A low-power CMOS wireless acoustic sensing platform for remote surveillance applications

Abstract

A low-power wireless acoustic sensing platform for remote surveillance applications based on a 180 nm CMOS technology is proposed in this paper. The audio signal, which is acquired by a microphone, is first amplified and filtered. Then, the analog signal is converted to a digital signal by a 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). A digital automatic gain control module is integrated to obtain an optimal input of the ADC. The digital signal is modulated and transmitted at the 433 MHz ISM band after being repacked and encoded. To save power for portable applications, the chip switches to standby mode when no audio is detected. The wireless sensing platform occupies a chip area of 1.76 mm2 . The supply voltage is 2.5 V for the power amplifier and 1.8 V for other circuits. The measured maximum output power is 5.7 dBm and the transmission distance is over 500 m for real application scenarios. The chip consumes 25.1 mW power in normal work mode and 0.058 mW in standby mode. Compared to existing wireless acoustic sensors, the proposed wireless acoustic sensing platform can achieve features such as compactness, power efficiency, and reliability.