A Low-Cost Continuous-Flow Parallel Memory-Based FFT Processor for UWB Applications

Abstract

In UWB systems, data symbols are transmitted and received continuously. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processor must be able to seamlessly process input/output data. This paper presents the design and implementation of a continuous data flow parallel memory-based FFT (CF-PMBFFT) processor without the use of input buffer for pre-loading the input data. The processor realizes a memory space of two N-words and multiple processing elements (PEs) to achieve the seamless data flow and meet the design requirement. The circuit has been fabricated in TSMC 0.18µm 1P6M CMOS process with the supply voltage of 1.8V. Measurement results of the test chip shows that the developed CF-PMBFFT processor takes a core area of 1.97mm² with a power consumption of 62.12mW for a throughput rate of 528MS/s.