What is UWB?
UWB (Ultra Wideband) is a radio frequency platform that personal area networks can use to wirelessly communicate over short distances at high speeds. UWB is ideally suited for streaming multimedia in the wireless home or office environment. Growing interoperability between devices like digital camcorders, PDAs, cell phones, portable MP3 and DVD players, HDTVs and computers makes wired technology less and less convenient or practical. Wireless technologies like Bluetooth free home devices from wires, but slow data transmission. Ideally, a consumer should be able to wirelessly send data from one device to another at a rate equal to or better than a high-speed Internet connection. UWB, augmenting existing WiFi and WiMax technologies, can deliver the goods. While other wireless technologies use radio sine waves that provide “continual” transmission at a specific frequency, UWB is unique. A UWB transmitter sends out pulses or bursts of RF (radio frequency) that last roughly 30 picoseconds (
Ultra wideband is a unique type of wireless technology that uses an inconstant pulse transmission on a very wide bandwidth base to send a large amount of data over relatively small distances. UWB was originally developed for military communications and radar, but has since been declassified and become a developing consumer electronics technology.
Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technologyFiletype/Size: PDF 146KB, based on the WiMedia standard, brings the convenience and mobility of wireless communications to high-speed interconnects in devices throughout the digital home and office. Designed for low-power, short-range, wireless personal area networks (WPANs), UWB is the leading technology for freeing people from wires, enabling wireless connection of multiple devices for transmission of video, audio and other high-bandwidth data. UWB, short-range radio technology, complements other longer range radio technologies such as Wi-Fi*, WiMAX, and cellular wide area communications. UWB’s combination of broader spectrum and lower power improves speed and reduces interference with other wireless spectra. It is used to relay data from a host device to other devices in the immediate area (up to 10 meters, or 30 feet). UWB radio transmissions can legally operate in the range from 3.1 GHz up to 10.6 GHz, at a limited transmit power of -41dBm/MHz. Conse
Ultra Wideband (UWB) systems transmit signals across a much wider frequency than conventional systems and are usually very difficult to detect. The amount of spectrum occupied by a UWB signal, i.e. the bandwidth of the UWB signal is at least 25% of the center frequency. Thus, a UWB signal centered at 2 GHz would have a minimum bandwidth of 500 MHz and the minimum bandwidth of a UWB signal centered at 4 GHz would be 1 GHz. The most common technique for generating a UWB signal is to transmit pulses with durations less than 1 nanosecond.
