Frequency-Dependent UWB Channel Characteristics in Office Environments

This paper reports frequency-dependent ultrawideband (UWB) channel characteristics. Measurements were performed in 103 receiver locations of six different office environments. From the measured data, the effect of frequency on the pathloss properties of a UWB signal is analyzed. After analyzing the pathloss behavior to propagation environments, the pathloss exponent variation models are developed in various environments as a function of frequency. Based on these models, pathloss prediction is performed, and the accuracy of the prediction is compared with those of existing pathloss models. In addition, the frequency-dependent UWB channel correlation characteristics are investigated. For the frequency correlation statistics of the UWB channel, double-slope models representing correlation coefficients are established with and without line-of-sight (LOS) paths. Using these correlation models, a channel gain estimation algorithm is proposed. The performance of the proposed estimation algorithm is evaluated with estimation parameters, and it is confirmed that the proposed estimation algorithm has better performance than the conventional algorithm using a linear interpolation algorithm.Brain Korea 21 Project IT R&D Program of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy/Institute for Information Technology Advancement under Grant 2008-F-007-01, Intelligent Wireless Communication Systems in 3 Dimensional Environmen

Indoor wireless communications and applications

Chapter 3 addresses challenges in radio link and system design in indoor scenarios. Given the fact that most human activities take place in indoor environments, the need for supporting ubiquitous indoor data connectivity and location/tracking service becomes even more important than in the previous decades. Specific technical challenges addressed in this section are(i), modelling complex indoor radio channels for effective antenna deployment, (ii), potential of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radios for supporting higher data rates, and (iii), feasible indoor localisation and tracking techniques, which are summarised in three dedicated sections of this chapter

Circuit model for diffuse multipath and electromagnetic absorption prediction in rooms

We present a room electromagnetics-based theory which primarily models the diffuse multipath components (DMC) power density with a simple circuit model, and afterwards includes the line-of-sight (LOS) component to predict the total exposure in a realistic environment. Given a human absorption cross section (ACS) and its location from a transmitter (Tx), the average whole-body specific absorption rate (SAR(wb)) can be determined by the proposed circuit model for ultra-wideband (UWB) and wireless local area network (WLAN) systems. The SAR(wb) in humans in a realistic office environment for both UWB and WLAN systems is investigated as part of application. The theory is simulated with the Advanced Design System (ADS) software, and excellent agreement between theoretical and simulated values are obtained in terms of relative errors (<2%). The model may be very useful for SAR(wb) prediction in realistic complex indoor environments

Ultra wideband: applications, technology and future perspectives

Ultra Wide Band (UWB) wireless communications offers a radically different approach to wireless communication compared to conventional narrow band systems. Global interest in the technology is huge. This paper reports on the state of the art of UWB wireless technology and highlights key application areas, technological challenges, higher layer protocol issues, spectrum operating zones and future drivers. The majority of the discussion focuses on the state of the art of UWB technology as it is today and in the near future

An indoor variance-based localization technique utilizing the UWB estimation of geometrical propagation parameters

A novel localization framework is presented based on ultra-wideband (UWB) channel sounding, employing a triangulation method using the geometrical properties of propagation paths, such as time delay of arrival, angle of departure, angle of arrival, and their estimated variances. In order to extract these parameters from the UWB sounding data, an extension to the high-resolution RiMAX algorithm was developed, facilitating the analysis of these frequency-dependent multipath parameters. This framework was then tested by performing indoor measurements with a vector network analyzer and virtual antenna arrays. The estimated means and variances of these geometrical parameters were utilized to generate multiple sample sets of input values for our localization framework. Next to that, we consider the existence of multiple possible target locations, which were subsequently clustered using a Kim-Parks algorithm, resulting in a more robust estimation of each target node. Measurements reveal that our newly proposed technique achieves an average accuracy of 0.26, 0.28, and 0.90 m in line-of-sight (LoS), obstructed-LoS, and non-LoS scenarios, respectively, and this with only one single beacon node. Moreover, utilizing the estimated variances of the multipath parameters proved to enhance the location estimation significantly compared to only utilizing their estimated mean values

Modified UWB Spatio-Temporal Channel Simulation Including Pulse Distortion and Frequency Dependence

A modified simulation of ultra-wideband (UWB) multipath channels, combined with cluster classification and physics based pulse distortion mechanisms, is proposed in this letter. Spatiotemporal characteristics of multipath clusters are specifically generated based on 3 x 3 planar array systems with regard to scenario types and are simulated over ten frequency subbands (2–11 GHz). Thus, frequency-dependent characteristics of the propagation channels are also investigated and compared between each scenario. Finally, the probability of the bit-error rate is determined to quantify distortion effects on UWB multipath channels for all frequency subbands.</p

An Empirical Ultra Wideband Channel Model for Indoor Laboratory Environments

Channel measurement and modeling is an important issue when designing ultra wideband (UWB) communication systems. In this paper, the results of some UWB time-domain propagation measurements performed in modern laboratory (Lab) environments are presented. The Labs are equipped with many electronic and measurement devices which make them different from other indoor locations like office and residential environments. The measurements have been performed for both line of sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) scenarios. The measurement results are used to investigate large-scale channel characteristics and temporal dispersion parameters. The clustering Saleh- Valenzuela (S-V) channel impulse response (CIR) parameters are investigated based on the measurement data. The small-scale amplitude fading statistics are also studied in the environment. Then, an empirical model is presented for UWB signal transmission in the Lab environment based on the obtained results