UWB performance assessment based on recent FCC regulation and measured radio channel characteristics

In the framework of the European research project WHYLESS.COM recent FCC regulation on UWB is evaluated as regards power levels and achievable receiver SNR’s.. The frequency band from 3.1-10.6 GHz has been evaluated based on impulse responses which were measured at IMST premises in a typical office building. Emphasis is put on the impact of strong temporal dispersion of the signal arriving at the receiver under non-line-of-sight conditions. The SNR degradation of receivers which process only part of the spectral and temporal signal features is shown for selected cases. The results, in conjunction with the UWB system specific processing gain, enable the assessment of error rates for various modulations schemes.