ASH Receiver Student Design Competition

MTT-02 and MTT-16 are pleased to announce the second Student ASH Receiver Design Competition, which will take place at IMS2011 in Baltimore, MD. This Competition is open to all students and graduate students registered at an educational establishment. The competitors are required to design, construct, and measure an Amplifier-Sequenced Hybrid Receiver (ASH receiver) at a frequency of 433.92 MHz. The winner will be judged on the design that demonstrates the lowest power consumption while providing the highest sensitivity. The ASH receiver must be brought to IMS2010 where it will be tested to verify its performance. A representative of the design group must be present at the testing to assist with the evaluation. The winner will receive a prize of US$1,000 and will be invited to submit a paper describing the design and the experience for IEEE Microwave Magazine. Questions can be sent to Mr. Stefan Zorn at zorn@lfte.de or to Mr. Benjamin Laemmle at laemmle@lfte.de. Support for the testing is provided by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH.

ASH receiver competition rules:

• The receiver design may use any type of technology, but must be based on the ASH receiver architecture first published by Darrell L. Ash (see Figure 1).

  
  Figure1: ASH Receiver Topology

• The receiver should include proper circuitry for a digital output signal with a threshold of supply voltage/2, but no more than 2.5V. The output stage has to drive a 1 kOhm load and the capacitance of an attached cable.
• Only two amplifier stages and two SAW filters are permitted.
• The receiver must handle a maximum input power of at least – 80 dBm.
• An adjacent strong interferer will be present at an offset of 10 MHz from center frequency with a power of -50 dBm, which will be disabled for sensitivity measurements.
• The receiver must be the result of student effort both in receiver design and fabrication.
• The receiver mechanical design should allow for internal inspection of all relevant components and circuit elements. The RF ports should be standard 50Ω SMA connectors. DC connections should be banana plugs.
• Further specifications:

  Center Frequency	433.92 MHz
  Modulation	Binary ASK, 90%
  Data rate	115.2 kbps
  Supply Voltage (one per receiver)	1.5 V – 12 V

• The sensitivity will be defined by the minimum input signal level which results in a bit error rate (BER) of 10-3 .
• A Figure of Merit will be defined by:
  FOM = 10 log(Power Consumption) + Sensitivity
• Measurement signal will be a random ASK modulated signal with the specified parameters at room temperature.
• The SAW components are provided by TDK-EPC and will be sent to the participants after a short check of their intended design. Data sheets and S-Parameters of the components are available upon request.
• Receiver entries should be submitted with measured data, including dc supply requirements and sensitivity.
• The winner will be based on the successful reception of an ASK modulated signal with an adjacent strong interferer and the minimum FOM measured during official testing. Award certificates will be presented to winners at the Student Awards Luncheon. The decision of the judges will be final.

Submissions should include information on the university or educational affiliation of the entry, the faculty advisor and a short abstract about the intended design.

General Competition Rules:

• To enter a competition, the student(s) must have been a full-time student (enrolled for a minimum of nine hours per term as graduate students or twelve hours per term as undergraduates) during the time the work was performed.
• The student(s) must submit a letter of intent to participate no later than Jan. 15, 2011. The letter shall be submitted to studentpapers@ims2011.org.
• The student(s) must have a signed statement from their academic advisor that the work is principally the effort of the student(s).
• The student(s) must attend the conference to present their design for evaluation at the specified time and location (TBD).