Increasing the number of active wireless devices
The recent developments in wireless technologies have increased the research interest in high data transfer rates and low power systems for ad hoc networking. These networks allow the fast deployment of several applications, among which are Local Area Networks (LANs) and Personal Area Networks (PANs) covering offices and houses, as well as open wide areas. Within the U.C.A.N. project the possible use and benefits of a radio communication system, based on an ultra-wideband (UWB) physical layer (PHY) were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Ultra-wideband radio technology has attracted the interest of project partners due to its unexpected unlicensed operation and importantly, the potential to provide high data transfer rates at relatively short ranges. Ultra-wideband technology is based on the radiation of waveforms formed by a sequence of very short pulses, where short refers to pulse duration of about a few hundreds of picoseconds. To achieve a system characterised by high precision position localisation and target tracking, a set of 16 ultra-wideband transmitters was manufactured and evaluated at the ACORDE S.A. laboratories in Spain. Motivated by a real need for a thorough study of the potential interoperation and coexistence of ultra-wideband systems with other wireless systems, these pulse generators were designed to perform experiments. Including advanced communication modes such as multiple simultaneous connections inside the air channel, different aspects of a functioning UWB system were investigated in several scenarios of positioning and high transfer rate transmission. The experimental results collected on UWB communication system performance served not only the U.C.A.N. project's internal research, but provided valuable insights to the wider telecommunications research community.
