Experimental Demonstration of Walsh-Based RF Conversion Using Wideband DAC and ADC in 28 nm FDSOI CMOS Technology

This paper presents the first experimental demonstration of fully Walsh-based wideband converters for Radio Frequency Front-End (RFFE) architecture implemented in 28 nm FDSOI CMOS technology. The system integrates a Walsh-based RF digital-to-analog converter (WDAC) and a Walsh-based RF analog-to-digital converter (WADC) designed for digital predistortion (DPD) applications. The WDAC achieves an instantaneous bandwidth of 4.7 GHz with an energy efficiency of 0.57 pJ/bit. The WADC achieves a 2.5 GHz bandwidth while consuming only 4 mW. The experimental demonstration showcase efficient wideband signal processing in the Walsh domain and highlights its potential as a promising paradigm for future low-power, high-throughput wireless transceivers, offering both wideband capabilities and a new order of scale energy efficiency.