Performance analysis and optimization for impulse radio and direct-sequence impulse radio in multiuser interference

The performance of two ultra wideband communication systems is investigated. The first system is the classical impulse radio (IR). The second is obtained by adding a direct-sequence (DS) code to the IR system, and is termed direct-sequence impulse radio (DS-IR). For both systems, binary pulse amplitude modulation is considered. The performance of IR and DS-IR is analyzed in a multiuser scenario, assuming an ideal channel and a correlation receiver. The performance analysis is original and general. It yields simple and exact formulas relating the performance to the system parameters. The analysis shows that IR suffers a performance degradation with respect to DS-IR unless the system parameters are chosen carefully. An optimum shape for the monocycle is identified, yielding an upper bound to the performance. The optimum system achieving this upper bound is shown to be, in principle, feasible for both DS-IR and IR. The degradation experienced by real systems with respect to the optimum system is also evaluated. Furthermore, it is shown that DS-IR has practical advantages with respect to IR. Simulations are included to validate the theoretical findings.