The biological inner ear, or cochlea, is a sophisticated signal processing system that performs spectrum analysis over an ultra-broadband frequency range of ~20 Hz to 20 kHz with exquisite sensitivity and high energy efficiency. Electronic cochlear models, which mimic the exponentially-tapered structure of the biological inner ear using bidirectional transmission lines or filter cascades, act as fast and hardware-efficient spectrum analyzers at both audio and radio frequencies. This paper describes a cochlea-based digitally-programmable single-chip radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzer in 65 nm CMOS. This “RF cochlea” chip includes a transmission-line active cochlear model with 50 parallel exponentially-spaced stages that analyzes the radio spectrum from 1.0-8.3 GHz. The outputs of all stages are encoded in parallel as delta-sigma ( $\Delta - \Sigma $ ) modulated digital signals for real-time demodulation and analysis by a digital back-end processor. The chip consumes 418 mW and typically generates ~1 GS/s of total data at an ENOB of 5–6 bits. An artificial intelligence (AI)-driven single-channel cognitive radio (CR) receiver based on the RF cochlea has also been implemented and tested.

中文翻译：

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具有 Δ-Σ 调制数字输出的 1.0-8.3 GHz 基于耳蜗的实时频谱分析仪

生物内耳或耳蜗是一种复杂的信号处理系统，可在 ~20 Hz 至 20 kHz 的超宽带频率范围内执行频谱分析，具有出色的灵敏度和高能效。电子耳蜗模型使用双向传输线或滤波器级联模拟生物内耳的指数锥形结构，在音频和无线电频率上充当快速且硬件高效的频谱分析仪。本文介绍了一种基于耳蜗的数字可编程单芯片射频 (RF) 频谱分析仪，采用 65 nm CMOS。这种“射频耳蜗”芯片包括一个传输线有源耳蜗模型，该模型具有 50 个平行的指数间隔级，可分析 1.0-8.3 GHz 的无线电频谱。所有阶段的输出都被并行编码为 delta-sigma ($\Delta - \Sigma $) 调制的数字信号，供数字后端处理器进行实时解调和分析。该芯片的功耗为 418 mW，通常以 5-6 位的 ENOB 生成约 1 GS/s 的总数据。还实施并测试了基于射频耳蜗的人工智能 (AI) 驱动的单通道认知无线电 (CR) 接收器。