Ultrawide band technology
As the name implies UWB, ultra wide band technology, is a form of transmission that occupies a very wide bandwidth. Typically this will be many Gigahertz, and it is this aspect that enables it to carry data rates of Gigabits per second.
The fact that UWB transmissions have such a wide bandwidth means that they will cross the boundaries of many of the currently licensed carrier based transmissions. As such one of the fears is that UWB transmission may cause interference. However the very high bandwidth used also allows the power spectral density to be very low, and the power limits on UWB are being strictly limited by the regulatory bodies. In many instances they are lower than the spurious emissions from electronic apparatus that has been certified. In view of this it is anticipated that they will cause no noticeable interference to other carrier based licensed users.
Ultra-Wideband (UWB) provides an interesting new technology for short-range ultra-high speed communications in the frequency band 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. It supports a bit rate greater than 100 Mbps within a 10-meter radius for wireless personal area communications. The advantages of UWB include low-power transmission, robustness for multi-path fading and low power dissipation. The low power transmission of the UWB is the key characteristic that might allow it to coexist with other wireless networking standards such as 802.11 LAN, 802.16 MAN and WAN.
Applications for ultra wide band technology
There is a wide number of applications that UWB technology can be used for. They range from data and voice communications through to radar and tagging. With the growing number of way in which wireless technology can be used, the list is likely to grow.
Although much of the hype about ultra wideband UWB has been associated with commercial applications, the technology is equally suited to military applications. One of the advantages is that with the pulses being spread over a wide spectrum they can be difficult to detect. This makes them ideal for covert communications.
Commercial:
• High speed LAN / WAN ( >20 Mbps)
• Avoidance radar
• Altimeter (aviation)
• Tags for intelligent transport systems
• Intrusion detect