UWB R&D Activities in

Singapore
Prof Lye Kin Mun
Deputy Executive Director (Industry)
Institute for Infocomm Research

IDA UWB Seminar

24 May 2004

Page 1
 Outline
• IDA’s UWB Programme
• I2R’s Activities
• A*STAR Thematic Strategic Research
Programme
• Private Sector
• Cellonics Inc.
• Conclusions

Page 2
Infocomm Development Authority

•Announced UWB Programme

on 25 Feb 2003

•Set up UWB Friendly Zone in

Science Park II

•Conducting test, measurements &

experiments in UWBFZ on interference

•Participation in PULSERS (regulatory issues)

•Local Convenor for A*STAR’s Thematic Strategic

Research programme
Page 3
I2R Goal – pushing UWB technology frontier

Data Rate

I2I2R UWB
R UWB te c hno lo frontier
technology g y fro ntie r

Curre nt UWB
Current UWBte chnology frontie
technology r
frontier

Range
Page 4
I2R Our technologies: deliver an UWB access point ….

SpaceTime Codes +
Spatial Mux:
UWB Lower terminal complexity
access point and longer transmission
range, given same
transmission power and
bandwidth efficiency

Digital Baseband
Beamforming:
Longer transmission
range, even in non-
LOS multipath
environment
Single Reader estimating
Direction + Time
Of Arrival:
Simpler, more convenient
location positioning
operation
Page 5
I2R IEEE Standardisation Activities
• Submitted UWB Alt-PHY proposal to IEEE 802.15.3a High Rate
WPAN

• Joined subsequently as author member of Multi-Band OFDM

Alliance
(http://www.multibandofdm.org/)
•to unify existing UWB technologies to form the best possible
solution with co-existence and interoperability for IEEE 802.15.3a
HR-WPAN Alt-PHY proposals

• Active participation Study Group in IEEE 802.15.4a Low Rate

WPAN
•Currently performing measurement and
modelling in indoor office environment
•Up to 30m range

Page 6
I2R IEEE Standardisation Activities

Page 7
I2R MBOA Technical Group Activities

Page 8
I2R Internal Core - High Rate UWB project

Objectives
• To demonstrate wireless
transmission of multimedia content
download / video streaming over
extended range (2x over standard Engineering expertise
range performance) - OFDM technology
• IP generated will be compliant to - Transceiver algorithms
- IC design
•MBOA PHY specification v1.0 - Hardware prototyping
•MBOA MAC specification v0.6 - Medium Access Control
or later version - Firmware implementation
•MBOA MAC-PHY interface
specification v0.7 or later
version
• FPGA demo in Q1/2005

Page 9
I2R Internal Core - UWB High Rate RF Transceiver

Demonstrated in April 2003, an Ultrawideband(UWB) wireless link

that is capable of transmitting and receiving data at 500Mbps, at a
range of 4m with BER better than 10E-6 and conforming to the
emission limits stipulated by FCC.

Page 10
I2R Internal Core - UWB antennas
I2R has strong expertise in small antenna designs.
In particular, several UWB antennae have been
developed and we were invited to give talks in
y IEEE conferences/workshops
x
Ground

32mm

Slot
z
L1

Wf 21mm
x
Wf Slot Ground
L2
Wf1

L3 32mils RO4003

Wf
Strip

Feed line

One of I2R’s antenna on PCB

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I2R Internal Core - UWB localisation system

Project Features:
- Position location with cm range of accuracy
- Low data rate
- Low power low cost
- Short range, multi-hop based co-operative localization

Page 12
I2R Low-rate, low-power UWB
WHISPER project
- TechnoBridge, a joint collaboration with TRLabs (Canada)

System Requirements
•low power consumption
•low data rate
•Coexist with other narrowband and UWB wireless devices
•Capable of high precision ranging

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I2R Low-rate UWB - System design
•IEEE 802.15.4 Low Rate Wireless PAN using UWB
as Alternate-PHY Layer
•Reuse 802.15.4 standard PHY Layer coding
3.1 GHz 0.5 GHz 10.6 GHz
scheme – code position modulation (CPM)

Bit-to-sym
UWB analog modulator & •2-PPM pulse transmission is used instead of
Code Pos
Convertor Modulation 2-PPM pulse generator Offset QPSK
•Multiband approach is used – only a 500 MHz
Transmitter
band is used
•Simple peak detector is used in receiver

Peak Baseband
I
Detector & chip
LPF ADC
frequency (orthog.
FILTER Sampler
LNA quad signal
mixer Peak detection,
LPF Detector & ADC mapping &
Q bit sequence
Sampler
BW = 500MHz processing)

LO

Receiver

For detailed information see: -

F Chin, W J Zhi and C C Ko, “System Performance of IEE 802.15.4 Low Rate Wireless PAN using UWB as
Alternate-PHY Layer”,PIMRC’2003
F Chin, W J Zhi and C C Ko, “System Performance of UWB based Low Rate Wireless PAN”,Asilomar ’2003
Page 14
I2R Low-rate UWB – Band plan & Bit rate

ƒ A modified 2-level CPM coding

scheme (CPM + CPM offers
longer code length per bit) is
proposed to extend range at
lower data rate
ƒ Multiband approach is used –
only a 500 MHz band within
3.1 – 10.6 GHz is used

Page 15
I2R Low-rate UWB – Range performance (simulation)

ƒ For 10% Packet error rate (128-bit packet size), range performance for 1-level CPM and
2-level CPM coding scheme are ~ 5m and ~ 15m respectively
ƒ IEEE 802.15.3a UWB Channel Model is used
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A*STAR Thematic Strategic Research Programme
“UWB+pervasive computing”
The threefold objective of this workshop was to:
• Ascertain the interest and research development levels and
capabilities of the local research community in UWB and Pervasive
Computing
• Identify focus areas where there are critical mass of relevant
expertise and experience
• Determine whether these critical mass areas can meld together in a
compelling application framework to exploit the potential synergies of
UWB and Pervasive Computing.

Organisations involved :
IDA, I2R, NUS (ECE), NTU (EEE, SCE), IME

Page 17
Relevant Research Areas Identified
• UWB technology elements:
Ultra-wideband antennas, MIMO antenna systems, propagation models,
PHY/MAC design, and interference mitigation techniques.

ƒ UWB system implementations:

Single band/multi-band receiver and transmitter architecture, CMOS, SiGe
design, advanced packaging techniques, high rate/low rate design trade-
offs.

ƒ Protocols and Networking:

Dynamic service discovery, protocol/domain handover, mobile ad-hoc
networks, mobile quality of service, pervasive middleware, power
Control.

• Novel applications of pervasive computing enabled

by UWB technology.
E.g., body area networking, location and context aware computing.
Page 18
Private Sector R&D
Many MNCs and SMEs with R&D facilities in
Singapore are interested or working in the
following areas:

•Wireless USB Replacement technology

(MBOA)
•Position location and Ranging
•Chipset design
•Military applications

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Cellonics UWB
Biological Cell Model
Arvanitaki (1939)

Cell fast wave response

fast wave

slow wave
Page 20
The CellonicsTM Technique

Slow Wave

Fast Wave
Input CellonicsTM Element

Output

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 An Example
input waveform
CellonicsTM Circuit
Tunnel
Diode
i
L +
Vin V
-

V
output waveform
Tunnel Diode
I-V Characteristic

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CellonicsTM Element Features

• INCREDIBLY SIMPLE
• SUPER SMALL SIZE
Op-Amp
• CONSUME VERY LITTLE POWER
• LOW COST
• CAN BE MASSIVELY PARALLEL
• WIDESPREAD APPLICATIONS

Inductor, Tunnel Diode

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 Comparison of Receiver Architecture
Conventional Bluetooth transceiver

Tunnel
Diode
i
L +
Vin V
-

LNA Envelope Cellonics™ Decision

detector Receiver device

RX
TX
UWB transceiver architecture •ONE symbol/pulse
OR
•ONE symbol/1000 pulses •VERY simple
LNA Cellonics™
•Complex, require integration Transmitter
TX •Does not require psec.
in psec resolution
resolution at the
receiver

i
Tunnel
Diode •Frequency translation
Vin
L +
V
option
-

Source: Intel Technology Journal

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 Cellonics™ UWB Technology
Benefits of using Cellonics frequency translation method at the
transmitter:
•Provide option to occupy only certain desired frequency
spectrum, no energy wasted during transmission
•Minimize interference with other devices via frequency hopping
within 3-10 GHz band by changing the centre frequency of UWB
signal

Page 25
 Conventional Correlator vs Cellonics
Conventional Correlator
Cellonics™

I
Incoming signal
V
N-Curve

Matching signal
•No matching signal required
•Require to match incoming •Timing is in the order of frame
signal rate(up to the system designer)
•Precise timing (in the order of •Require only ONE pulse to
frame pulse width, usually hundreds decode 1 symbol
of picosecond)
•Require thousand of pulses to
decode 1 symbol

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 Conclusion
•UWB has been identified by National Agencies to
be of strategic importance; viz. IDA and A*STAR.

•Public sector research is carried out by

Universities and Research Institutes in wide range
of areas.

•Private sector research is relatively smaller but

picking up.

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