Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces Assisted Downlink UWB System

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is a promising technique that enhances wireless system performance by reconfiguring signal propagation. Further, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is used for short-distance communication and ranging applications. In this work, we design and analyze an IRS-assisted UWB (IUWB) communications to improve its energy efficiency. To circumvent the in-feasibility of coherent phase shift scheme at IRS, we propose a strongest-path based phase optimization by considering time resolved UWB multipath. Bit error rate (BER) and sum-rate performance of the IUWB are analyzed and compared with conventional UWB system without IRS. The impact of parameters such as the number of reflecting elements, different UWB channel models, and IRS position is studied for IUWB. Simulation results demonstrate the benefits of IUWB in terms of energy efficiency and the sum-rate.