-UWB channel capacity. This study is lead for mixed and mostly digital implementation. The key parameters and theirs impacts on the channel capacity are exposed in each case: the data converters for mostly digital implementations and the pulse generator capabilities for mixed implementations. Finally, these two implementations are compared from a data rate point of view. Their behaviors regarding an increase of the operating frequency are also studied.

This paper presents a performance evaluation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) based on Impulse Radio Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) over a new simulation platform developed for this purpose. The simulation platform is built on an existing network simulator: Global Mobile Information System Simulator (GloMoSim). It mainly focuses on the accurately modeling of IR-UWB PHYsical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. Pulse collision is modeled according to the used time hopping sequence (THS) and the pulse propagation delay in order to increase the simulation fidelity. It also includes a detection and identification application based on a new sensing channel and new sensor device models. The proposed architecture is generic so it can be reused for any simulation platform. The performance evaluation is based on one of the typical WSN applications: local area protection, where sensor nodes are densely scattered in an access regulated area in order to detect, identify and report non authorized accesses to a base station for analysis. Two networks topologies using different protocol stacks are investigated. Their performance evaluation is presented in terms of reliability and latency.

This paper addresses an overview of the wireless sensor networks. It is shown that MEMS/NEMS technologies and SIP concept are well suited for advanced architectures. It is also shown analog architectures have to be compatible with digital signal techniques to develop smart network of microsystem.

This paper addresses the radio interface problematic for MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork) applications. Here we propose to study the radio reconfigurability in order to provide a unique physical layer which is able to deal with all MANET applications. For implementing this reconfigurable physical layer, we propose to use Impulse Radio Ultra WideBand (IRUWB). This paper presents also our two level design approach for obtaining our reconfigurable IR-UWB receiver on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

This paper presents our approach of the radio interface problematic for Wireless Sensor Network. We introduce the WSN context and constraints associated. We propose an IR-UWB solution and illustrate why it could be a viable solution for WSN. A high level modelling and simulation platform for IR-UWB radio interface is proposed on Matlab. It allows us to determine according to BER versus Eb/N0 criteria and the WSN constraints what kind of design is more adequate. Moreover, a co-design co-simulation platform Matlab VHDL is proposed here. Using this platform we designed IR-UWB transceiver having reconfigurable capabilities, such as data rate reconfiguration, time hopping code, spectrum occupation and radio range reconfiguration.

We introduce the radio reconfigurability thanks to IRUWB mostly digital architecture for MANET context. This particular context implies some constraints on the radio interface such as low cost, low power, small dimensions and simplicity. Here, we propose an implementation of dynamic reconfigurable receiver on ASIC, and FPGA, after having explained the advantages of mostly digital radio for reconfigurability. In this paper, by studying our prototypes, we could prove that reconfigurability is on the contrary with MANET constraints needs. The proposed solution allows data rate, radio range, energy and spectrum occupation reconfigurability.

This paper outlines the issues related to RF MEMS packaging and low actuation voltage. An original approach is presented concerning the modeling of capacitive contacts using multiphysics simulation and advanced characterization. A similar approach is used concerning packaging development where multi-physics simulations are used to optimize the process. A devoted package architecture is proposed featuring very low loss at microwave range.