Abstract—This paper reviews proposed realization conceptsand achievements of wireless sensor nodes and focuses onnew developments in the 24 GHz frequency range. The relativelyhigh frequency offers the advantage of ultra miniaturizationand therefore opens new application fields. Onthe other hand power consumption of the RF-front-end becomesstill more challenging than at lower frequencies. It isshown that by applying very simple CMOS transceiver architecturesand modulation schemes combined with innovativeefficient wake-up concepts, very low energy consumptioncan be achieved. Technological realization concepts andfirst experimental results from a 24 GHz demonstrator aswell as novel special purpose wakeup-circuitry are presented,too.

Index Terms—Wireless Sensor Networks, low power,wakeup, CMOS, K-band

Cite: Stefan von der Mark, Meik Huber, and Georg Boeck, "Design Concepts and First Implementations for 24 GHz Wireless Sensor Nodes," Journal of Communications, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 1-5, 2007.