A VLSI Implementation of Low Power, Low Data Rate UWB Transceiver for Location and Tracking Applications

A low power, low data rate ultra wideband (UWB) impulse radio transceiver for location and tracking applications is presented in this paper. The UWB receiver is based on a non-coherent, energy collection approach, which makes the receiver highly independent of the shape of the transmitted waveform. The UWB signal is generated by a pulse generator and band-pass filter fixing the signal bandwidth to 1 GHz in the band from 3.1 GHz to 4.1 GHz. The modulation scheme used in this time division multiple access system (TDMA) is Binary Pulse Position Modulation (BPPM). In this paper the system concept, system architecture and RF parts of the VLSI implementation are peresented. The transceiver is implemented in a 0.35 μm SiGe process provided by Austria Microsystems. Sakari Tiuraniemi was born in Kolari, Finland, on March 10, 1977. He received his M.Sc. degree in 2003 in electrical engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland, where he then continued his research on transceiver integration and implementation issues for two years. In 2005 he joined the CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, where he is working towards the PhD degree in electrical engineering. His current research focuses on detector readout electronics for high energy physics applications. Lucian Stoica was born in Roman, Romania, on December 8, 1975. He received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Iasi, Romania, in 2000. He was with Telecommunications Department at the Technical University of Iasi from 2000 to 2003. As a teaching assistant he was involved in development of digital design and FPGA prototyping. In 2003, he joined Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland where he is working towards the PhD degree in electrical engineering. His current research focuses on low complexity SiGe BiCMOS circuit transceivers design for wireless communications, particularly on ultrawideband impulse radio systems. Alberto Rabbachin received the M.S. from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2001. In 2001, during his undergraduate studies, he visited the Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Finland. In 2002 he joined Agilent Technologies for an internship and since 2003 he is working towards the PhD degree at the Centre for Wireless Communications. His research interests include UWB systems with emphasis on receiver structures, synchronization and ranging techniques. Ian Oppermann was born in Maryborough, Australia, in 1969. He completed a BSc, BE and PhD at the University of Sydney Australia in 1990, 1992 and 1997, respectively. His PhD was related to physical layer aspects of novel spread spectrum/CDMA systems. In 1996 he founded SP Communications, a company which developed network planning tools for 3G mobile systems and IP cores for WLAN chipsets. He became a Docent (Adjunct Professor) at the University of Oulu, Finland in 2001 and subsequently joined the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) in 2002 as Assistant Director, becoming Director in 2003. From the beginning of 2005 is the acting Director for Short Range Communications Research at CWC. His main research interests are spread spectrum systems and UWB. Dr. Oppermann has co-edited several books, holds several patents for wireless communications and has over 80 publications in international journals and conferences.