CA-CFAR threshold selection for IR-UWB TOA estimation

In this paper, we simplify the architecture of the cell averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) approach used in time-of-arrival (TOA) estimation for impulse radio ultra wideband (IR-UWB) systems. The CA-CFAR approach uses the received signal samples provided by the non-coherent energy detection (ED) receivers. The modified approach is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation on the CM1 channel model of the standard IEEE802.15.4a. The effects of the reference cells number and the guard cells duration on the performances of the modified CA-CFAR approach are studied. The simulation demonstrates that the modified approach gives better results than the conventional approaches.