Abstract: Isolators for high frequency signals transmitted between two circuits configured to operate at different voltage domains are provided. The isolators may include resonators capable of operating at high frequencies with high transfer efficiency, high isolation rating, and a small substrate footprint. In some embodiments, the isolators may operate at a frequency not less than 20 GHz, not less than 30 GHz, not less than 65 GHz, or between 20 GHz and 100 GHz, including any value or range of values within such range. The isolators may include inductive loops with slits and capacitors integrally formed at the slits. The sizes and shapes of the inductive loops and capacitors may be configured to control the values of equivalent inductances and capacitances of the isolators. The isolators are compatible to different fabrication processes including, for example, micro-fabrication and PCB manufacture processes.

Abstract: A pair of programmable state machines may be included in a transmitter integrated circuit of a scanner (e.g. a body scanner) to control the sub-circuits of the transmitter integrated circuit. The first programmable state machine may be used to control the signal processor of the transmitter that facilitates generation of a signal to be transmitted at a target, such as a user to be scanned. The second programmable state machine may be used to control the transmitter's selection of a transmission channel for transmitting the signal in which provides the signal to be transmitted to an antenna. Further, the receiver integrated circuit of the scanner may include a similar pair of programmable state machines for controlling the receive signal processor and receiver of the receiver integrated circuit. The inclusion of the state machines can reduce both the scan time and the circuit complexity of the scanner.

Abstract: According to various aspects, systems and methods are provided for improving a computer system's resistance to tampering. A PUF may be one component of a system. Other components of the system may not have the same level of protection against tampering as the PUF. According to one aspect, tamper protection provided by the PUF may be extended to one or more other components of the system, thus creating a network of tamper-resistant components. The system may include a tamper detection circuit that receives signals from the component(s). The tamper detection circuit generates an output signal based on the received signals that indicates whether any of the components has been tampered with. The PUF may be configured to use the output signal to generate secret information. If the output signal indicates that one of the components has been tampered with, the PUF may prevent generation of the correct secret information.

Abstract: Multi-level buffers for biasing of radio frequency (RF) switches are provided. An RF switching circuit that includes a field-effect transistor (FET) switch, an impedance, and a multi-level buffer that provides a switch control voltage to a gate of the FET through the impedance is disclosed. The multi-level buffer receives a control signal to turn on or off the FET switch. Additionally, the multi-level buffer is implemented with stacked inverters that operate using different clock signal phases to pulse the switch control voltage in response to a transition of the control signal to thereby shorten a delay in switching the FET switch.

Abstract: A current measurement circuit may use a probabilistic technique to determine a current from a circuit block. In one embodiment, the circuit includes a comparator circuit, a first current sensing element (such as a first resistor), and a control circuit. The first current sensing element is coupled to the comparator circuit to establish a first comparator input signal representative of the current at an input of the comparator circuit. The control circuit is coupled to the comparator circuit to obtain a first plurality of comparator output decisions corresponding to the first current sensing element for a specified count, determine a first proportion of comparator output decisions meeting a specified criterion, and determine a voltage value of the first comparator input signal from the first proportion. The control circuit is configured to determine a current value using the voltage value of the first comparator input signal and an impedance value of the first current sensing element.

Abstract: The trend in wireless communication receivers is to capture more and more bandwidth to support higher throughput, and to directly sample the radio frequency (RF) signal to enable re-configurability and lower cost. Other applications like instrumentation also demand the ability to digitize wide bandwidth RF signals. These applications benefit from input circuitry which can perform well with high speed, wide bandwidth RF signals. An input buffer and bootstrapped switch are designed to service such applications, and can be implemented in 28 nm complementary metal-oxide (CMOS) technology.

Abstract: An electronic circuit comprises a power switch circuit and a fault detection circuit. The power switch circuit includes a transistor. The fault detection circuit includes a first comparator circuit configured to compare a monitored voltage of the transistor to a detection threshold voltage and produce an indication of a circuit fault according to the comparing, and a delay circuit configured to delay the comparing by the first comparator circuit according to slew rate of the monitored voltage.

Abstract: A metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) includes a source region and a drain region of a first conductivity type. The MOSFET additionally include a body region of a second conductivity type, where the body region underlies at least a portion of the source region and the drain region. The MOSFET further includes a buried region of the first conductivity type, where the buried region is disposed between the body region and a substrate, where the buried region is configured to reduce a capacitance between the source region and the drain region in response to an indicated voltage applied between the body region and the buried region.

Abstract: A method for implementing a cloud-based portable miniaturized system for performing non-invasive urinalysis in real time, the method comprising using an optical source to emit optical radiations at certain wavelengths through fluid in a fluid sampling medium; receiving the emitted optical transmissions at a photodetector; converting the received optical transmissions to digital data; accumulating the digital data for a first time period; and periodically transmitting the accumulated digital data to a cloud service for further processing.

Abstract: Anisotropic-magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors are described. The AMR sensors have a barber pole structure with multiple constant width sections of different width. In some embodiments, two sections of greater, constant width are positioned at ends of the AMR sensor, with a section of smaller width positioned in between. The sections of greater width may have a total length less than the section of smaller width. The structures described may provide enhanced linearity.

Abstract: A reader apparatus with software-controller power exciter, and methods for operating the same to wirelessly interrogate an environmental or structural sensor are disclosed. Some aspects of the application are directed to a reader apparatus that transmits high power for a fast cold start of a sensor and subsequently switch to low power transmission in response to an indication signal received from the sensor indicating that a state of charge of the sensor has reached a threshold value such that high power transmission is no longer necessary, thereby extending battery life of the reader apparatus.

Abstract: One embodiment is a method for implementing a cloud-based portable miniaturized system for performing non-invasive blood glucose level measurement in real time. The method includes using an optical source to emit optical radiations at certain wavelengths through breath in an air collection chamber; receiving the emitted optical transmissions at a photodetector; converting the received optical transmissions to digital data; accumulating the digital data for a first time period; and periodically transmitting the accumulated digital data to a cloud service for further processing.

Abstract: Techniques for improved multiple-range current sensing are provided. In an example, a circuit can include a plurality of shunt resistors, a plurality of gain resistors, and a first switch. A first shunt resistor of the plurality of shunt resistors can be of a different type that the other shunt resistors of the plurality of shunt resistors. The plurality of gain resistors can include a first gain resistor of the same resistor type as the first shunt resistor. The first gain resistor can be a different resistor type than the other gain resistors of the plurality of gain resistors. The switch can be configured to couple the first shunt resistor with the load in a first state and to isolate the first shunt resistor from the load in a second state.

Abstract: Chopper amplifiers with tracking of multiple input offsets are disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, a chopper amplifier includes chopper amplifier circuitry including an input chopping circuit, an amplification circuit, and an output chopping circuit electrically connected along a signal path. The amplification circuit includes two or more pairs of input transistors, from which a control circuit chooses a selected pair of input transistors to amplify an input signal. The chopper amplifier further incudes an offset correction circuit that senses the signal path to generate an input offset compensation signal for the amplification circuit. Furthermore, the offset correction circuit separately tracks an input offset of each of the two or more pairs of input transistors.

Abstract: An example apparatus includes a power amplifier (PA) and a linearity optimizer. The optimizer includes a PA actuator and a linearity adaptation circuit. The actuator is configured to generate an actuator output based on an actuator input and a vector of complex gains computed by the linearity adaptation circuit based on a feedback signal indicative of PA's output. The adaptation circuit is configured to compute the vector of complex gains in a manner that maximizes the power of the actuator output while ensuring that the deviation of PA's behavior from a linear behavior (e.g., in terms of one or more linearity parameters) is below a threshold. Controlling actuator output in a manner that maximizes its power while taking into consideration one or more linearity parameters to ensure that target linearity is achieved controls drive signals for the PA and, thus, may help in terms of PA linearity and efficiency.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to multi-band FDD transceivers. An example transceiver includes a LO, configured to generate a LO signal to be shared between a receiver and a transmitter of the transceiver. Both the receiver and the transmitter use quadrature signal processing and are configured to multi-band operation. Sharing a single LO to perform frequency conversion of different frequency bands of received and transmitted signals advantageously allows reducing the number of LOs used in a multi-band FDD transceiver.

Abstract: An example current mirror arrangement includes a current mirror circuit, configured to receive an input current signal at an input transistor Q1 and output a mirrored signal at an output transistor Q2. The arrangement further includes a buffer amplifier circuit, having an input coupled to Q1 and an output coupled to Q2. The offset of the buffer amplifier circuit can be adjusted by including circuitry for an input or an output side offset adjustment or by implementing the buffer amplifier circuit as a diamond stage with individually controlled current sources for each of the transistors of the diamond stage. Providing an adjustable offset buffer in a current mirror arrangement may advantageously allow benefiting from the use of a buffer outside of a feedback loop of a current mirror, while being able to reduce the buffer offset due to mismatch between master and slave sides of the current mirror circuit.

Abstract: An example residue generation arrangement for a continuous time or hybrid ADC includes a delay circuit having a cascade of analog delay sections, each section to provide a respective delay to an analog input signal, thus providing a delayed analog input signal at the output of the delay circuit. The delay circuit further includes a selector, configured to select an input or an output of one of the delay sections to provide as an input signal to a quantizer of a feedforward path. The quantizer may generate a digital input to a DAC of the feedforward path based on the output of the selector, and the DAC may generate a feedforward path analog output based on the digital signal generated by the quantizer. The arrangement further includes a summation node, configured to generate a residue signal based on the delayed analog input and the feedforward path analog output.

Abstract: The present disclosure is concerned with measuring the amount of electrical energy consumed even when the electric meter has been tampered with. Electric meters may be fraudulently tampered with by connecting a bypass element, such as a conductive wire or cable, across the terminals of the meter in order to bypass the electric meter. This means that only part of the consumed electrical current passes through the electric meter for measurement, resulting in some of the consumed electrical energy not being measured and therefore not being billed for. However, in the present invention a technique has been developed to enable the electric meter to determine the amount of electrical current that bypasses the meter and therefore measure the amount electrical energy consumed even when the electric meter has been tampered with.

Abstract: Digital predistortion (DPD) arrangements that use coding to differentiate between contributions from individual power amplifiers (PAs) is disclosed. When used with a phased antenna array having N antenna elements and N corresponding PAs, the arrangements may sequentially apply N codes to input signals provided to N PAs. Each code is a vector having N elements, where each element corresponds to a different PA in that the element is a complex gain applied to an input signal for the PA. Together, the N codes may be arranged as N rows or N columns of a matrix P. The disclosed arrangements may generate N feedback signals by applying the matrix P to a signal generated by a probe antenna element sensing wireless RF signals transmitted by the N antenna elements, and to update DPD coefficients based on the N feedback signals. The N codes may be either orthogonal or non-orthogonal.