Abstract: Power consumption in an oscillator formed of a chain of two inverters in series, with resistive feedback from the output of the first inverter to its input, and capacitive feedback from the output of the second inverter to the input of the first inverter is lowered by reducing the supply voltage to the two inverters and reducing the voltage swing at the input to the first inverter. The supply voltage is reduced by adding one or more diodes, or other voltage reducing elements or means for reducing the voltage, between the power and ground rails of the power source and the power and ground inputs of the two inverters, and the voltage swing is reduced by selecting the feedback capacitor.

Abstract: A homodyne motion sensor or detector based on ultra-wideband radar utilizes the entire received waveform through implementation of a voltage boosting receiver. The receiver includes a receiver input and a receiver output. A first diode is connected to the receiver output. A first charge storage capacitor is connected from between the first diode and the receiver output to ground. A second charge storage capacitor is connected between the receiver input and the first diode. A second diode is connected from between the second charge storage capacitor and the first diode to ground. The dual diode receiver performs voltage boosting of a RF signal received at the receiver input, thereby enhancing receiver sensitivity.