Saiyan - Design and Implementation of a Low-power Demodulator for LoRa Backscatter Systems

Explore the design and implementation of Saiyan, an ultra-low-power demodulator for LoRa backscatter systems, in this 15-minute conference talk from NSDI '22. Learn about the challenges of long-range backscatter communication and how Saiyan addresses them by enabling feedback signal demodulation, packet re-transmission, rate adaptation, and channel hopping. Discover the key observations, frequency-amplitude transformation techniques, and use of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters that contribute to Saiyan's improved demodulation sensitivity and range. Examine the high-level circuit schematic, implementation details, and performance metrics, including demodulation range, throughput, power consumption, and system cost. Gain insights into how Saiyan achieves a 3.5-5x gain in demodulation range compared to state-of-the-art systems while consuming only 93.2 μW of power.