Coexistence of ultra-wideband systems with IEEE-802.11 a wireless LANs

In this study we provide a physical layer based analysis of the coexistence issues of ultra-wideband (UWB) with other devices in the same spectrum. Specifically, we have focused on the UWB interference to and from devices using the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard IEEE 802.11a. Our results indicate that a UWB interferer operating at the peak allowable power density induces minimal interference into such WLAN devices in line-of sight (LOS) scenarios, even at close range. However, in the non-LOS (NLOS) case, a UWB interferer can severely affect the data-rate sustainable by 802.11a systems. Moreover, 802.11a interference into UWB systems is shown to reduce the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) by as much as 36 dB when the interferer is within LOS of the UWB receiver.