A VHDL-AMS Simulation Environment for an UWB Impulse Radio Transceiver

Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) communication based on the impulse radio paradigm is becoming increasingly popular. According to the IEEE 802.15 WPAN Low Rate Alternative PHY Task Group 4a, UWB will play a major role in localization applications, due to the high time resolution of UWB signals which allow accurate indirect measurements of distance between transceivers. Key for the successful implementation of UWB transceivers is the level of integration that will be reached, for which a simulation environment that helps take appropriate design decisions is crucial. Owing to this motivation, in this paper we propose a multiresolution UWB simulation environment based on the VHDL-AMS hardware description language, along with a proper methodology which helps tackle the complexity of designing a mixed-signal UWB System-on-Chip. We applied the methodology and used the simulation environment for the specification and design of an UWB transceiver based on the energy detection principle. As a by-product, simulation results show the effectiveness of UWB in the so-called ranging application, that is the accurate evaluation of the distance between a couple of transceivers using the two-way-ranging metho

Performance of Hybrid Direct-Sequence Time-Hopping Ultrawide Bandwidth Systems over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

This paper investigates and compares the performance of various ultrawide bandwidth (UWB) systems when communicating over Nakagami-m fading channels. Specifically, the direct-sequence (DS), time-hopping (TH) and hybrid direct-sequence time-hopping (DS-TH) UWB systems are considered. The performance of these UWB systems is studied associated with employing the conventional single-user correlation detector or minimum mean-square error (MMSE) multiuser detector. Our simulation results show that the hybrid DS-TH UWB system may outperform a corresponding pure TH-UWB or pure DS-UWB system in terms of the achievable error performance. Given the total spreading gain of the hybrid DS-TH UWB system, there is an optimal setting of the TH spreading factor and DS spreading factor, which results in the best error performance

UWB wireless coexistence by fibre-based photonic ADC interference monitoring

The interference monitoring of UWB wireless picocell clusters through an in-house fibre installation is proposed and evaluated in a proof-of-concept experiment. UWB clusters enable range extension of UWB technology providing Gbit/s communications in home or office buildings. Coexistence of a large number of UWB clusters with other wireless services is guaranteed by a photonic analog-to-digital converter employing the in-house optical fiber installation

UWB microstrip filter design using a time-domain technique

A time-domain technique is proposed for ultra-wideband (UWB) microstrip-filter design. The design technique uses the reflection coefficient (S11) specified in the frequency domain. When the frequency response of the UWB filter is given, the response will be approximated by a series of UWB pulses in the time domain. The UWB pulses are Gaussian pulses of the same bandwidth with different time delays. The method tries to duplicate the reflection scenario in the time domain for very narrow Gaussian pulses (to obtain the impulse response of the system) when the pulses are passed through the filter, and obtains the value of the filter coefficients based on the number of UWB pulses, amplitudes, and delays of the pulses

Optical distribution of OFDM and impulse-radio UWB in FTTH networks

Proposal, experimental demonstration and performance comparison of impulse-radio UWB and OFDM UWB distribution in FTTH networks for high-definition audio/video broadcasting is presented. OFDM-UWB exhibits better performance compared with its impulse-radio counterpart with better spectral efficiency

Experimental evaluation of UWB indoor positioning for indoor track cycling

Accurate radio frequency (RF)-based indoor localization systems are more and more applied during sports. The most accurate RF-based localization systems use ultra-wideband (UWB) technology; this is why this technology is the most prevalent. UWB positioning systems allow for an in-depth analysis of the performance of athletes during training and competition. There is no research available that investigates the feasibility of UWB technology for indoor track cycling. In this paper, we investigate the optimal position to mount the UWB hardware for that specific use case. Different positions on the bicycle and cyclist were evaluated based on accuracy, received power level, line-of-sight, maximum communication range, and comfort. Next to this, the energy consumption of our UWB system was evaluated. We found that the optimal hardware position was the lower back, with a median ranging error of 22 cm (infrastructure hardware placed at 2.3 m). The energy consumption of our UWB system is also taken into account. Applied to our setup with the hardware mounted at the lower back, the maximum communication range varies between 32.6 m and 43.8 m. This shows that UWB localization systems are suitable for indoor positioning of track cyclists

Ultra-wideband radio signals distribution in FTTH networks

The use of an ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technique is proposed as a viable solution for the distribution of high-definition audio/video content in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks. The approach suitability is demonstrated by the transmission of standards-based UWB signals at 1.25 Gb/s along different FTTH fiber links with 25 km up to 60 km of standard single-mode fiber length in a laboratory experiment. Experimental results suggest that orthogonal frequency-division-multiplexed UWB signals exhibit better transmission performance in FFTH networks than impulse radio UWB signals

Reduced-rank adaptive least bit-error-rate detection in hybrid direct-sequence time-hopping ultrawide bandwidth systems

Design of high-efficiency low-complexity detection schemes for ultrawide bandwidth (UWB) systems is highly challenging. This contribution proposes a reduced-rank adaptive multiuser detection (MUD) scheme operated in least bit-errorrate (LBER) principles for the hybrid direct-sequence timehopping UWB (DS-TH UWB) systems. The principal component analysis (PCA)-assisted rank-reduction technique is employed to obtain a detection subspace, where the reduced-rank adaptive LBER-MUD is carried out. The reduced-rank adaptive LBERMUD is free from channel estimation and does not require the knowledge about the number of resolvable multipaths as well as the knowledge about the multipaths’ strength. In this contribution, the BER performance of the hybrid DS-TH UWB systems using the proposed detection scheme is investigated, when assuming communications over UWB channels modeled by the Saleh-Valenzuela (S-V) channel model. Our studies and performance results show that, given a reasonable rank of the detection subspace, the reduced-rank adaptive LBER-MUD is capable of efficiently mitigating the multiuser interference (MUI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI), and achieving the diversity gain promised by the UWB systems