Ultra Wide-Band Technology

(UWB)
By: Mustafa Khaleel
Contents
 Introduction to UWB
 Narrowband, Wideband, and Ultra-Wideband
 UWB Signal
 Single Band and a Multi Band
 UWB Modulation Schemes
 Transceiver Architecture
 UWB antennas
 UWB-MIMO
 Applications
 Standardization
 Advantages - Limitations
Ultra Wide Band (UWB)
 Ultra Wide Band (UWB) is a technology for the transmission data by using techniques which cause a spreading of
the radio energy over a very wide frequency band.
 with a very low power spectral density. The low power spectral density limits the interference potential with
conventional radio systems (TV, GSM, UMTS, GPS, etc.).
 and the high bandwidth can allow very high data throughput for communications devices, or high precision for
location and imaging devices.
 UWB radios can use frequencies from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz in USA and Asia and at least 6.0 to 8.5 GHz in Europe.
 The Federal Communications Commission in USA (FCC) has defined an UWB device as any device with a –10 dB
fractional bandwidth, greater than 20% or occupying at least 500 MHz of the spectrum
 Most narrowband systems occupy less than 10% of the center frequency bandwidth, and are transmitted at far
greater power levels.
 the FCC introduced severe broadcast power restrictions for UWB in order not interference other narrower band
systems nearby, such as 802.11a/g radio.
Narrowband, Wideband, and Ultra-Wideband

We can classify signal as Narrowband, Wideband, and Ultra-wideband by Fractional bandwidth and is defined by
the ratio of bandwidth at –10 dB points to center frequency or The fractional bandwidth is defined as the radio of
signal bandwidth to the center frequency.
The –10 dB point represents the spectral power of a signal at 10 dB lower than its peak power.

𝒇𝒉 −𝒇𝒍
𝑩𝒇 = 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎% Narrowband 𝑩𝒇 < 1%
𝒇𝒉 +𝒇𝒍
Wideband 1% < 𝑩𝒇 < 20%
Ultra-Wideband 𝑩𝒇 > 20%
 UWB-Signal
 UWB systems use carrier less, short-duration (picosecond to nanosecond) pulses with a very low duty cycle (less than 0.5
percent) for transmission and reception of the information.

And duty cycle is the ratio of the time that a pulse is present to the total transmission time.

𝑇𝑜𝑛
𝐷𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 =
𝑇𝑜𝑛 + 𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓

𝑇𝑜𝑛 represents the time that the pulse exists and

𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓 represents the time that the pulse is absent.
 Low duty cycle offers a very low average transmission
power in UWB communications systems. The average
transmission power of a UWB system is on the order of
microwatts.

 the short-duration UWB pulses spread their energy across a

wide range of frequencies—from near DC to several
gigahertz (GHz)—with very low power spectral density
(PSD) in in the frequency domain
UWB-Signal
 Impulse-radio (IR) UWB ,first systems were that utilized the concept of wideband communication in power limited system.
 IR UWB offers short duration pulses with fast rise and fall times, which results in wideband spectra.
 For example, a pulse signal which is centered at 6 GHz and occupies a bandwidth of more than 1.2 GHz (i.e. 20% fractional
bandwidth).
 These pulses are having very low energy because very low power level is permitted to UWB transmission. to carry the
information of one bit many such pulses are combined.
 The IR-UWB transceiver system has advantage of simplicity and low cost.
 A UWB signal can be any one of a variety of wideband signals, such as Gaussian, chirp, wavelet, or Hermite-based short-
duration pulses.
 Typical pluses Gaussian monocycle, and these pluses the first derivative of a Gaussian pulse and is given by:

𝑡 −(𝑡 )2
𝑃 𝑡 = 𝑒 𝜏
𝜏

where represents 𝒕 time and 𝝉 is a time decay constant that determines the temporal width of the pulse
 In Figure above 500-picosecond pulse generates a large bandwidth in the frequency domain with a center frequency
of 2 GHz.
 the lowest and highest cutoff frequencies at –10 dB are approximately 1.2 GHz and 2.8 GHz, respectively, which lead
to a fractional bandwidth of 80 percent; this is much larger than the minimum required by the FCC:

𝟐.𝟖−𝟏.𝟐
𝑩𝒇 = 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎% = 𝟖𝟎%
𝟐.𝟖+𝟏.𝟐
 Single Band and Multi Band
 The Single Band (Direct-Sequence UWB (DS-UWB)) :  The Multi Band OFDM(MB-OFDM) approach
supports the idea of impulse radio that is the original divides the available UWB frequency spectrum
approach to UWB by using narrow pulses that occupy a (3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz) into multiple smaller and no
large portion of the spectrum. overlapping bands with bandwidths greater than
500 MHz .

 Direct-sequence UWB is a single-band approach that uses

narrow UWB pulses and time-domain signal processing
combined with DSSS techniques to transmit and receive  This approach is similar to the narrowband
information. frequency-hopping technique.
 The DS-UWB technique is scalable and can achieve data  offers the advantage of avoiding transmission over
rates in excess of 1 Gbps. certain bands.
UWB Modulation Methods

The modulation methods used in UWB systems are :

Pulse Position Modulation (PPM)

On-Off Keying modulation (OOK)
Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
 UWB Modulation Methods

 Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) : When the transmitted bit is 0,

pulse does not shift. When bit is 1, pulse shift a specific amount
δ, where δ is called modulation index.

 On-Off Keying modulation (OOK): When the transmitted bit is 1,

a pulse is transmitted. When the bit is 0, no pulse is transmitted.
UWB Modulation Methods

 Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) : When the transmitted

bit is 1, a positive pulse is transmitted. When the bit is 0, a
negative pulse is transmitted.

 Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) : When the transmitted bit

is 1, a wide pulse is transmitted. When the bit is 0, a narrow
pulse is transmitted.
 Transceiver Architecture
UWB transmission is carrier less, meaning that data is not modulated on a continuous waveform
with a specific carrier frequency, as in narrowband and wideband technologies.
Carrier less transmission requires fewer RF components than carrier based transmission.

 The UWB transceiver architecture is considerably less complicated than that of the narrowband transceiver.
 The transmission of low-powered pulses eliminates the need for a power amplifier
There are Several Classes Of Transceivers ,
The Coherent Transceivers:
On the transmitter side, the pulse generator has to control the transmitted pulse shape
finely and is generally able to handle its polarity.
On the other side, the receiver is able to estimate the composite channel impulse
response.
This estimation is then used as a comparison pattern to demodulate the received signal
and all modulation schemes can be used.

 Correct operation of the transceiver is ensured by a good quality time base on both the
transmitter and receiver sides.
 The Non-coherent Transceivers
 It is generally less efficient but more attractive if cost or power consumption
 Signal detection is based on energy detection performed on the incoming signal.
 Time base requirements are generally relaxed, allowing the use of low cost oscillators.

Differentially Coherent Transceivers

On the transmit side, a differential modulation scheme is used in order to resolve the resulting bit ambiguity.
On the receiver to keep a delayed version of the incoming signal and use it as reference to be compared with
the current signal.
UWB Antenna
 The antenna acts as a filter for the generated UWB signal, and only allows those signal components that radiate to
be passed.
 UWB antennas differ from their narrowband antennas in one basic concept.
In narrowband antennas tuned to particular center frequencies and have relatively narrow bandwidths.
In contrast, UWB antenna designs seek much broader bandwidths and require no resonating operation.

 UWB antennas should be linear in phase and should have

a fixed phase center.

 The antenna gain should be smooth across the frequency

band in order to avoid dispersion of the transmitted
pulse.
The Ringing Effect
 The Ringing Effect : after the UWB antenna deform the transmitted signal . the antenna response to a plus
of very short duration, as is typical in UWB , is seen as ripple after the plus . this effect is consequence of
the antenna geometry and translates into a frequency dispersion or time delay, which reduces the
transmission speed.

 To avoid ringing, resistive antennas with low Q-values should be

used. The resistive loading will cause the unwanted signal
component to die away quickly, leaving a pulse much closer to the
desired shape.
𝑓𝑜
𝑄=
𝑓𝐻 − 𝑓𝐿

where 𝑓𝑜 , 𝑓𝐻, and 𝑓𝐿 are the center frequency and the upper and lower

 The antenna bandwidth can also be increased by making the Q-

value small.
 the low Q-value implies that the efficiency of a resistive antenna is
generally quite poor.
 UWB Antenna
 There are three types of antenna used with UWB:
 Base Station Antenna
 Its used for networks such as high speed data or for low data-rate systems, including location and tracking systems.
The base station antenna may be designed for indoor or outdoor the application.
 Base station antennas may be either directive or omnidirectional. Directional antennas(radio links) , or
omnidirectional antennas (mobile applications).
 Portable Antenna :
 the antenna is small and low cost .
 the antenna is omnidirectional. And its can be constructed on a printed circuit board

Antenna Arrays
 In UWB radar applications, linear and planar antenna arrays may be formed with very sparsely spaced
elements.
high resolution phased array antennas, with a beam which may be readily steered.
The ratio of the wideband peak side lobe level to the peak main lobe level is a function of the number
of antenna elements rather than the element spacing.
There are several antenna topologies or types that are using in UWB such as horn antenna ,
Biconical antenna ,Helix antenna ,Bowtie antenna ,spiral antenna.

Antenna Topologies Out-Door In-Door Applications

Applications
Vivaldi antenna suitable Not-suitable
1.has a directional radiation pattern.

log periodic and spiral Antennas suitable Not Recommended,

Operate in the 3.1-10.6 GHz 1. hey have large physical dimensions.
2. severe ringing effect.

planar or printed monopole antenna N/A Suitable.

Log-periodic antenna
Mono-conical and bi-conical antenna

Vivaldi antenna Spiral and conical spiral antenna

UWB-MIMO
We can using MIMO together with UWB helps in extending the communication range as well as
offers higher link reliability. The benefits of UWB-MIMO can be summarized as following:
1. interference mitigation/suppression,
2. higher data rates,
3. improved link quality
4. extended coverage,
5. reduced analog hardware requirements, and concurrent localization.
And design specifications for UWB-MIMO antenna :
UWB Applications
 Communications Devices.
 Imaging Devices.
 Vehicular Radar Systems.
 For communications devices, the FCC has assigned different emission limits for indoor and outdoor UWB
devices. The spectral mask for outdoor devices is 10 dB lower than that for indoor devices, between
1.61 GHz and 3.1 GHz.
 Vehicular radar systems are allowed to emit –41.3 dBm/MHz only in them 22 GHz to 29 GHz frequency
range. The center frequency of their signal should be higher than 24.075 GHz.

Communications Devices
 The high-data-rate capability of UWB systems for short distances has numerous applications for home
networking and multimedia-rich communications in the form of WPAN applications. UWB systems could
replace cables connecting camcorders and VCRs, as well as other consumer electronics applications, such as
laptops, DVDs, digital cameras, and portable HDTV monitors. No other available wireless technologies—
such as Bluetooth or 802.11a/b—are capable of transferring streaming video.
Radar Systems.
 Radar is considered one of the most powerful applications of UWB technology. The fine positioning
characteristics of narrow UWB pulses enables them to offer high-resolution radar (within centimeters) for
military and civilian applications. Also, because of the very wide frequency spectrum band, UWB signals can
easily penetrate various obstacles. This property makes UWB-based ground-penetrating radar (GPR) a useful
asset for rescue and disaster recovery teams for detecting survivors buried under rubble in disaster
situations.
 Summarizes UWB applications in data communications, radar, and localization.
Standardization
 Wireless Personal Area Networks using UWB as PHY options

IEEE standard of 802.15.3a for high data rate

DS-UWB vs. MB-OFDM-UWB
Proposal with drawn on Jan 2006

IEEE standard of 802.15.4a for low data rate

Communications
High precision ranging and location
 Advantages - Limitations

Advantages
UWB technology has very high potential in real life applications, due to its high bandwidth
and low power.
Very interesting application in wireless content transfer, especially for HD videos.
Secure transmission, low probability of interception or detection and anti-jam immunity.

Limitations
Emissions below conventional level.
Not appropriate for a WAN (Wide Area Network) deployment such as
wireless broadband access.
Thank You!
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