Time-domain Ultra-wideband Research Articles

Design of a Low-Cost UWB Time-Domain Radar System for Subcentimeter Image Resolution

The design and development of a hybrid Gaussian pulse radar transceiver, including transmitter and receiver, is presented. The transmitter is realized using a transistor-based square pulse generator, a tunable step recovery diode (SRD) Gaussian pulse-shaping network, and a differentiator. The SRD circuit design is modified using a high-pass filter to have a low ringing and narrow pulsewidth. The output pulse with a broadband amplifier has a power of 500 mW, at a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 MHz, and tunable pulsewidth ranges from 56 to 300 ps. A 90° coupler is configured to convert the Gaussian pulse into a monopulse. Then, a transmitter antenna is used to radiate the pulse, and a separate receiving antenna is used to receive the reflected pulse. The receiver is comprised of a local Gaussian pulse generator, a radio frequency mixer (RF-mixer) accompanied by a low-pass filter (LPF), a low-frequency amplifier (LFA), and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The RF-mixer is used for expanding the receiving pulse from the receiving antenna by a factor of 100000. The LPF and LFA are used to detect the envelope of the output of the RF-mixer and amplify it. The ADC is interposed between the LFA and a processor to digitize the expanded pulse for data processing. The validity and reliability of the digitized expanded pulse compared to those received using a sampling oscilloscope are 93% in agreement, which is remarkable. A version of the system is also developed for a single-antenna operation by utilizing an ultrawideband (UWB) coupler as a semicirculator. Both the systems are compared, and the benefits of each are illustrated. The flexibility and performance of the designs are analyzed. The proposed system demonstrates subcentimeter imaging capabilities.

Non-Contact Time Domain Ultra Wide Band Milk Spectroscopy

Recently, wideband dielectric spectroscopy (WBDS) has been applied for material characterization. Milk spectroscopy is usually done with high-cost contact-based methods using a vector network analyzer (VNA). Non-contact WBDS of milk is a novel and convenient technique, which can be utilized for milk qualification. In this paper, an ultra-wideband time domain dielectric spectroscopy system for milk characterization is presented. The proposed setup is a quasi-monostatic free space dielectric spectroscopy in which all measurements are done with Xethru X4 sensor. Material under test is located in the far-field of Xethru sensor. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of received time domain signals is computed and the permittivity of low-fat pasteurized cow milk and mixture of untreated raw cow milk and water have been estimated by mapping phase and amplitude differences of calibration materials. Mean squared error (MSE) of permittivity for low-fat milk and milk with different water content are 0.29% and below 0.056%, respectively.

Time-Domain Ultrawideband Chipless RFID Readers

This article evaluates time-domain techniques for the applications of ultrawideband (UWB) chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) readers. In UWB time-domain readers, the chipless RFID tag response to a UWB pulse excitation is simultaneously measured in time domain and then the frequency-domain signature of the tag is calculated by a time-to-frequency conversion method such as fast Fourier transform. A 32-bit UWB chipless RFID tag is designed and three time-domain readers based on impulse radio UWB, chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave (CP-FTMW), and dual-comb techniques are analyzed and implemented by using microwave equipment including arbitrary waveform generator, network analyzer, and high-speed oscilloscope. It is demonstrated that CP-FTMW reader is a fast, accurate with high signal-to-noise ratio, and high-frequency resolution time-domain technique. Dual-comb reader is slower, however, it offers a viable solution for a low cost and potentially miniaturized and portable chipless RFID readers.

Microwave Imaging of Breast Tumor Using Time-Domain UWB Circular-SAR Technique.

This paper explores the competency of the time domain ultra-wideband (UWB)-circular synthetic aperture radar (CSAR) to image the breast and detect tumors. The image reconstruction is performed using a time domain global back projection technique adapted to the circular trajectory data acquisition. This paper also proposes a sectional image reconstruction method to compensate for the group velocity changes in different layers of a multilayer medium. Experiments on an advanced breast phantom examines the suitability of this technique for breast tumor imaging. The advanced breast phantom is designed based on a MRI of a real patient, fabricated using 3D printing technology, and filled with liquids that emulate normal and cancerous tissues. The measurement results, compared with MRI imaging of the phantom, demonstrate the suitability of the UWB-CSAR method for breast tumor imaging. This method can be a tool for early diagnosis as well as for treatment monitoring during chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Signal Processing Techniques for Chipless UWB RFID Thermal Threshold Detector Detection

This letter presents signal processing techniques to detect a passive thermal threshold detector based on a chipless time-domain ultrawideband (UWB) radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. The tag is composed by a UWB antenna connected to a transmission line, in turn loaded with a biomorphic thermal switch. The working principle consists of detecting the impedance change of the thermal switch. This change occurs when the temperature exceeds a threshold. A UWB radar is used as the reader. The difference between the actual time sample and a reference signal obtained from the averaging of previous samples is used to determine the switch transition and to mitigate the interferences derived from clutter reflections. A gain compensation function is applied to equalize the attenuation due to propagation loss. An improved method based on the continuous wavelet transform with Morlet wavelet is used to overcome detection problems associated to a low signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver. The average delay profile is used to detect the tag delay. Experimental measurements up to 5 m are obtained.

Time-domain UWB transmission model for three-dimensional environments with low-loss obstacles

In this work, time-domain (TD) solution is presented for ultra wideband (UWB) transmission through three dimensional (3-D) scenarios made up of low-loss dielectric materials. Considering soft and hard polarizations, propagation through different structures like building and wedge is analyzed with arbitrary position of the receiver (Rx). Further the presented TD solution for transmission has been compared with TD UWB diffraction; single diffraction, double diffraction and diffraction followed by reflection when both transmitter (Tx) and Rx are in a plane normal to the edge. A detailed analysis of attenuation and distortion of transmitted and diffracted pulse waveforms through lossy obstacles is presented. It is observed that transmitted pulse waveform suffers comparatively lesser attenuation and distortion in shape as compared to diffracted pulse for low-loss obstacles. The TD results have been validated with the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) of the corresponding exact frequency-domain (FD) results.

Echo simulation of lunar penetrating radar: based on a model of inhomogeneous multilayer lunar regolith structure

Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) based on the time domain Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technique onboard China's Chang'e-3 (CE-3) rover, has the goal of investigating the lunar subsurface structure and detecting the depth of lunar regolith. An inhomogeneous multi-layer microwave transfer inverse-model is established. The dielectric constant of the lunar regolith, the velocity of propagation, the reflection, refraction and transmission at interfaces, and the resolution are discussed. The model is further used to numerically simulate and analyze temporal variations in the echo obtained from the LPR attached on CE-3's rover, to reveal the location and structure of lunar regolith. The thickness of the lunar regolith is calculated by a comparison between the simulated radar B-scan images based on the model and the detected result taken from the CE-3 lunar mission. The potential scientific return from LPR echoes taken from the landing region is also discussed.

FOCUSING PROPERTIES OF ULTRA WIDEBAND TRANSIENT ARRAYS

Some new focusing properties of time-domain ultra wide band (UWB) focusing array antennas are presented. The large current radiator (LCR) is considered as the UWB antenna element. Each LCR is replaced by a set of inflnitesimal dipoles modeling both the near fleld and the far fleld patterns of the antenna element, as well as the coupling between the elements. Several antenna arrays with difierent sizes and numbers of elements are modeled. It is shown that similar to narrow band antennas, the actual maximum fleld region shifts from the intended focus region towards the antenna aperture.

A sub-nanosecond Synchronized MAC – PHY cross-layer design for Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we present a Wireless Sensor node implementation which aims at solving two major issues in Wireless Sensor Networks. This solution provides nanosecond-scale synchronization between nodes and high data-rate transmission thanks to cross-layer design and the time-domain properties of UltraWide Band (UWB) modulation schemes. The high data rate is achieved through a specific implementation of a IR-UWB physical layer. Specific algorithms are also implanted into the MAC and physical layers and form a cross-layered synchronization protocol for deterministic Wireless Sensor Networks named WiDeCS (Wireless Deterministic Clock Synchronization). This protocol propagates master time reference to nodes of a cluster tree network. WiDeCS Cross layered scheme is possible thanks to flag signals rising in the physical layer. These signals, owing to the UWB time domain properties, capture precise timestamps of transmission and reception. Hardware level simulations show a clock synchronization precision of 2ns with a 2GHz bandwidth signal, and an ASIC demonstrator shows 374ps synchronization precision and 677ps of standard deviation with the same bandwidth. In this paper, the physical layer implementation is detailed, and the cross-layered WiDeCS scheme is demonstrated.

UWB Antennas for Communication Systems

Since the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened the spectrum from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz for unlicensed radio applications with an EIRP of up to 41.3 dBm/MHz, numerous papers have been published on ultrawideband (UWB) antennas. Often the goal in these publications is to present an antenna, which has a satisfactory input reflection coefficient and a reasonable, constant radiation diagram versus frequency. However, in the case of UWB, there are numerous additional critical characteristics, which must be considered in the proper wireless system design. The publications, which treat this topic with sufficient proficiency, use such quantities as transient gain, group delay, ringing, dispersion, signal fidelity, polarization, efficiency, and the peak value of the transient response. For practical applications based on signals with an UWB instantaneous bandwidth occupation, all criteria are of vital importance, because they determine the sensor resolution, accuracy, or increase the bit error rate in communications systems. This paper gives an overview of UWB antenna designs together with their suitability for different applications with respect to the aforementioned critical characteristics. Additionally, UWB antenna array design, polarization diversity, and application in body area network (BAN) will be discussed. In nearly all cases the time-domain characteristics are taken into account, as they are more intuitive to interpret and very convenient for time-domain UWB system design.

Compressed sensing based deconvolution algorithm for time-domain UWB channel modeling

Extracting the parameters of the multipath with high accuracy can be achieved by using high-resolution algorithm for time-domain ultra wideband (UWB) channel modeling. The CLEAN algorithm has been used as such a high-resolution algorithm for UWB time-domain characterization. This paper presents a compressed sensing (CS) based high-resolution deconvolution algorithm for time-domain UWB channel modeling. UWB wireless channels are a prime example of long and sparse channel impulse response (CIR). Furthermore, the dictionary of parameterized waveforms that closely matches the waveform of multipath leads to that the UWB channel measurement signal is more compactly represented. By adjusting the parameter of dictionary, CIRs of different resolutions can be obtained. The matching pursuit (MP) algorithm is used as the signal reconstruction method for CS and outputs the CIR directly. We also demonstrated that if the dictionary of CS is designed specifically, MP is an equivalent of single template CLEAN. Finally, the computation complexity of CS-MP is analyzed and comparison of MP and CLEAN is performed. Simulation results show that compared to CLEAN, the proposed CS-MP deconvolution algorithm can achieve a comparable performance with much fewer samplings.

Accuracy Evaluation of Ultrawideband Time Domain Systems for Microwave Imaging

We perform a theoretical analysis of the measurement accuracy of ultrawideband time domain systems. The theory is tested on a specific ultrawideband system and the analytical estimates of measurement uncertainty are in good agreements with those obtained by means of simulations. The influence of the antennas and propagation effects on the measurement accuracy of time domain near field microwave imaging systems is discussed. As an interesting application, the required measurement accuracy for a breast cancer detection system is estimated by studying the effect of noise on the image reconstructions. The results suggest that the effects of measurement errors on the reconstructed images are small when the amplitude uncertainty and phase uncertainty of measured data are less than 1.5 dB and 15 degrees, respectively.

High-resolution imaging of dielectric profiles by using a time-domain ultra wideband radar sensor

This paper describes the development of an imaging instrument that capitalizes on high-resolution phenomenon in inverse scattering using a time-domain ultra wideband (UWB) sensor. The image reconstruction algorithm that accounts for the band-limited view of the UWB data is based upon the TM-mode wave equation, the Born approximation, and the adjoint method for computing the Fréchet derivatives. The computation of the sensitivity function requires the forward propagation of the UWB wavefield, as well as the reverse propagation of the residual wavefield. The electromagnetic and adjoint fields are calculated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, implementing the first and second orders Mur’s absorbing boundaries. The overall performance of the instrumentation system is demonstrated using computer simulations and experimental measurements. Results indicate that the equipment can reconstruct fairly complicated dielectric profiles at near millimeter resolution even with the presence of large amount of noise.

UWB time‐domain antennas beam scanning

AbstractUltra‐wideband (UWB) antenna is indispensable in impulse radar that transmits and receives short electromagnetic pulse signals and preserves the waveform well. Phased array antenna systems cannot meet the demand of the system. Optical true‐time delay techniques open the possibility of ultra‐wide bandwidth antenna systems, while at the same time meeting the stringent weight and size requirements. Continuously tunable true‐time delay techniques can provide continuous beam scanning. With advanced optoelectronic technique, fast wavelength tuning speed is possible. To detect and track moving‐target [Bi and Ren, Prog Electomagn Res 87 (2008), 15–41)], UWB time‐domain antenna array beam scanning is studied in this article. First, the theory of time‐domain antenna array scanning is analyzed, some useful conclusions are achieved. Then, an experiment system of UWB time‐domain antenna array scanning is built, which includes an antenna array, fiber‐optic true‐time delay device, and other equipments. Finally, the theoretical and experimental results combined to are made to validate the theory of UWB time‐domain antenna array beam scanning. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1110–1112, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25102

Cooperative Communications in Ultra-Wideband Wireless Body Area Networks: Channel Modeling and System Diversity Analysis

In this paper, we explore the application of cooperative communications in ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless body area networks (BANs), where a group of on-body devices may collaborate together to communicate with other groups of on-body equipment. Firstly, time-domain UWB channel measurements are presented to characterize the body-centric multipath channel and to facilitate the diversity analysis in a cooperative BAN (CoBAN). We focus on the system deployment scenario when the human subject is in the sitting posture. Important channel parameters such as the pathloss, power variation, power delay profile (PDP), and effective received power (ERP) crosscorrelation are investigated and statistically analyzed. Provided with the model preliminaries, a detailed analysis on the diversity level in a CoBAN is provided. Specifically, an intuitive measure is proposed to quantify the diversity gains in a single-hop cooperative network, which is defined as the number of independent multipaths that can be averaged over to detect symbols. As this measure provides the largest number of redundant copies of transmitted information through the body-centric channel, it can be used as a benchmark to access the performance bound of various diversity-based cooperative schemes in futuristic body sensor systems.

A high-resolution, multi-template deconvolution algorithm for time-domain UWB channel characterization

Time-domain ultra-wideband (UWB) channel characterization with deconvolution has become increasingly popular. However, owing to the nature of the frequency-selective non-line-of-sight channel on a general wideband channel-sounding pulse, the a priori assumption of the CLEAN deconvolution algorithm does not necessarily hold. Moreover, the assumption of a fixed a priori can easily be violated since the radio-wave propagation mechanisms experienced by the sounding pulse can be frequency-selective. This paper first summarizes the use of the CLEAN algorithm in UWB channel characterization, including a discussion about the a priori assumption, enhancements made to the basic algorithm, and the effect of the a priori assumption on channel characteristics. A study of the a priori dependence is then presented along with real-world measurements to demonstrate the shortcomings of the single-template CLEAN algorithm. Finally, a high-resolution, multi-template deconvolution algorithm is proposed to enhance the channel estimation performance. This algorithm incorporates realistic frequency-dependent pulse distortions and is shown to supersede its predecessors by being computationally efficient, simple, accurate, and deployable for point-to-point measurements.

On the Development of an Integrated CMOS-Based UWB Tunable-Pulse Transmit Module

A novel low-cost low-power fully integrated tunable transmit module composed of a tunable CMOS monocycle pulse generator and compact uniplanar antenna was designed, built, and tested for ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse systems. The CMOS tunable pulse generator integrates a tuning delay circuit, square-wave generator, impulse-forming circuit, and pulse-shaping circuit in a single chip using a standard low-cost 0.25-mum CMOS process. It can generate a monocycle pulse and Gaussian-type impulse (without the pulse-shaping circuitry) signals with tunable pulse duration. A compact uniplanar UWB antenna was also developed and integrated directly with the CMOS pulse generator chip to form the complete integrated tunable UWB transmit module. Measured results show that the CMOS tunable pulse generator can produce a 0.3-0.6-V peak-to-peak monocycle pulse with 140-350-ps tunable pulse duration and a 0.5-1.3-V peak-to-peak impulse signal with 100-300-ps tunable pulse-duration, and the uniplanar antenna has less than a 18-dB return loss and is suitable for transmitting/receiving UWB time-domain impulse signals covering the entire UWB bandwidth of 3.1-10.6 GHz. Good agreement between measured and calculated performance is also achieved. The UWB transmit module was experimentally characterized and its performance is verified. This UWB module finds applications in various time-domain UWB systems including wireless communications and radar

A 0.25-mm CMOS T/R switch for UWB wireless communications

A T/R switch, fabricated using standard 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process, for ultra wide-band (UWB) wireless communications is presented. The switch is designed based on the concept of synthetic transmission line, utilizing both CPW and CMOS transistors, to achieve not only an extremely wide bandwidth but also a linear phase response necessary for time-domain UWB applications. On-chip measurement is completed in both frequency and time domains. Frequency-domain measured results show insertion loss of 2.2-4.2 dB, isolation from 34-48 dB, and highly linear transmission phase from 0.45 MHz to 13 GHz. These results are quite consistent with the calculations. Particularly, the time-domain pulse measurement shows that the output pulses resemble closely the input pulses with very little reflection, demonstrating the switch's suitability for true time-domain UWB applications. The developed switch is ready to be integrated with other CMOS RFICs to form on-chip transceivers for various UWB applications.