imec releases UWB solution for the 6-10 GHz band

With the ultralow-power integrated solution for the 6-10 GHz, imec and Holst Centre now make UWB communication available for battery operated applications in the area of personal area networks and positioning sensors.

Examples are short-range video streaming or around-the-body audio streaming (eg, between a headset and a smartphone). When using the UWB radio for the wireless streaming of audio between, for example, a smartphone and an earpiece, the battery lifetime of the smartphone will increase by over 3x compared to a conventional Bluetooth-based solution, and the earpiece will have a battery lifetime increase of over 5x.

In contrast to the Bluetooth communication, the UWB radio will not suffer from interference from other wireless technologies that operate in the same location and in the same frequency band.

Impulse ultra-wideband communication is especially suited for short-range (20 m) communication and positioning sensors. The large bandwidth improves to resilience against fades, resulting in a superior communication reliability.

Also, spreading information over a wide bandwidth decreases the power spectral density, thus reducing the interference with other systems and lowering the probability of interception. The IR-UWB is also suitable for positioning sensors; the reflection of the wide-band signal allows for centimetre-ranging positioning accuracy.

The solution consists of a transmitter, receiver front-end, and receiver digital baseband. The transmitter delivers 13 dBm peak power, with an average power consumption of 3.3 mW. The receiver front-end shows -88 dBm sensitivity at 1 Mbps. A digital synchonisation algorithm enables real time duty cycling, resulting in power consumption of 3 mW. A DCO with 100 ppm frequency accuracy and a baseband frequency tracking algorithm ensure coherent reception. A 75 dB link budget with a data rate of 1 Mbps is achieved.