Harmonic

Voltage

Engineering

Aerospace engineering

Voltage divider

Modulation (music)

Amplitude-shift keying

Transponder (aeronautics)

Acoustics

Phase-shift keying

Physics

Keying

Voltage reference

Bit error rate

Electronic engineering

Baseband

Dropout voltage

Voltage doubler

Channel (broadcasting)

CMOS

Frequency multiplier

Electrical engineering

Sensors

This paper presents a novel passive Schottky-diode frequency doubler equipped with an on-off keying (OOK) modulation port to be used in harmonic transponders for both identification and sensing applications. The amplitude modulation of the second-harmonic output signal is achieved by driving a low-frequency MOSFET, which modifies the dc impedance termination of the doubler. Since the modulation signal is applied to the gate port of the transistor, no static current is drained. A proof-of-concept prototype was manufactured and tested, operating at 1.04 GHz. An on/off ratio of 23 dB was observed in the conversion loss of the doubler for an available input power of −10 dBm. The modulation port of the circuit was excited with a square wave (fm up to 15 MHz), and the measured sidebands in the spectrum featured a good agreement with the theory. Then, the doubler was connected to a harmonic antenna system and tested in a wireless experiment for fm up to 1 MHz, showing an excellent performance. Finally, an experiment was conducted where the output signal of the doubler was modulated by a reed switch used to measure the rotational speed of an electrical motor. This work opens the door to a new class of frequency doublers, suitable for ultra low-power harmonic transponders for identification and sensing applications.

Energy-Efficient Harmonic Transponder Based on On-Off Keying Modulation for Both Identification and Sensing