Ultra-Wideband Technology (UWB technology) has been a highly-anticipated, promising technology for the commercial market. The most important feature is its use of extremely large frequency ranges with a bandwidth of at least 500 MHz. Ultra wide bandwidth (UWB) signals are based on pulses of the shortest possible duration. UWB signals don’t contain complete sinusoidal oscillations. When they are transformed by the Fourier transform, the spectrum is broader as the pulse duration decreases.
One of the great benefits of UWB is that it uses a few milliwatts of power to transmit over such a wide frequency range that your radio transmissions should be unaffected. Even if they do suffer interference, you probably won’t notice.
Unlike conventional radio technology, there is no carrier frequency that is modulated. In contrast to “normal” radio, UWB-R uses individual pulses which are time-position modulated. This makes it possible to use several UWB radios in the same spatial area without collision.
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UWB has the ability to be used for a variety of purposes such as wireless systems built to transmit data rapidly at short distances. Wireless sensor networks are an extremely inexpensive and energy-efficient way to track assets, with low power consumption. You can use them in combination with GPS.
Small- to medium-sized enterprises could benefit from locating devices in an industrial environment. UWB systems will be allowed to be operated license-free in Europe and other parts of the world in addition to the United States. This is possible thanks to an extreme broadband up to 7.5 GHz and a low spectrum power density for UWB signals of −41.3 dBm/MHz bandwidth. For a narrowband receiver, an UWB signal appears like background noise and can be used in the same frequency range as traditional transmissions methods.
Right now, the implementation of UWB technology is still in its infancy. The regulators have no problems with it–mainly because it doesn’t interfere with existing systems–but their interest in it is limited because interference can’t be completely eliminated. However, proponents of UWB suggest that there’s plenty of room for this technology to grow and thrive, and that UWB will make unused resources more usable.
Critics argue that UWB will severely impair wireless technology for some applications, including remote sensing and radio astronomy.
