Energy-Efficient Ternary Modulator for Wireless Sensor Networks

The importance of Wireless Sensor Networks is becoming more evident owing to their practical applications in various areas. However, the energy problem remains a critical barrier to the progress of WSNs. By reducing the energy consumed by the sensor nodes that constitute WSNs, the performance and lifespan of WSNs will be enhanced. In this study, we introduce an energy-efficient ternary modulator that employs multi-threshold CMOS for logic conversion. We optimized the design with a low-power ternary gate structure based on a pass transistor using the MTCMOS process. Our design uses 71.69% fewer transistors compared to the previous design. To demonstrate the improvements in our design, we conducted the HSPICE simulation using a CMOS 180 nm process with a 1.8V supply voltage. The simulation results show that the proposed ternary modulator is more energy-efficient than the previous modulator. Power-delay product, a benchmark for energy efficiency, is reduced by 97.19%. Furthermore, corner simulations demonstrate that our modulator is stable against PVT variations.