UWB channel characterization using IEEE 802.15.4a demonstrator system

In this contribution we present a modular IEEE 802.15.4a UWB demonstrator platform. The demonstrator supports a one-way communication link and allows for ranging and communication experiments. The proposed system can be used for hardware verification by substituting the different modules, but also to verify different receiver structures and channel models. The data processing is held offline, to allow for highest flexibility in the analysis. A coherent receiver architecture is chosen to verify the demonstrator system in an outdoor line-of-sight (LOS) and in an industrial LOS and non-LOS scenario. Channel estimation and the parametrization of the pathloss model are carried out in these environments. Finally, the root mean square delay spread is calculated, and the major differences between the scenarios are pointed out.