ABSTRACT

While wireless network solutions have progressed into the enterprise and public access markets, the home networking market has still not found an appropriate wireless solution. Multimedia consumer appliances and applications are fueling an increased demand for wireless solutions for the home market, but existing solutions are not providing the unique features the home market demands. In many ways, wireless technology for the home is in the dark ages. Nothing fundamentally different has been created within the science of wireless communications to allow for a shift in the classic wireless paradigm. For decades, classic radio design has involved a fundamental compromise between data rate, cost of the implementation at the semiconductor level, and the amount of power consumed by the total solution. When one utilizes classic radio design techniques to increase data rate performance a penalty is paid in the form of increased cost and power consumption. This is primarily due to the increased signal processing necessary to achieve the higher data rates. The Home market is unique in that it simultaneously requires high data rates (for multiple streams of digital video), a very low cost (for broad consumer adoption), and very low power consumption (for embedding in to battery powered handheld appliances). Ultra Wideband is a response to this markets needs by undertaking a fundamentally new approach to the design of a wireless communication system. In many ways, it is Michelangelos David emerging from decades of the classic approach, but creating an enduring approach that will catalyze a fundamentally different way to approach wireless communications within the consumer electronics market.

First of all, the term "ultra wideband" is a relatively new term to describe a technology which had been known since the early 1960s as "carrier-free", "base band" or "impulse" technology. The basic concept is to develop, transmit and receive an extremely short duration burst of radio frequency (RF) energy typically a few tens of picoseconds (trillionths of a second) to a few nanoseconds (billionths of a second) in duration. These bursts represent from one to only a few cycles of an RF carrier wave. The resultant waveforms are extremely broadband, so much so that it is often difficult to determine an actual RF center frequency thus, the term "carrier-free". Early methods of signal generation utilized "base band" (i.e., non-RF), fast rise-time pulse excitation of a wideband microwave antenna to generate and radiate the antennas effective "impulse" response. (More precisely, it is the antennas "step" response that is actually produced.) More modern UWB systems, such as those developed by MSSI, no longer utilize direct impulse excitation of an antenna because of the inability of such an approach to adequately control emission bandwidths and apparent center frequencies.

INTRODUCTION
No secret that any kind of communication means needs a greater bandwidth with time - growing computational capabilities must go along with strengthening of communicational ones. So, "To process something unnecessary one must first send something unnecessary". The concepts of communication and computation are so close that their tight connection is obvious even for PR departments of major IT companies. Quite often it makes no sense to separate these concepts. Today, speaking about growing power of computing devices we imply both growing performance of their processors and growing throughput of their communication channels. The communication channels include internal:

caches system buses memory interfaces interfaces of storage devices ...and external: interfaces of peripherals wireless network channels wired network channels structures of data transfer. External wired communication channels are developing mainly in two directions - cost reduction and increase of availability of optical channels (top-down) and growth of throughput (bottom-up). However, the two physical carriers are not so close yet (first of all, in prices) to be involved in direct competition - in 90% of cases a character of a problem to be solved determines the technology to be preferred. Internal wired channels are switching over from specialized parallel interfaces to high-level serial packet interface (Serial ATA, 3GIO/PCI Express, Hyper Transport). It fosters a convergence of external and internal communication technologies: in future separate components of a computer case will be combined into a normal network. It's quite a logical solution - a modern chipset, thus, works as a network switch equipped with multiple interfaces such as a DDR memory bus or a processor bus and AGP/PCI. Wireless channels are just at the formation stage now in terms of the range of applications. Today they can be used effectively only for a small part of communication tasks, including the most important problem of developing a global network infrastructure. Wireless technologies are only partially suitable for local communications, first of all, because of a low throughput. At present, there are two prevailing wireless standards: Bluetooth - a wireless interface of a low throughput for peripherals and communication between objects located not very far from each other. 802.11a / 802.11b - a standard Ethernet network with a common medium for developing a general-purpose network infrastructure. The Bluetooth and its followers will free your workplace from cables replacing them with multiple low-speed peripheral interfaces (keyboard, mouse, undemanding scanner or printer, IrDA). The 802 standard will play a role of the "last network interface" connecting the infrastructure and end access points. The first type of the 802 standard has a high throughput, over 50 Mbits, and is primarily meant for saturated and compact networks of enterprises and offices. The base frequency (5 GHz) penetrates much worse into neighboring rooms than 2.4 GHz of the 11Mbit standard. The 802.11b standard is a match for home and various residential and public structures such as airports, cafes, cinemas, trade houses. Cellular communication standards, including the struggling 3G, are the candidates for a wide territorial data transfer standard. But the wide spreading 802.11 can make problems for the third generation of cellular networks as their niches overlap a lot. Now, when we have got an idea on the infrastructure, let's turn to the peripherals and internal communications. Having a too narrow bandwidth for printing, scanning and data exchange with wireless terminals, the Bluetooth is not a good choice as an internal wireless interface either. Let's pop into the computer case. There are still a lot of cables in there... What should we have ideally: A bandwidth must satisfy the needs of drives, i.e. it must be 10-100 times wider than that for the infrastructure. Operation both at short and mid-range distances to cover not only intersystem communications but also the infrastructure niche of the 802 standard and the niche of

external peripherals. Much lower cost of implementation - lower than for the 802 and Bluetooth. Simplicity of realization - possibility to develop single-chip solutions that do not need any additional discrete and analog parts or even integration of such solutions into highly integrated general-purpose chips. At first glance, it's impossible to combine these requirements in the near future. However:

Ultra Wide Band

This concept doesn't stand for a definite standard of wireless communication (the standard is being developed now is still far from completion); this is a method of modulation and data transmission which can entirely change the wireless picture in the near future. Without further ado let's take a look at the diagram that demonstrates the basic principle of the UWB:

The UWB is above and the traditional modulation is below which is called here Narrow Band (NB), as opposed to the Ultra Wideband. On the left we can see a signal on the time axis and on the right there is its frequency spectrum, i.e. energy distribution in the frequency band. The most modern standards of data transmission are NB standards - all of them work within a quite narrow frequency band allowing for just small deviations from the base (or carrier) frequency. Below on the right you can see a spectral energy distribution of a typical 802.11b transmitter. It has a very narrow (80 MHz for one channel) dedicated spectral band with the reference frequency of 2.4 GHz. Within this narrow band the transmitter emits a considerable amount of energy necessary for the following reliable reception within the designed range of distance (100 m for the 802.11b). The range is strictly defined by FCC and other regulatory bodies and requires licensing. Data are encoded and transferred using the method of frequency modulation (control of deviation from the base frequency) within the described channel. Now take a look at the UWB - here the traditional approach is turned upside down. In the time space the transmitter emits short pulses of a special form which distributes all the energy of the pulse within the given, quite wide, spectral range (approximately from 3 GHz to 10 GHz). Data, in their turn, are encoded with polarity and mutual positions of pulses. With much total power delivered into the air and, therefore, a long distance of the reliable reception, the UWB signal doesn't exceed an extremely low value (much lower than that of the NB signals) in each given spectrum point (i.e. in each definite licensed frequency band). As a result, according to the respective FCC regulation, such signal becomes allowable although it also takes spectral parts used for other purposes:

So, the most part of energy of the UWB signal falls into the frequency range from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, and the energy spectral density doesn't exceed the limit determined by the Part 15 of the FCC Regulations (-41dBm/MHz). Below 3.1 GHz the signal almost disappears, its level is lower than 60. The more ideal the form of a pulse formed with the transmitter, the less the energy goes out of the main range. But however that may be, the permissible deviation of the pulse from the ideal form must be limited, hence the second purport. The spectral range lower than 3.1 GHz is avoided not to create problems for GPS systems whose accuracy of operation can suffer a lot from outside signals even if their density is lower than -41. That is why 20 dBm (up to -60) were reserved in addition at the spectral range up to 3.1 GHz; it is not obligatory but it seems to be welcomed by military bodies. So, we managed to take a marginal part of the spectrum without breaking the current rules. The total energy of the transmitter which can fit into this band is defined by the area of the spectral characteristic (see filled zones on the previous picture). In case of the UWB it's much greater compared to the traditional NB signals such as 802.11b or 802.11a. So, with the UWB we can send data for longer distances, or send more data, especially if there are a lot of simultaneously working devices located close to each other. Here is a diagram with the designed maximum density of data transferred per square meter:

Density of transferred data able to coexist on the same square meter is much higher for the UWB compared to the popular NB standards. That is, it will be possible to use the UWB for the intersystem communication or even for an interchip communication within one device! The UWB actually tries to solve the problem of inefficient spectrum utilization, like the Hyper Threading solves the problem of idle time of functional processor units. Frequency bands dedicated for different services remain unused for the most part of time - even in a very dense city environment - at each given point of time the most part of the spectrum is not used, that is why the radio spectrum is used irrationally: 1. Most frequencies are not used all the time. That is a low frequency effectiveness of the

spectrum utilization. 2. Guard channels necessary for NB modulations (gaps between channels to eliminate pickups). That is a low frequency effectiveness of the spectrum utilization. 3. Excessive and, as a rule, uncontrolled power of transmission (and, therefore, transmission range) of signals even if a distance is quite short. That is a low spatial effectiveness of the spectrum utilization. Whatever direction we are looking into nothing seems to be good - so, it's high time to start improving methods of radio communication and division of the air. In case of the NB a frequency and width of the dedicated spectral range for the most part (though the real situation is much more complicated) defines a bandwidth of the channel, and the transmitter's power defines a distance range. But in the UWB these two concepts interwine and we can distribute our capabilities between the distance range and bandwidth. Thus, at small distances, for example, in case of an interchip communication, we can get huge throughput levels without increasing the total transferred power and without cluttering up the air, i.e. other devices are not impeded. Look at how the throughput of data transferred in the UWB modulation depends on distance:

While the traditional NB standard 802.11a uses an artificially created dependence of throughput on distance (a fixed set of bandwidths discretely switched over as the distance increases), the UWB realizes this dependence in a much more natural way. At short distances its throughput is so great that it makes our dreams on the interchip communication real, but at the longer distances the UWB loses to the NB standard. Why? On the one hand, a theoretical volume of the energy transferred, and therefore, the maximum amount of data, is higher. On the other hand, we must remember that in a real life information is always transferred in large excess. Beside the amount of energy, there is the design philosophy which also has an effect. For example, a character of modulation, i.e. how stably and losslessly it is received and detected by the receiver. Let's compare the classical:

... and UWB transceivers:

The classical transceiver contains a reference oscillator (synth) which, as a rule, is stabilized with some reference crystal element (Ref Osc). Further, in case of reception this frequency is subtracted from the received signal, and in case of transmission it is added to the data transferred. For the UWB the transmitter looks very unsophisticated - we just form a pulse of a required shape and send it to the antenna. In case of reception we amplify the signal, pump it through the band filter which selects our working spectrum range and... that's all - here is our ready pulse. The only problem is how to detect it! Here is the key how to increase the effective distance for the UWB. Of course, it's much more difficult to detect a single pulse than a series of oscillations of the carrier frequency. So, for the UWB to succeed we must create not only keys (pulse oscillators) of a strictly defined form and a switch time of around 3 GHz, but also develop high-quality detectors of such pulses which is a loads more complicated problem. However that may be but the UWB is much simpler than NB transceivers and can be entirely assembled on a chip. The most important advantage is that a UWB transmitter needs no its analog part - a signal can be sent to the air right from the chip, and in case of reception this analog part is much simpler and can be realized within the frames of not only hybrid technologies but also base ones, i.e. CMOS and the like. One more interesting aspect of the UWB comes from radio location (where wideband technologies were most often used before): a potential possibility to create networks able to define geometrical positions of objects. It requires sets (grids) of antennae which are very easy to make for the UWB. It can be very useful for addressing objects - just imagine a universal control radio console which knows which device it is aimed at the given moment. One more application is creation of a dynamic antenna directivity diagram to improve reception of signals from a definite device, ignoring signals from others. This approach is going to improve even more the spatial effectiveness of the air utilization.

HISTORY OF UWB There have been many claims to the honor; however, Dr. Gerald F. Ross, currently President of ANRO Engineering, Inc., first demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing UWB waveforms for radar and communications applications back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Gerrys pioneering insight into the value and applications of this technology over 30 years ago has been instrumental in shaping UWB technology to the point it has reached today with applications ready to meet market demands for high-speed wireless and precision radar/positioning applications. Gerry was recognized by the National Academy of Engineering for his efforts in ultra wideband technology, and elected a Member in 1995.

The origin of ultra wideband (UWB) technology stems from work in time-domain electromagnetic begun in 1962 to fully describe the transient behavior of a certain class of microwave networks through their characteristic impulse response (Ross 1963, 1966). The concept was indeed quite simple. Instead of characterizing a linear, time-invariant (LTI) system by the more conventional means of a swept frequency response (i.e., amplitude and phase measurements versus frequency), an LTI system could alternatively be fully characterized by its response to an impulsive excitation -- the so-called impulse response h(t). In particular, the output y(t) of such a system to any arbitrary input x(t) could be uniquely determined by the well-known convolution integral (e.g., Papoulis 1962): . However, it was not until the advent of the sampling oscilloscope (Hewlett-Packard c.1962) and the development of techniques for sub nanosecond (base band) pulse generation, to provide suitable approximations to an impulse excitation, that the impulse response of microwave networks could be directly observed and measured. Once impulse measurement techniques were applied to the design of wideband, radiating antenna elements (Ross 1968), it quickly became obvious that short pulse radar and communications systems could be developed with the same set of tools. While at the Sperry Research Center, then part of the Sperry Rand Corporation, Ross applied these techniques to various applications in radar and communications (Bennett & Ross 1978). This article is highly recommended reading for those interested in past and present applications of UWB technology. The invention of a sensitive, short pulse receiver (Robbins 1972) to replace the cumbersome time-domain sampling oscilloscope further accelerated system development. In 1973, Sperry was awarded the first UWB communications patent (Ross 1973). Through the late 1980's, this technology was alternately referred to as base band, carrier-free or impulse the term "ultra wideband" not being applied until approximately 1989 by the U.S. Department of Defense. By that time, UWB theory, techniques and many hardware approaches had experienced nearly 30 years of extensive development. By 1989, for example, Sperry had been awarded over 50 patents in the field covering UWB pulse generation and reception methods, and applications such as communications, radar, automobile collision avoidance, positioning systems, liquid level sensing and altimetry. In 1984, recognizing the value of UWB technology in the development of low probability of intercept and detection (LPI/D) communications systems, Dr. Ross prepared a seminal paper entitled "Comments on Base band or Carrier-Free Communications". Collaborating with Dr. Robert Fontana, currently MSSI President, Ross and Fontana designed, developed and implemented an LPI/D communications system, funded by the U.S. Government in 1986 and fielded in September 1987. Drs. Fontana and Ross continued collaboration on UWB system development for both communications and radar applications for approximately 11 years. Within the United States, much of the early work in the UWB field (prior to 1994), particularly in

the area of impulse communications, was performed under classified U.S. Government programs. Since 1994, however, much of the work has been carried out without classification restrictions, and the development of UWB technology has greatly accelerated.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF UWB

Advantages Since UWB waveforms are of such short time duration, they have some rather unique properties. In communications, for example, UWB pulses can be used to provide extremely high data rate performance in multi-user network applications. For radar applications, these same pulses can provide very fine range resolution and precision distance and/or positioning measurement capabilities. In fact, multifunction architectures encompassing communications, radar and positioning applications have been developed.

These short duration waveforms are relatively immune to multipath cancellation effects as observed in mobile and in-building environments. Multipath cancellation occurs when a strong reflected wave e.g., off of a wall, ceiling, vehicle, building, etc. arrives partially or totally out of phase with the direct path signal, causing a reduced amplitude response in the receiver. With very short pulses, the direct path has come and gone before the reflected path arrives and no cancellation occurs. As a consequence, UWB systems are particularly well suited for high-speed, mobile wireless applications. In addition, because of the extremely short duration waveforms, packet burst and time division multiple access (TDMA) protocols for multi-user communications are readily implemented. As bandwidth is inversely related to pulse duration, the spectral extent of these waveforms can be made quite large. With proper engineering design, the resultant energy densities (i.e., transmitted Watts of power per unit Hertz of bandwidth) can be quite low. This low energy density translates into a low probability of detection (LPD) RF signature. An LPD signature is of particular interest for military applications (e.g., for covert communications and radar); however, an LPD signature also produces minimal interference to proximity systems and minimal RF health hazards, significant for both military and commercial applications. Among the most important advantages of UWB technology, however, are those of low system complexity and low cost. UWB systems can be made nearly "all-digital", with minimal RF or microwave electronics. Because of the inherent RF simplicity of UWB designs, these systems are highly frequency adaptive, enabling them to be positioned anywhere within the RF spectrum. This feature avoids interference to existing services, while fully utilizing the available spectrum.

Disadvantages As with any technology, there are always applications that may be better served by other approaches. For example, for extremely high data rate (10s of Gigabits/second and higher), point-to-point or point-to-multipoint applications, it is difficult today for UWB systems to compete with high capacity optical fiber or optical wireless communications systems. Of course, the high cost associated with optical fiber installation and the inability of an optical wireless signal to penetrate a wall dramatically limit the applicability of optically-based systems for in-home or inbuilding applications. In addition, optical wireless systems have extremely precise pointing requirements, obviating their use in mobile environments. UWB is an RF wireless technology, and as such is still subject to the same laws of physics as every other RF technology. Thus, there are obvious tradeoffs to be made in signal-to-noise ratio versus bandwidth, range versus peak and average power levels, etc.

UWB: A COMPARISON WITH OTHER TECHNOLOGIES Ultra-Wideband is a proposed standard for short-range wireless communications that aims to replace Bluetooth technology in near future. It is an ideal solution for wireless connectivity in the range of 10 to 20 meters between consumer electronics (CE), mobile devices, and PC peripheral devices which provides very high data-rate while consuming very little battery power. It offers the best solution for bandwidth, cost, power consumption, and physical size requirements for next generation consumer electronic devices. UWB radios can use frequencies from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz, a band more than 7 GHz wide. Each radio channel can have a bandwidth of more than 500 MHz depending upon its center frequency. Due to such a large signal bandwidth, FCC has put severe broadcast power restrictions. By doing so UWB devices can make use of extremely wide frequency band while emitting very less amount of energy to get detected by other narrower band devices. Hence, a UWB device signal can not interfere with other narrower band device signals and because of this reason a UWB device can co-exist with other wireless devices. UWB is considered as Wireless USB replacement of standard USB and fire wire (IEEE 1394) solutions due to its higher data-rate compared to USB and fire wire. UWB signals can co-exists with other

short/large range wireless communications signals due to its own nature of being detected as noise to other signals. Under current FCC regulations, UWB signals used for commercial communications are capable of delivering very high data rates within short-ranges. Intel, Panasonic, Motorola are few of the big players in wireless industry who are very much interested in making UWB a viable solution for short range wireless communications. They believe we can achieve data rate of as high as 480 Mbps within ranges of less than 15 meters. What is Bluetooth Technology? Bluetooth is a current industry standard for short-range wireless connectivity. Bluetooth technology is widely used in consumer electronics for short-range wireless data transfer, like printers and digital cameras. It operates efficiently within the range of 20-25 ft in the environment without WLAN equipments. Bluetooth signals operate in the same frequency range as WI-FI (802.11b, g) standard. This is the biggest disadvantage of it because of its interference with WI-FI signals. A Bluetooth enabled device is not being able to function efficiently in the vicinity of WI-FI signals. Bluetooth technology took many years to come into mass market but still is struggling to really prove its potentials. Bluetooth faces major challenges by upcoming Ultra-Wideband standard which has many advantages such as higher data-rate and capability to co-exist with other wireless standards. UWB provides more than 100 Mb/s effective transfer rate compared with Bluetooth (1Mb/s max.) and 802.11b (11Mb/s).

power dissipation for UWB chip is less than 10 mw (much less than 802.11b and Bluetooth technologies). UWB provides maximum efficiency among other technologies. Hence it is the best match for energy sensitive applications.

UWB technology is meant for short range communications personal area networks, while 802.11a, b, g are meant for broader range local area networks.

Ultra Wideband transceivers are cheaper than 802.11 group transceivers and also are expected to be cheaper than Bluetooth in near future once mass production starts.

Figure 1 Effective data rate comparisons between UWB and other technologies

Figure 2 Comparison of power dissipation for UWB chip and other technologies

UWB REGULATIONS AND STANDARDIZATIONS

Ultra wideband Regulatory Support

Comments to NTIA on many proposed changes in UWB regulations. Monitoring ITU-R activities in UWB Task Group 1/8. Measurements to better understand new mixed mode UWB devices.

In May 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making on ultra wideband (UWB) systems, asking for a wide range of information on these systems, interference from these systems, and proposals for how to regulate them. At that time, technical opinion differed widely on how UWB systems interact with traditional radio systems, and how they should be regulated. In FY 2000 and 2001, ITS staff made extensive measurements to characterize UWB device emissions. ITS staff also made extensive measurements on UWB interference to various types of GPS receivers. This work was summarized in NTIA Reports 01-383, 01-384, and 01-389.1 Closely following this work, engineers at NTIAs Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) used ITS measurements to predict how UWB devices would interfere with Federal systems and GPS. These predictions were summarized in NTIA Special

Publications 01-43, 01-45, and 01-47.2

The technical and commercial communities continue with many activities needed to more exactly (and often more broadly) define the operational parameters for UWB devices. Although few actual commercial UWB devices have been sold to the public yet, many devices have been under intensive technical review. These include proposed 802.11 devices operating near the 5-GHz band and short-range automotive radars operating near 24 GHz. Since many of the proposed UWB devices will use UWB modulation mixed with frequency hopping (FH) or other modulations, there has been much activity in clarifying how these mixed modes should be characterized and regulated. The FCC released a Memorandum Opinion and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making on March 12, 2003. This document proposed many significant changes in the details of how various mixed-mode devices should be categorized and measured. ITS has continued monitoring these proposed changes for technical implications and providing comments to NTIA for possible policy changes. ITS also participated in the activities of ITU-R Task Group 1/8, dealing with issues of defining and regulating UWB devices on an international basis. Although UWB devices are typically very short range and would not normally require international regulation, such devices are also very transportable and devices manufactured for use in one country could easily find their way into many other countries. Therefore, TG 1/8 is studying UWB devices to understand their operation and to discuss ways to develop compatible standards for such devices. ITS has also made additional measurements on several types of UWB devices in FY 2003 to help clarify NTIAs understanding of UWB devices. One series of measurements provided information on how measurement readings change when the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of a UWB device approaches the bandwidth of the measurement system. This information was needed to more precisely analyze possible UWB interference.

A series of measurements were also made by ITS on a short-range 24-GHz automotive radar that incorporated short pulses and frequency hopping. The measurement test set-up is shown in Figure below.

Figure. 24-GHz radar setup (photograph by F.H. Sanders).

Although the tested device included many possible operational modes, a typical pulse lasted 0.3 microseconds and had a bandwidth of about 4 MHz. The remainder of the 500-MHz minimum bandwidth needed to allow the device to be included under the UWB rules was obtained by frequency-hopping the pulse over a 500-MHz range. This UWB device is an example of several new devices that meet some UWB characteristics, but operate somewhat differently from a pure UWB device. The need to make correct decisions about how such devices should be measured, and what limits should be applied to them, furnishes the motivation to undertake these measurements of various prototype devices. Figure below shows an emission spectrum of the automotive radar when measured with an RMS detector having various integration times.

Figure. Emission spectrum of 24-GHz radar.

It is typical of such measurements that arcane details like measurement integration time can significantly affect the numeric readings of procedures intended to set limits on the level of signals produced by these devices. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully note proposed regulatory changes in measurement details along with the specification of numerical limits on device emissions.

Different industrial viewpoints in standardization of UWB technology

Multiband-OFDM Alliance (MBOA)

Initially led by Intel, later on many big players like Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, Texas Instruments formed alliance to propose Multiband-OFDM based UWB standard. The multiband approach takes 7.5 GHz of unlicensed UWB spectrum and divides it into 15 non-overlapping frequency bands. It complies with the FCC regulation by ensuring that the individual bands occupy between 500MHz and 700MHz. The Multiband approach based on OFDM is supported by a QPSK modulation pushed by Texas Instruments.

 The multi-band approach adds technical complexity, requires more power and increase upfront costs. Also, the aggregate power of all the different pulse streams would have to fall within strict FCC regulations, meaning the tradeoff with range/data transfer will be an issue.

Multiband systems have improved multi-path energy collection that increases the potential range of transmissions however this introduces increased receiver complexity (i.e. multiple RF receive chains), power consumption, analog die size and increased design time. The multi-band system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) proposed by the MBOA has several advantages. Transmitting information on each of the sub-bands increases the high spectral efficiency, inherent resilience to RF interference, robustness to multi-path, and the ability to efficiently capture multi-path energy.

DS-CDMA UWB

Led by Xtreme Spectrum /Motorola, nine companies formed the Alliance. The founding member companies include Appairent Technologies, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Inc., Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc., Time Domain Corporation and Xtreme Spectrum, Inc.

These companies are proposing direct sequence based CDMA modulation for UWB signals which is very different from the MBOA proposal. The International Telecommunications Union's radio branch is likely to endorse the Xtreme Spectrum/Motorola direct-sequence CDMA ultrawideband proposal now before the IEEE 802.15.3a study group.

INTERFERENCE WITH OTHER WIRELESS SERVICES

First of all, it should be noted that UWB is an RF technology and has the potential, as does any RF technology, to interfere with existing systems if not properly designed. Furthermore, there are several ways in which UWB emissions can be generated. Some of these techniques are more prone to generate harmful interference effects than are others. For example, UWB systems which utilize direct impulse excitation of an antenna produce energy which is typically spread over a spectral extent significantly greater than the design bandwidth of the antenna. (For design bandwidth, one can either select a VSWR bandwidth e.g., frequency extent for which the voltage standing wave ratio is less than some number, say 2:1; or a radiation bandwidth which represents the frequency extent over which the main lobe of the antenna pattern remains within certain bounds, say -3 dB from its peak value.) Unfortunately, it is very difficult to tightly control the bandwidth and center frequency of such emissions with an antenna alone, and the end result is that these emissions typically span restricted bands set aside by the Federal Communications Commission. More modern techniques, such as those utilized in current MSSI designs, create a UWB waveform through pulse shaping prior to transmission from an antenna. These techniques have the considerable advantage of being controllable, both in frequency and bandwidth; and can be made to operate outside of restricted bands such as those reserved for GPS and safety of life systems. Other important aspects of UWB design which directly impact interference potential include pulse

Other important aspects of UWB design which directly impact interference potential include pulse duty cycle and modulation strategy. Of course, the higher the pulse duty cycle, the greater the average amount of energy transmitted. In some proposed UWB schemes, multiple pulses are transmitted per single bit of information. This has the unfortunate effect of further increasing the total amount of energy transmitted, or forcing the designer to accept a much lower data rate for a given average energy. In addition, a high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) with minimal inter pulse dithering has the effect of further concentrating this energy into a set of spectral lines. When a spectral line falls into the pass band of a sensitive receiver (e.g., GPS), considerable interference can result, even though the "bandwidth" of the waveform may extend over hundreds of megahertz. Recently (18 January 2001), the NTIA has demonstrated the potential of certain classes of UWB equipment to significantly degrade the performance of a wide assortment of Federal Government systems (operating below 3.1 GHz) if the UWB systems radiated at existing FCC Part 15 levels. The systems which the NTIA determined to be significantly degraded by UWB emissions included: Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) Interrogator airborne receivers (960-1215 MHz), DME ground transponders (1025-1150 MHz), Air Traffic Control Radio Beacon System (ATCRBS) ground interrogator receivers (1090 MHz), ATCRBS airborne transponders (1030 MHz), Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR-4) (1240-1400 MHz), Search and Rescue Satellite Land User Terminals (SARSAT LUT) (1544-1545 MHz), Airport Surveillance Radar ASR-9 (2700-2900 MHz), Next Generation Weather Radar NEXRAD (2700-3000 MHz), and Maritime Radio navigation Radar (2900-3100 MHz). Most recently (28 February 2001), NTIA further demonstrated the potential for UWB systems, particularly those having high pulse repetition rates, to significantly interfere with GPS receivers if operated within the same frequency bands, e.g. Link 1 (L1) at 1575.42 +/- 12 MHz, Link 2 (L2) at 1227.60 +/- 12 MHz and the newly proposed Link 5 (L5) at 1176 +/- 12 MHz. With such a wide bandwidth, UWB is also susceptible to in-band interference from other services. The answer to this question, of course, strongly depends upon the design of the UWB receiver. In "base band" architectures (i.e., those relying upon direct impulse excitation of an antenna), the corresponding receiver front end is typically left wide open, with RF filtering performed only by the receive antenna itself. The antenna by itself provides little or no filtering of "out-of-band" signals and noise. For this reason, some of these systems incorporate additional low pass or band pass filtering prior to the receiver amplifier/detector stages. Unfortunately, while helping to remove interference, this additional receive filtering also removes energy from the desired signal as well. Such "base band" systems are also prone to generate interference to other receivers as discussed in the above question. So called "correlating" receivers, in which the received waveform is essentially templatematched with a local replica of the transmitted waveform, also have little immunity to broadband noise or impulsive interference. This is due to the fact that any impulse or white Gaussian noise excitation of the wideband receiver front end produces a received waveform having characteristics very similar to those of the transmitted waveform. And, of course, a strong in-band continuous wave (CW) interferer similarly creates havoc with such simple receiver architectures by simply overloading the detector. However, time-gated correlating receivers, in which the correlation operation is gated to the pulse duration and synchronized to the incoming bit stream, have been quite effective in reducing the effects of in-band interference in UWB receiver architectures. MSSIs patented UWB detector and receiver processor utilize a variant of this process in which additional immunity to strong in-band CW interferers is also achieved through a modified constant false alarm rate (CFAR) algorithm. In MSSIs detector, matched filter processing is achieved directly at RF through the use of the integration properties of a gated quantum tunneling device. The tunnel diode, invented by Nobel Laureate Leo Esaki, is one of the most sensitive devices known for the detection of weak energy, sub nanosecond signals.

APPLICATIONS OF UWB

There are numerous application areas in which UWB technology can provide significant performance and cost advantages. In the military and government marketplace, these applications include: Tactical Handheld & Network LPI/D Radios Non-LOS LPI/D Ground wave Communications LPI/D Altimeter/Obstacle Avoidance Radar Tags (Facility and personnel security, logistics) Intrusion Detection Radars Precision Geolocation Systems Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Data links Proximity Fuzzes LPI/D Wireless Intercom Systems In the commercial marketplace, applications include: High Speed (20+ Mb/s) LAN/WANs Altimeter/Obstacle Avoidance Radars (commercial aviation) Collision Avoidance Sensors Tags (Intelligent Transportation Systems, Electronic Signs, Smart Appliances) Intrusion Detection Radars Precision Geolocation Systems Industrial RF Monitoring Systems. As for the commercial marketplace, however, there are currently no "approved" applications within the United States, since frequency approval for UWB operation has yet to be acted upon by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

MAJOR VENDORS OF UWB Aether Wire & Location Inc Alcatel Appairent Technologies, Inc Cellonics Technology Cisco Eastman Kodak Company General Atomics Advanced Wireless Group IBM Intel Motorola Multispectral Solutions, Inc Sony Staccato Communications Texas Instruments Time Domain Corporation Wisair, Ltd Xtreme Spectrum Zircon Corporation

FUTURE PROSPECTS OF UWB Ultra Wide bands prospects for becoming the dominant wireless technology for the home improved significantly in February 2004, with Motorola poised to support a coexistence protocol that bridges the two rival would-be standards, and Intel demonstrating integration with wired USB. The main brake on the adoption of UWB, which can achieve data rates of up to 440Mbps over 10 meters, has been the failure of the IEEE to settle on one of two alternatives - Motorola and the Intel/TI-led Multiband OFDM Alliance - to provide its 802.15.3a personal area networking standard. Start-up Pulse~Link has come up with a compromise that at least allows products incorporating the different UWB technologies to coexist peacefully, if not to interoperate. It seems that Motorola will offer that technology as an olive branch to its competitor. Common Signaling Protocol Unlike the MBOA, which was the front runner in the IEEE race and still believes it could provide the only standard, Motorola accepts that it is unlikely to be the exclusive UWB arbiter. While the market decides, and tests continue to probe Motorola's claims that the MBOA solution causes unacceptable interference, the giant will back Pulse Links Common Signaling Protocol as an interim solution. It will propose the physical layer technology at an ad hoc IEEE meeting in San Diego next Monday and expects to get support from Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and others. Motorola also showed off its own UWB chipset, the first fruits of its acquisition last year of Xtreme Spectrum, at the ISSC chip conference this week. Unlike other UWB silicon, this three-chip product is actually sampling now and will be fully available around midyear. Raj Sengottaiyan, Motorola's vice president of engineering at the semiconductor unit, was one of the most bullish speakers at the ISSC conference. The forum's general attitude to UWB was cautious, with many experts pointing to lack of standards, unproven or inconsistent data rates and the persistent issue of interference. The Motorola chipset includes a base band processor, a media access controller (MAC) with a 1394 interface, and the physical layer (PHY). It promises a 114Mbps data rate, and there is also the potential for a slower 57Mbps mode that would guarantee higher data integrity. UWB silicon Meanwhile, at its Developer Forum, Intel was demonstrating its first UWB silicon - based on the MBOA specifications - and aiming to set yet another standard for the digital home market where its chief ambitions lie in 2004. This would be a combined UWB and USB I/O architecture for fast multimedia interconnects between consumer electronics gear. This comes with the inevitable industry alliance of supporting vendors to promote and certify the technology and give it the outer veneer of a real standard, containing many of the companies involved in the USB 2.0 wired technology. The Wireless USB specification will support data rates of 480Mbps over four meters and 110Mbps over 10 meters, including new streaming enhancements recently added to wired USB 2.0. Intel says it could be the first multimedia interconnect to be backed by the whole spectrum of electronics suppliers from PC makers to consumer media devices and digital cameras. Ubiquitous standard The new specification will be based on the MBOA's UWB technology, and is seen as another way that the Alliance plans to ensure that its approach to fast wireless becomes ubiquitous. It will take the form of a USB platform adaptation layer running on top of the UWB silicon, and there will also be a variant for 1394 Fire wire. Eventually, a third layer will be designed in, optimized for quality of service for multimedia IP traffic. The spec will also support the radio platform defined by

the WiMedia Alliance, which is dedicated to interoperability among all IEEE 802.15.3 wireless personal area networking standards. These include UWB and the original 802.15.3, which transfers data at 55Mbps in the 2.4GHz band. Intel is expected to join this industry group shortly, and the Alliance is widely predicted to become a key supporter of the MBOA technologies, in effect taking the role for that protocol that the Wi-Fi Alliance does for 802.11x. Systems using Wireless USB should ship in early 2005. The technology will be at loggerheads with another current development - USB On-The-Go a wireless version that uses USB 1.2 extensions to transfer data between devices in a peer-to-peer fashion.

CONCLUSION

It turns out that the current commercial UWB efforts differ from earlier military and research systems. The military was interested in UWB because of its low probability of detection and its ability to function in low-visibility conditions such as desert sandstorms where conventional radios and radars have trouble. Sending large amounts of data quickly wasn't essential. Says Robert Fontana, who spent years building classified UWB systems, "I would never build a high data rate system for the military, because it sticks out like a spare thumb." In the commercial market, however, high data rates are important. This is especially true for the home media applications where UWB vendors are focused. Though UWB can support high-speed transmission, it is proving more difficult than expected to make the transition. "The thing people forgot is that all these great properties were only valid at low data rates," says Fontana. He now runs a startup that builds UWB systems for location detection and other functions closer to the traditional military applications. The technical hurdles to high-speed UWB will eventually be overcome, or vendors will find applications that don't involve high-resolution video streams. UWB's fundamental advantages in power consumption, spectral efficiency, and cost are bound to give it a role in the market. The eventual future of UWB remains bright. It just may take a bit longer to get there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES

http://www.multispectral.com http://www.commsdesign.com http://www.uwb.org http://www.ultrawidebandplanet.com http://www.techworld.com http://www.digit-life.com http://www.usatoday.com http://www.businessweek.com http://www.isalliance.org