UWB communication using SAW correlators

A simple approach to ultra-wideband (UWB) communication has been demonstrated using surface acoustic wave (SAW) correlators to provide direct RF-to-baseband conversion. The SAW correlators used are bi-phase shift key (BPSK) coded devices that can directly generate or detect an RF signal. This continuous wave (CW) approach to UWB communication is markedly different from the prevailing pulse-based techniques and offers advantages of simplicity, lower component count, and lower cost. The resulting transmitter and receiver architectures eliminate mixers, IF amplifiers, IF filters, and most baseband signal processing. Transmitters and receivers were built operating at 915 MHz, 2.43 GHz, and 5.6 GHz using SAW correlators with 1.25%, 3.3%, 12.5% ,25%, and 50% fractional bandwidths.