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UWB Applications and Interference (UWB Colloquium 23rd July 2002)

Ewan Frazer, Dave Harmer (Thales Research & Technology, Reading, UK)

Presenter: Ewan Frazer

Thales Research and Technology

Introduction
l Main points that will be covered:
UltraWideBand (UWB) and where it is useful Pulse UWB (P-UWB) and Frequency Hopped UWB (FH-UWB) A Typical Positioning System The Challenges and Possible Solutions:
n n n

Interference to other systems (Regulation) Interference from other systems Multipath

Summary of Pros and Cons of FH-UWB versus P-UWB Potential Applications

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Applications
l Positioning
High Multipath Environments Obscured Environments

l Communications
High Multipath Environments Short Range High Data Rate Low Probability of Intercept/ Interference

l Radar/Sensor
Military and Commercial: Asset Protection Anti-Terrorist/Law Enforcement Rescue Applications
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Potential Positioning Applications

l Current positioning applications using GNSS stop at building entrances (or even before) l Accuracy required depends on the application (generally higher accuracy required than outdoors) l Examples
Navigation or tracking within a shopping Mall
n

Lost Children, Advertising

Lone Workers (safety) Navigation in Airports, Railway stations, car parks etc

l More applications once initial systems deployed l Data transmission can be included
Data Rate depends on range (a few tens of kbps to Mbps)
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Position Accuracy (m 95%) 0.001 100 0.01 10 1 0.1

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Position Accuracy Requirements by Application

Ro Auto ute m Gu ated ida ha In- nce ndli n bu Inild for B g bu ild Too ing s lind ing l p u rob osit rvey io Fo ot gu ning R r Ur ecre mati idan c ba n c ation on fly e U a Inc rban nyo and ing n ide to c nt any - off ys -r o tr Ur acki n - m oad ba n n c g/gu arin Ex an id e Go hibit yon ance od s & comm othe Pe r i de Ha tem enta In- stria zar trac ry d b k n In- uildin rout warn ing e bu ild g tra gui ings ing ck da wo ing nce Ur ba rker othe tr n r Pr can ackin y ec isio on - g Lo r n ca tio Acce lan ail Pu n-b d blic as ss c ing se ed s ontr o rvi ce ervic l st rac es k Pa rol Doc ing Tra Lo ee k in/ ca tra ing air l in /bu for cking m si nfo atio n r Ad mati ve on rtis ing

UWB & Positioning

l A signal with greater than 25% fractional bandwidth
Eg. 4GHz centre frequency and > 1GHz bandwidth First used by DARPA, generally accepted

l Wide bandwidth
High accuracy timing High accuracy positioning Separation of closely spaced multipath components

l GPS or other systems indoors

Long averaging time and hence low update rate High errors due to multipath Relatively Low Accuracy
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Pulse and Frequency Hopped UWB

l Two of a number of methods of generating UWB l Studies by Thales Research and Technology
Pulse and Frequency Hopped options were the most promising candidates

l Pulse UWB
Very short (sub nanosecond) pulses tens of nanoseconds apart Inherently wide band

l Frequency Hopped UWB

Typically a Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Signal of about 10 to 20MHz bandwidth, hopped over around 1GHz at 10k to 100k hops per second

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Pulse UWB

No distortion

FilteredRinging

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Seamless Indoor and Outdoor Positioning

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Challenges & Possible Solutions

l Sharing Frequencies with Other Services
Interference to and from Other Systems

l Interference to Other Services

Power into victim receiver reduced by bandwidth ratio Pulses can cause ringing in receiver front ends Some services are particularly sensitive (e.g. GPS)

l Interference from Other Services

System is restricted to very low power (regulation) and therefore more susceptible to interference even with high processing gain Interfering devices can be at very close range (e.g. Mobile Phones)

l Solutions - depend on the type of UWB

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Regulation
FCC Provisional Band Mask - UWB
0 -5 dB Power spectral density (relative to Part 15 limit) -10 Indoor -15 -20 -25 Imaging -30 -35 -40 0 ARNS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Outdoor Thru Wall

Frequency (GHz) Example Indoor Imaging Thru wall Outdoor ARNS 1.6G ARNS 1.2G

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P-UWB - Interference to Other Services

l Shaping the Transmit Spectrum
Passive Filtering
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Ringing - Reduced accuracy - Reduced multipath resistance Can insert nulls into the transmit spectrum Attenuation achievable limited by hardware constraints (for example maximum pulse rate) Compromise
- Reduces interference to other systems - Restricts the choice of Pulse Sequences

Choice of Pulse sequences (Spacing and Rate)

n n n

Use a combination of both of the above

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Technique for avoiding ARNS Bands - Pulse UWB

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Avoidance of 1.2GHz ARNS Band

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Response

-10 Response Mask -20

-30

-40 1140

1160

1180

1200

1220

1240

Frequency, MHz

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Avoidance of 1.6GHz ARNS Band

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Response

-10 Response Mask -20

-30

-40 1535

1555

1575

1595

1615

1635

Frequency, MHz

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FH-UWB - Interference to Other Services

l Spectrum easily shaped l Easily modified if the regulations change l Power levels can be matched to the frequencies l Limited by the hop spacing l Removing parts of the spectrum reduces multipath performance l High performance achievable even with large missing portions of spectrum

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Avoiding ARNS Bands - FH-UWB

Frequency Hopped UWB Spectrum

0 -10 ARNS BANDS -20 -30 -40 -50 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300 2400 2500 Frequency, MHz

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Relative Power dB

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Interference from Other Systems

Interference Excision - Pulse UWB
4 tap rake spectrum 0

-10 Power, dB

-20

-30

-40 0 1 2 3 4 5 Frequency, GHz

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Summary & Conclusions

l Most indoor applications require high accuracy l UWB is a promising technology which is likely to provide the required performance l Potentially a large market for UWB l Small size, low cost and low power consumption are believed to be achievable l Interference issues have potential solutions

l Thales Research and Technology acknowledge the support of the British National Space Centre for much of the work reported here
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END

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