Time-of-Arrival measurement extension to a non-coherent impulse radio UWB transceiver

Abstract

This paper describes the extension to a noncoherent impulse radio (IR) ultra-wide band (UWB) transceiver for precise time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements. The extension provides a time resolution of 260 picoseconds, which allows a precise indoor localization. The concept of this extension is especially dedicated to the known drawbacks of energy detection (non-coherent) receivers. The discussion of the implementation issues reveals that the employment of differential emitter- coupled-logic (ECL) circuitry in a BiCMOS design is a good candidate to achieve the expected localization performance in the decimeter range. Finally, recent measurement results can show a proof of that concept.