This paper deals with the small-scale fading distribution for UWB channels in the absence and presence of human bodies in indoor line-of-sight (LOS) environments and performance analysis of UWB systems considering the small-scale fading distribution. To obtain small-scale fading statistics, the channel measurements are performed in five representative environments that have different structure and size while locating the receiver (Rx) antenna on 49 (7×7 grid) local points with a fixed transmitter (Tx) antenna in each environment. The measured channel data are processed by a vector network analyzer and the target frequency bands range from 3 to 4.6GHz. From the measured data, we find the best fitted channel model among several typical theoretical distribution models such as Lognormal, Nakagami, and Weibull distributions, showing good agreement with the empirical channel data. We analyze the amplitude variation of the small-scale fading distribution in the absence and presence of human bodies. The results show that the small-scale fading statistics are best described by Weibull distribution and the two parameters of the distribution that determine the shape and the scale of the distribution depend on whether or not human bodies exist. We modeled and analyzed two parameters at different excess delays for all environments. Based on the measured small-scale fading distribution, this paper deals with the performance of UWB system using Rake receivers and also compares the performance with the existing channel model. The results suggest that the small-scale fading distribution in the absence and the presence of human bodies in indoor LOS environments should be considered when assessing the performance of UWB systems.

This paper investigates a signal detection method with a RAKE combiner for the case wherein the receiving signals use the same spreading code. In the case where multiple user interference with the same spreading code (MUI-SC) occurs, blind channel estimation is difficult and as far as we know has not been investigated. To tackle the issue of MUI-SC, we propose two blind channel estimation methods based on the multimodulus algorithm (MMA), i.e., MMA-IQ and MMA-I methods. When a one dimensional modulation scheme, such as differential binary phase-shift keying (DBPSK), is used, the output of the MMA-IQ channel estimation method can, under MUI-SC, have two states. The first state is that the channel estimate corresponds to a channel response for one of the received signals, and the second state is that the channel estimate corresponds to combined channel responses for two of the received signals. This is because the MMA-IQ uses two degrees of freedom (both axes in the IQ-plane), however one DBPSK signal uses only one degree of freedom. In the case of the second state, it is possible to detect two signals/packets at once. However, in the MMA-IQ, the receiver has to recognize the state of the channel estimate before the signal detection, thus we also propose a state recognition method. In the MMA-I channel estimation method, only the I-axis is used thus the channel estimate always corresponds the case with one signal. Numerical results show that the average number of detected packets of the MMA-IQ is more than that of the MMA-I in high signal-to-noise power ratio case. In addition, several aspects of the MMA-I and MMA-IQ based RAKE signal detection methods are shown.

This letter presents a criterion for selecting a transmit antenna subset when ZF detectors followed by Rake combiners are employed for spatial multiplexing (SM) ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems. The presented criterion is based on the largest minimum post-processing signal to interference plus noise ratio of the multiplexed streams, which is obtained on the basis of QR decomposition. Simulation results show that the proposed antenna selection algorithm considerably improves the BER performance of the SM UWB MIMO systems when the number of multipath diversity branches is not so large and thus offers diversity advantages on a log-normal multipath fading channel.

In this letter, a prerake combining scheme for signal detection in ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple input single output (MISO) systems with a hybrid pulse amplitude and position modulation (PAPM) is analytically examined. For a UWB MISO system, the analytical BER performance of a prerake combining scheme with PAPM is presented in a log-normal multipath fading channel. The analytical BERs are observed to match well the simulated results for the set of parameters chosen. The prerake diversity combining UWB systems, which can significantly reduce the complexity of the receiver side compared to the rake diversity systems, improve the error performance as the number of transmit antennas increases.

In this letter, we consider a diversity precoding scheme for signal detection in ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple input single output (MISO) systems, which consists of linear diversity prefilters in the transmitter. For a UWB MISO system, the BER performance of a linear transmit diversity precoding system with imperfect channel estimation is presented in IEEE 802.15.3a UWB multipath channels and also compared with that of a linear receive diversity postcoding approach. It is shown that the diversity precoding UWB MISO system offers the performance equivalent to the diversity postcoding scheme for single input multiple output (SIMO) systems while making the mobiles low-cost and low-power.

In this letter, we consider a novel ultra-wideband (UWB) spatial multiplexing (SM) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) structure, which consists of prerake diversity combiners in the transmitter and a zero forcing (ZF) detector in the receiver. For a UWB SM MIMO system with N transmit antennas, M receive antennas, and L resolvable multipath components, it is shown that the proposed prerake combining-based MIMO detection scheme has the diversity order of (LN-M+1) and its BER performance is analytically presented in a log-normal fading channel and also compared with that of a rake combining-based ZF scheme.

In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm (GA) based equalization approach for direct sequence ultra-wideband (DS-UWB) wireless communication systems, where the GA is combined with a RAKE receiver to combat the inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to the frequency selective nature of UWB channels for high data rate transmission. The proposed GA based equalizer outperforms significantly the RAKE and the RAKE-minimum mean square error (MMSE) receivers according to results obtained from intensive simulation work. The RAKE-GA receiver also provides bit-error-rate (BER) performance very close to that of the optimal RAKE-maximum likelihood detection (MLD) approach, while offering a much lower computational complexity.

RAKE receivers are generally employed to collect multipath energy in single-carrier ultra-wideband (SC-UWB) systems and direct-sequence ultra-wideband (DS-UWB) systems. Performance of RAKE receivers in these two kinds of systems is studied and compared with each other in this letter. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results over IEEE 802.15.3a UWB channels are presented. Our results show that, with the same signal to noise ratio (SNR) per bit, the same occupied bandwidth and the same number of RAKE fingers, RAKE receivers with maximum ratio combination (MRC) in SC-UWB systems can achieve exactly the same performance as that in DS-UWB systems.

In a Direct-Sequence/Spread-Spectrum (DS/SS) system, a RAKE receiver is used to improve a bit error rate (BER) performance. The RAKE receiver can collect more signal energy through independent paths and achieve path diversity. The RAKE receiver obtains further diversity gain through fractional sampling. However, the power consumption of the RAKE receiver increases in proportion to a sampling rate and does not always maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, sampling rate selection schemes have been proposed to reduce the average sampling rate without degrading the BER. These schemes select the tap positions and the sampling rate depending on channel conditions and the power consumption can be reduced. In this paper, sampling rate selection schemes for the DS/SS system are investigated through an experiment since there have been no numerical results through an experiment. Numerical results show that the power consumption can be reduced even through the experiment without the degradation of the BER.

This paper proposes a hybrid multiband (MB) ultra wideband (UWB) system with direct sequence (DS) spreading. The theoretical error analysis for the DS-MB-UWB multiple access system with Rake receiver in the presence of multipath and narrowband interference is developed. The developed theoretical framework models the multiple access interference (MAI), multipath interference (MI) and narrowband interference for the designed UWB system. It is shown that the system error performance corresponding to the combining effects of these interference can be accurately modeled and calculated. Monte Carlo simulation results are provided to validate the accuracy of the model. Additionally, it is found that narrowband interference can be mitigated effectively in the multiband UWB system by suppressing the particular UWB sub-band co-existing with the interfering narrowband signal. A typical improvement of 5 dB can be achieved with 75% sub-band power suppression. On the other hand, suppression of UWB sub-band is also found to decrease frequency diversity, thus facilitating the increase of MAI. In this paper, the developed model is utilized to determine the parameters that optimize the UWB system performance by minimizing the effective interference.

Single-carrier ultra-wideband (SC-UWB) is weak due to the problem of serious inter-symbol interference (ISI), which is generated in dense multipath with a long root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread. The selective RAKE (SRAKE) based RAKE-decision feedback equalizer (RAKE-DFE) receiver is usually employed to combat ISI in practical SC-UWB systems. Considering the system complexity, however, the number of RAKE fingers is usually small. In this case, conventional RAKE-DFE receivers can hardly collect enough energy to achieve a good performance. In this paper, the optimum SRAKE based RAKE-DFE receiver was proposed as a solution. Theoretical analysis and simulations are presented. Results and conclusions show that the proposed SRAKE scheme is optimum to collect energy of multipath. Moreover, the proposed RAKE-DFE receiver outperforms conventional RAKE-DFE receiver by about 1 dB, but the complexity for them both is almost the same.

Combining transmission of ultra wideband pulses, organized in blocks, with the inclusion of cyclic prefixing pulses yields a pulsewidth periodic signal at the receiver. Although unknown, this signal fits perfectly the diversity exploitive architecture of a RAKE receiver. Aiming to profit from this signal arrangement, we propose a pulse shape modulation system employing a RAKE receiver that estimates this periodic signal during a training interval and uses the estimated values for detection of data symbols. Our proposal relies on the invariability of the multipath propagation channel during the transmission of a UWB packet, the adequate application of the cyclic prefix, and the fact that different transmitted pulses result in different periodic signals at the receiver. This system is equivalent to transforming the multipath nature of the UWB propagation channel into a multichannel digital communications affected solely by additive noise. Our proposal is important because it ameliorates the performance of a pulse shape modulation RAKE receiver. On the other hand, the cost of our proposed system resides in the inefficiencies product of the cyclic prefix inclusion.

Multipath energy capture and inter-symbol interference (ISI) are two intractable problems in high-data-rate Ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. To tackle the problems and simplify the receiver, we propose an adaptive interference avoidance scheme based on Pre-RAKE combining technique. The symbol repetition period (SRP) is regarded a changeable parameter in an ordered set to avoid severe interference paths and guarantee high data-rate. The set is known to both the transmitter and receiver. The index of the selected SRP is then sent to the receiver to coordinate the transmitter and receiver. The SRP can be updated adaptively according to the variations of the channels. Both theoretical analysis and simulations show that the ISI is mitigated and the transmission rate is improved simultaneously compared to the constant SRP transmission scheme.

This paper proposes a combination of novel Received Response (RR) sequence at the transmitter and Matched Filter-Equalizer-RAKE (MF-EQZ-RAKE) combining scheme receiver system for Direct Sequence-Ultra Wideband (DS-UWB) multipath channel model. When binary code sequence such as M sequence is used, there is a possibility of generating extra Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) in the UWB system. Therefore, it is quite a challenging task to collect the energy efficiently although RAKE reception method is applied at the receiver. The main purpose of the proposed system is to overcome the performance degradation for UWB transmission due to the occurrence of Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) during high speed transmission of ultra short pulses in a multipath channel. The proposed system improves the system performance by improving the RAKE reception performance using RR sequence and suppressing the ISI effect with the equalizer. Simulation results verify that significant improvement can be obtained by the proposed system especially in UWB multipath channel models such as channel CM4 that suffered severe ISI effect.

The performances of a PCTH-based communication UWB system with diversiform modulation schemes are compared on the classic AWGN channel propagation and the realistic IEEE-UWB channel model. By employing different versions of modulation at the transmitters, the performances of an optimal receiver and a Rake receiver with various combining schemes are studied in this paper. The numerical results for several compared cases illustrate the tradeoff between transmitter diversity and receiver complexity. It is shown that the actual performance of the PAM-PCTH scheme can be better in both kinds of channel propagation. We also find that the PCTH-based UWB system with the Rake receiver has better performance than the conventional proposal for overcoming the multipath propagation effects in the UWB indoor environment.

This paper proposes a combination of novel Received Response (RR) sequence at the transmitter and a Matched Filter-RAKE (MF-RAKE) combining scheme receiver system for the Direct Sequence-Code Division Multiple Access Ultra Wideband (DS-CDMA UWB) multipath channel model. This paper also demonstrates the effectiveness of the RR sequence in Multiple Access Interference (MAI) reduction for the DS-CDMA UWB system. It suggests that by using conventional binary code sequence such as the M sequence or the Gold sequence, there is a possibility of generating extra MAI in the UWB system. Therefore, it is quite difficult to collect the energy efficiently although the RAKE reception method is applied at the receiver. The main purpose of the proposed system is to overcome the performance degradation for UWB transmission due to the occurrence of MAI during multiple accessing in the DS-CDMA UWB system. The proposed system improves the system performance by improving the RAKE reception performance using the RR sequence which can reduce the MAI effect significantly. Simulation results verify that significant improvement can be obtained by the proposed system in the UWB multipath channel models.

This paper proposes a combination of adaptive equalizer and Least Mean Square-RAKE (LMS-RAKE) combining scheme receiver system for Direct Sequence-Ultra Wideband (DS-UWB) multipath channel model. The main purpose of the proposed system is to overcome the performance degradation for UWB transmission due to the occurrence of Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) during high speed transmission of ultra short pulses in a multipath channel. The proposed system improves the system performance by mitigating the multipath effect using LMS-RAKE receiver and suppressing the ISI effect with the adaptive equalizer. Simulation results verify that significant equalization gain can be obtained by the proposed system especially in UWB multipath channel models such as channel CM3 and channel CM4 that suffered severe ISI effect.

We propose a novel asynchronous direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) using feedback-controlled spreading sequences (FCSSs) (FCSS/DS-CDMA). At the receiver of FCSS/DS-CDMA, the code-orthogonalizing filter (COF) produces a spreading sequence, and the receiver returns the spreading sequence to the transmitter. Then the transmitter uses the spreading sequence as its updated version. The performance of FCSS/DS-CDMA is evaluated over time-dispersive channels. The results indicate that FCSS/DS-CDMA greatly suppresses both the intersymbol interference (ISI) and multiple access interference (MAI) over time-invariant channels. FCSS/DS-CDMA is applicable to the decentralized multiple access.

In this paper, sampling rate selection diversity (SRSD) scheme for Direct-Sequence/Spread-Spectrum (DS/SS) is proposed. In DS/SS communication systems, oversampling may be employed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, oversampling enlarges the power consumption because signal processing of the receiver has to be carried out at a higher clock rate. Higher sampling rate does not always maximize the SNR. In the proposed SRSD scheme, the power consumption can be reduced by selecting the optimum sampling rate depending on the characteristics of the channel. The proposed SRSD scheme can also reduce the BER more than the conventional oversampling scheme under certain channel conditions.

There have been many theoretical and experimental investigations on polarization diversity reception characteristics at base stations. The diversity gain was evaluated based on the distribution of the instantaneous received power in these investigations. The mainstream mobile communication systems are shifting to standardized IMT-2000 systems and the W-CDMA system is one of them. The effect using base station polarization diversity in W-CDMA must be evaluated by considering not only antenna diversity, but also RAKE reception/path diversity. Furthermore, Transmit Power Control (TPC) is applied to overcome the near-far problem of mobile units that maintain a fixed reception power level in W-CDMA systems. Therefore, traditional diversity gain cannot be used as an evaluation metric. This paper proposes a theoretical analysis method for diversity gain using base station polarization diversity in W-CDMA. The evaluation model used for theoretical analysis is verified based on a comparison with the experimental results and the analytical results of the practical diversity gain are clarified.