A Software Defined Radio Receiver Architecture for UWB Communications and Positioning

A software defined radio (SDR) receiver architecture is proposed in this paper for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. Both UWB data communication and positioning functions are implemented in a single hardware platform and using suitable demodulation and positioning algorithms respectively. This architecture adopts a direct conversion radio frequency (RF) front-end based on multi(six)-port technology. The features of multi(six)-port technology provide the feasibility to realize both UWB functionalities without changing the hardware configuration. Furthermore it has several advantages such as object penetration, multi-path immunity and low probability of interception. In the proposed architecture, an impulse UWB signal is considered for BPSK data communication and positioning in an indoor environment. Data communication and positioning simulation results of the considered system have been obtained for an indoor environment. A proof-of-concept experiment has been realized on a test bench that includes a multi-port RF front-end fabricated using commercial components. The measurement and simulation results validate the proposed architecture and corresponding algorithm in a 1 GHz operating band