Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

Technology & Its Applications

by
Dr.A.T.Kalghatgi

Chief Scientist
Central Research Laboratory
Bharat Electronics Limited.,
Bangalore

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Overview

• Trends that drive short range wireless

• Definition of UWB
• Advantages of UWB
• Applications of UWB
• UWB Challenges

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Trends that are driving short-range wireless

• The growing demand for wireless data capability

in portable devices at higher bandwidth
• Crowding in the spectrum that is segmented and
licensed by regulatory authorities in traditional
ways.
• The growth of high-speed wired access to the
Internet in enterprises, homes, and public spaces.
• Shrinking semiconductor cost and power
consumption for signal processing.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Communication using Pulse

Sinusoidal signals are narrow in frequency and "wide" over time

A pulse is narrow in time and wideband in frequency

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Narrow band Problems
Narrowband Problems
• Multipath fading
-Destructive interference of CW signals causes signal loss
• Insecure
-Narrow Band signals are easily detected and jammed
• Poor range resolution
-Range resolution for tracking applications is a function of
RF bandwidth
• Limited data rate
-Narrow RF bandwidth means narrow data bandwidth
ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007
The UWB solution
•Ultimate in spectrum spreading
•GHz of RF bandwidth
•Has all the advantages of spread spectrum
But to a much larger extent
•Immune to multipath fading
•Virtually undetectable
•Unprecedented range resolution
•Potential for very high data rates
•Simple to implement
•High capacity
ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007
 Comparison of UWB vs Spread
Spectrum and Narrow Band

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Definition of UWB

Conventional Definition- Short Pulse

• “Carrier Free”,”Baseband” or “Impulse based”
• Typically only a Free RF Cycles
- Large fractional bandwidth (BW/f)
• Very low duty cycles resulting in low average
energy densities
• Typically generated by impulse or step
excited antennas and filters

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 UWB Pulse Waveforms

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 UWB Fractional Bandwidth
As per FCC guidelines UWB fractional
bandwidth is defined by,

Where:
fu = upper –10 dB point
fl = lower –10 dB point
 
Either 25% fractional bandwidth
criteria should be met or the
instantaneous bandwidth of 500 MHz.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Multi Band OFDM

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 FCC Emission Requirements

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Comparison of occupied bandwidths by
UWB and other wireless technologies

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Comparison of Spatial Capacity

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Comparison of Spatial Capacity of
Various Indoor Wireless System

System Maximum Transmissio Spatial Capacity Spectral

Data Rate n Distance [kbps/m2] Capacity
[Mbps] [m] [bps/Hz]
UWB 100 10 318.3 0.013
IEEE 54 50 6.90 2.7
802.11a
Bluetooth 1 10 3.2 0.012
802.11b 11 100 0.35 0.1317

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Comparison of UWB bit rate with other
wired and wireless standards

Speed Standard
(Mbits/
second)
480 UWB,USB2.0
200 UWB(4m minimum),1394a (4.5m)
110 UWB(10m minimum)
90 Fast Ethernet
54 802.11a
20 802.11g
11 802.11b
10 Ethernet
1 Bluetooth

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 UWB Major Application Areas
a) Communications
–Wireless Audio, Data & Video Distribution
–RF Tagging & Identification
b) Radar
–Collision/Obstacle Avoidance
–Precision Altimetry
–Intrusion Detection (“see through wall”)
–Ground Penetrating Radar
c) Precision Geolocation
–Asset Tracking
–Personnel localization

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Some of Military & Commercial
Applications of UWB

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Source:MSSI

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Voice and Data Communications

•With increasing congestion in the radio spectrum

from communications appliances of all forms, new
schemes for allowing more users in a given area are
always sought.
•UWB allows users to simultaneously share the
spectrum with no interference to one another and
to apply it in UWB devices, such as high-speed
home and business networking devices as well as
storage tank measurement.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

  Ground and Ice Penetrating RADAR

•  A system used to detect objects buried in the

ground.
•A special directional antenna to transmit the
stimulus signal into the ground and receive the
reflected waves.
•Depth of penetration is typically between 0.5 and
10 m, very short pulses are needed to resolve
typical buried targets.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Wall Imaging Radar System

•To detect the location of objects contained within a

"wall," such as a concrete structure, the side of a
bridge, or the wall of a mine.
•Operation is restricted by FCC to law enforcement,
fire and rescue organizations, to scientific research
institutions, to commercial mining companies, and to
construction companies.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

Through Wall Radar System
•Uses very short pulses to provide detection
of objects on the opposite side of a non-
metallic wall.
•The stimulus signal is transmitted into the
wall. A portion of the signal incident on the
wall is transmitted through the wall and into
the space on the far side.
•Objects in the field then reflect the signal back to the wall
where part of the signal is transmitted through the wall to the
receiver.
•Freq of Operation: below 960 MHz or 3.1-10.6 GHz band.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Surveillance Systems
•UWB based Surveillance systems
operate as "security fences" by
establishing a stationary RF
perimeter field ("bubble") and
detecting the intrusion of persons
or objects in that field.
•"Bubble" can be established to cover either
certain area or certain object, such as aircraft,
vehicle etc.
•Frequency band 1.99-10.6 GHz.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Vehicular Radar Systems
Potential applications include
• collision avoidance,
• proximity aids,
•intelligent cruise control systems,
•improved airbag activation
•& suspension systems that better respond to road
conditions.
•FCC limits operation of vehicular radar to the 22-29 GHz
band using directional antennas on terrestrial
transportation vehicles provided the center frequency of
the emission and the frequency at which the highest
radiated emission occurs are greater than 24.075 GHz.
ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007
 Fluid Level Measurements

UWB distance measuring hardware can

be used as an electronic dipstick, to determine
the level of a fluid in a tank by measuring the
distance between the top of the tank and the
interface with the surface of the fluid.   

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Asset Location
• Another form of data communications.
• Up-to-date inventory of assets in a given
location.
• A coded transmitter can be attached to each
asset for instantaneous inventory control.
• Not only can determine the presence of a
particular object, but also provides information
as to its exact location.

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 ID Tags
•Similar to asset tracking, ID tags can be used to
wirelessly identify individuals with issued ID tags.
•Other applications are Intelligent Transportation
Systems, Electronic Signs and Smart Appliances

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 UWB can enable a wide variety of
WPAN applications.
• Replacing IEEE1394 cables between portable
multimedia CE devices, such as camcorders, digital
cameras, and portable MP3 players, with wireless
connectivity
• Enabling high-speed wireless universal serial bus
(WUSB) connectivity for PCs and PC peripherals,
including printers,scanners, and external storage devices
• Replacing cables in next-generation Bluetooth
Technology devices, such as 3G cell phones, as well as
IP/UPnP-based connectivity for the next generation of
IP-based PC/CE/mobile devices
• Creating ad-hoc high-bit-rate wireless
connectivity for CE,PC, and mobile devices

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

PC Clusters interconnected thru
UWB enabled Wireless USB

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 UWB Key Design Challenges
• Co-existence with other services Strong narrow band interference
• Shaping of spectrum of the TX signal (impulse radio, multi-band
OFDM based UWB etc.)
• Practical and Simple Receiver Design (Synchronisation/Coherent or
non coherent receiver design)
• Wideband RF components (antenna,LNA etc.)
• Time Domain response of antenna is important since the antenna
shapes the pulse
•Antennas for impulse radio can no longer be optimized at the carrier
frequency
•Flat group delay so that high and low frequency signals arrive
simultaneously

• High Sampling rate ADCs for digital implementations

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Other Challenges for UWB
For UWB technology to become a widely adopted radio solution,
a few key areas need to be resolved:
•Performance (including over-the-air data rate performance,
power consumption, co-existence with other wireless devices,
immunity to interference, and link robustness)
•Interoperability
•Time-to-market considerations
•Ease of product integration and certification
•Overall solution cost (to the OEM)
•Fulfillment and support
•Quality of service
•Global spectrum allocation

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007

 Thank You

ELITEX 2007 Seminar on 1Oth January 2007