Low-Power RF Wake-Up Receivers: Analysis, Tradeoffs, and Design

Wake-up receivers (WuRXs) offer a potentially energy-efficient means to enable asynchronous wake-up of higher-power and higher-performance radios without needing frequent (often energy-expensive) synchronization. Since WuRXs are typically on for large percentage the time, keeping their power consumption very low is critical minimizing total energy draw. However, this difficult while maintaining good sensitivity, interference resiliency, robustness, all with application-appropriate latencies form factors. This article reviews main challenges facing WuRXs, outlines most popular WuRX architectures, details essential design techniques trade-offs towards enabling utility in emerging applications.