UWB Radars: Possibilities and

Problems
Dr. Amit Kumar Mishra
Department of ECE
IIT Guwahati
 Signposts!
• Plan of presentation:
– UWB radars: an introduction
– UWB radars: types
– UWB radars: usages
– Problems and challenges
• Talk timing = 20min (talk) + 10min (QA)
 UWB: A brief introduction
• Ultra wide band
– BW > 20% of central frequency, OR
– BW > 500 MHz
• Three types:
– Impulse UWB radar
– LFM UWB radar
– Noise UWB radar
• Recent FCC regulation
 UWB Spectrum
• FCC ruling permits UWB spectrum overlay
Bluetooth,
802.11b 802.11a

GPS
PCS
Emitted Cordless Phones
Signal Microwave Ovens
Power

“Part 15 Limit”
-41 dBm/Mhz
UWB
Spectrum
1.6 1.9 2.4 3.1 5 10.6
Frequency (Ghz)

 FCC ruling issued 2/14/2002 after ~4 years of study & public

debate
 FCC believes current ruling is conservative
 Summary of the FCC Rules

• Significant protection for sensitive systems

– GPS, Federal aviation systems, etc.
• Lowest Limits Ever by FCC
• Incorporates NTIA recommendations
• Allows UWB technology to coexist with existing
radio services without causing interference
The R&O rules are “designed to ensure that existing and
planned radio services, particularly safety services, are
protected.”
 Some typical advantages of UWB
• Multipath immunity
• Ease of signal generation and processing architectures (!)
• Radar
– Inherent high precision – sub-centimeter ranging
– Wideband excitation for detection of complex, low RCS targets
• Geolocation/Positioning
– Sub-centimeter resolution using pulse leading edge detection
– passes through building blocks, walls, etc. (LOS not required)
• Low Cost
– Nearly “all-digital” architecture
– ideal for microminiaturization into a chipset
• Frequency diversity with minimal hardware modifications
 UWB Radar types
• LFM UWB radars: Not much different from
any other radar system
• Noise Radar: UWB feature from the BW of
noise
• Impulse Radar: Time frequency
uncertainty!
 LFM UWB Radar
• Tx signal is a simple
chirp with UWB
properties
• e.g. VHF radar image
• 20-90 MHz (but BW >
25% of fc)
• In use since long
• Problems:
– target modeling!
– too much information!
Courtesy SDMS
 Noise UWB Radar
• The question is how you model noise!
• Advantages:
– Frequency diversity
– Immunity to detection, jamming etc.
– Spectral efficiency (little cross-interference
between 2 noise radars)
– Many proofs of concept available
 Impulse UWB radar
• Non-sinusoidal waveforms
• Fav. Shape: Gaussian waveforms
– Autocorrelation is Gaussian shape!
– FT is also Gaussian shape!
• Major advantages obtained from time
domain analysis
– Impulse waveform: ~1ns
– Depth of pulse: ~ 30cm
– Finer resolution
 Possibilities of impulse radar
• Resolution
• Target identification
• Low elevation performance (time of arrival is different!)
• Antenna pattern depend on signal characteristics
• Both range and X-range resolution improved by higher
BW
• Immunity to interference and noise
• Decreased “dead-zone”
• MTI without using Doppler
• Theoretically no side-lobes!
Ranging and Imaging Capabilities

• Many early applications of modern

UWB technology were in radar systems
• Sub-nanosecond time resolution leads
to precision ranging and imaging
capabilities
• Capabilities result from the large
relative and coherent bandwidth
 Bio-medical sensing using UWB
radar imaging
• the required power for a UWB to image human
body is much lower than the permitted
maximum level of electro-magnetic (EM) energy
• One of the major uses of UWB radar imaging for
biomedical purpose has been to get information
about the heart beat of a person. Termed as
heart rate variability (HRV), this diagnosed
information has been shown to be of immense
utility
 Imaging through obstacles
• Foliage penetration (FOPEN) has been an
active research area for the military radar
community
• With UWB techniques, systems can have
both good resolution as well as FOEN
capabilities
 Problems and challenges
• Impulse radar:
– Shape change during propagation
– Time domain analysis: yet to achieve all the promises
• Noise radar:
– Yet to fully prove its capacities
– Energy control is difficult
• LFM radar:
– Not suitable for FCC based utilities
– Difficult and costly to generate UWB using LFM
 Related Standards

• IEEE 802.15 : Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)

• IEEE 802.15.1 : Bluetooth, 1Mbps
• IEEE 802.15.3 : WPAN/high rate, 50Mbps
• IEEE 802.15.3a: WPAN/Higher rate, 200Mbps, UWB
• IEEE 802.15.4 : WPAN/low-rate, low-power, mW level, 200kbps
 FCC UWB Device
Classifications
• R&O authorizes 5 classes of devices –
Different limits for each:
– Imaging Systems
1. Ground penetrating radars, wall imaging, medical imaging
2. Thru-wall Imaging & Surveillance Systems
– Communication and Measurement Systems
3. Indoor Systems
4. Outdoor Hand-held Systems
– Vehicular Radar Systems
5. collision avoidance, improved airbag activation,
suspension systems, etc.
 Summary of Preliminary R&O
Limits
Application Frequency Band for User
Operation at Part 15 Limits Restrictions

Imaging 3.1 to 10.6 GHz Yes

(GPR <960 MHz)
Through-wall and 1.99 to 10.6 GHz Yes
Surveillance
Communications 3.1 to 10.6 GHz No
(indoor & outdoor)*
Vehicular 24 to 29 GHz No

*Indoor and outdoor communications devices have different

out-of-band emission limits
UWB Emission Limit for Indoor Systems

3.1 10.6
1.99

GPS
Band

0.96 1.61
UWB Emission Limit for Outdoor Hand-held
Systems

3.1 10.6
1.99

GPS
Band

0.96 1.61
 UWB Emission Limits for GPRs, Wall Imaging, &
Medical Imaging Systems

3.1 10.6
1.99

GPS
Band

0.96 1.61

Operation is limited to law enforcement, fire and rescue organizations, scientific research
institutions, commercial mining companies, and construction companies.
UWB Emission Limits for Thru-wall Imaging &
Surveillance Systems

GPS
Band 1.99 10.6

0.96 1.61

Operation is limited to law enforcement, fire and rescue organizations.

Surveillance systems may also be operated by public utilities and industrial entities.