Impulse Radio is another name for one particular flavor of UWB - or Ultra Wideband - a technology that is
really hitting the big time! This technology uses extremely short pulses (.1 to 1.5 Nanoseconds)
and very low average power in the milliwatt range. Ultra Wideband Radiation has been defined
as any radiation in which the 3db bandwidth is at least 25% or greater of its center frequency.
This waveform can be used to transport information by time modulation of the transmitted signal.
By modulating the signal in time, it is possible to represent a digital "one" with a
pulse that arrives earlier than expected, or a digital "zero" with a pulse that arrives
later than expected. Impulse radio/UWB promises simplicity, low cost, low power consumption,
and superior multipath rejection, making it suitable for a broad range of communications,
positioning, and radar imaging applications.
Impulse radio hit the NY Times on December 21, 1998 (you will have to use their FREE online registration script
to read this article). Also, the US FCC in ET Docket No. 98-153 issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)
on May 10, 2000 concerning this new technology -- and final rulemaking was issued in April 2002.
For more information on the rulemaking, and on the heated standards battle surrounding this
entire area, see our UWB News page. Briefly, there has been a huge
fight over whether the impulse-based direct sequence style UWB or a multiband approach will be
the one who wins out. The standards fight ended in a draw, and the marketplace will sort out
the winner.
One of the first companies to exploit this technology was
Zircon Corp. -- they contacted SSS Online some
years ago to evaluate the latest work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on this
stuff. There are other players in this area right now, including Pulse-Link, Motorola, and
Freescale Semiconductor (see resource links below). Our own managing company,
Pegasus Technologies, is also involved
in a very interesting impulse-based UWB project presently.
This page is intended to help you learn more about this exciting technology and search some
of the related articles, resources and links on the Internet!
Micropower Impulse Radar Home Page.
MIR is a low power UWB technology developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
that can be used for sensing and measuring distances to objects in proximity to each other. Commercial applications
include vehicle/traffic applications, security applications, search and rescue, and appliances such as studfinders
and laser tape measures.
Chaotic Impulse Radio:
A Novel Chaotic Secure Communication System
Article in the 2000 issue of the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos,by TAO YANG
and LEON O. CHUA, University of California, Berkeley. The abstract is free, but you have to subscribe
or buy the full article.
Impulse Radio Resources:
Motorola
They bought out Time Domain Corporation, one of the early leaders in this field.
