A Pulsed UWB Receiver SoC for Insect Motion Control

A 2.5 mW wireless flight control system for cyborg moths is presented, consisting of a 3-to-5 GHz non-coherent pulsed ultra-wideband receiver system-on-chip with an integrated 4-channel pulse-width modulation stimulator mounted on a 1.5 cm by 2.6 cm printed circuit board. The highly duty cycled, energy detection receiver requires 0.5-to-1.4 nJ/bit and achieves a sensitivity of -76 dBm at a data rate of 16 Mb/s (10^-3 BER). A multi-stage inverter-based RF front end with resonant load and differential signal chain allow for robust, low energy operation. Digital calibration is used in the baseband amplifier, ADC and DLL to cancel voltage and timing offsets. Through the use of a flexible PCB and 3-D die stacking, the total weight of the electronics is kept to 1 g, within the carrying capacity of an adult Manduca sexta moth. Preliminary wireless flight control of a moth in a wind tunnel is demonstrated.