CAREER: Signal Processing Research in Ultra Wideband Communications

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Abstract 0238174Zhi Tian Michigan Tech Univ. With the recent release of the Ultra Wideband (UWB) signal spectral mask by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2002, UWB has emerged as an exciting technology whose ``time has come'' for commercial wireless communications, and local area networking. Conveying information over Impulse-like Radio (IR) waveforms, UWB comes with uniquely attractive features: low-power-density carrier-freetransmissions, ample multipath diversity, low-complexity baseband transceivers, a potential for huge increase in capacity, and the capability to overlay existing RF systems. However, to bring the potencyof IR to fruition, UWB research and development has to cope with formidable challenges that include: high sensitivity to timing the reception of ultra-short pulses, mitigation of fading propagation effects with pronounced frequency-selectivity, low-complexity constraints in decoding high-performance multiple access protocols, and the strict power limitations imposed by the desire to minimize interference between UWB communicators, and co-existing RF systems. This research addresses timely signal processing issues arising in UWB communications, with focuses on: (1) The development of optimal and low-complexity sub-optimal timing epoch estimators along with metrics to assess their performance, and influence on the bit error probability and throughput of UWB systems. (2) The derivation and convergence analysis of low-complexity near-optimal soft-decision based multiuser detectors, and multi-channel equalizers for UWB multiple access protocols. (3) The investigation of overlay issues, modulation schemes, coding, decoding, and interference suppression algorithms to enable UWB spectral mask compatibility, and co-existence with other wireless services. (4) The deployment of multiple transmit-receive antennae to improve performance of low-complexity decoding, timing estimation, and multiuser detection. The outcome of this research will impact the basic theory, design, and deployment of forthcoming multiple access UWB wireless systems.