Ultra-wideband correlating receiver

• US 20050069062A1
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Holding 73 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Pulse-Link Incorporated
• Inventors: Krivokapic, Ivan
• Granted Patent: US 7,020,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/343
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71637 Receiver aspects H04B1/7183 takes precedence

Abstract

A receiver for ultra-wideband communications is provided. One feature of the receiver architecture is that includes only a single correlator. The receiver may be used in wireless and wire communication mediums. The single correlator may be used to update a locally generated signal based on an incoming signal and detect data. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the disclosure contained herein. This Abstract is submitted with the explicit understanding that it will not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. An ultra-wideband receiver comprising:

a template generator structured to generate a local signal similar to an incoming signal;

a single correlator structured to correlate the incoming signal with the local signal;

at least one filter in communication with the correlator;

an energy estimator in communication with the at least one filter; and

a pulse detector in communication with the at least one filter.

2. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the template generator comprises:

a timing signal generator that generates a periodic signal;

a gate that gates the periodic signal to produce the local signal; and

an amplifier in communication with the gate.

3. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 2, wherein the gate is an AND gate.

4. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the local signal is a pulse of electromagnetic energy.

5. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 4, wherein the pulse of electromagnetic energy has a duration ranging from about 10 picoseconds to about 1 millisecond.

6. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the incoming signal comprises a plurality of pulses of electromagnetic energy.

7. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 6, wherein the plurality of pulses of electromagnetic energy comprise a plurality of ultra-wideband pulses.

8. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of ultra-wideband pulses has a duration ranging from about 10 picoseconds to about 1 millisecond.

9. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the incoming signal is modulated by at least one technique selected from a group consisting of:

ternary modulation, binary phase shift keying, pulse amplitude modulation, and pulse position modulation.

10. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the single correlator comprises:

a first filter;

a mixer;

a second filter; and

an amplifier.

11. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 10, wherein the first filter has a transfer function similar to a transmitter output filter.

12. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 10, wherein the first filter is a band-pass filter.

13. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 10, wherein the mixer is a multiplier configured to multiply the local signal with the incoming signal.

14. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 10, wherein the second filter is a low-pass filter.

15. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 10, wherein the amplifier is an automatic gain control amplifier.

16. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the energy estimator comprises:

an absolute value detector; and

an integrator.

17. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 16, wherein the absolute value detector is a square law detector.

18. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 16, wherein the integrator is configured to integrate the signal over a predetermined time period.

19. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 18, wherein the predetermined time period ranges from about 100 nanoseconds to about 1 millisecond.

20. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 18, wherein the predetermined time period is 1 microsecond.

21. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 1, wherein the pulse detector comprises:

a sample-and-hold function; and

an analog-to-digital converter.

22. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 21, wherein the analog-to-digital converter is a multi-level analog-to-digital converter.

23. The ultra-wideband receiver of claim 22, wherein the multi-level analog-to-digital converter is selected from a group consisting of:

a 2 level analog-to-digital converter, a 4 level analog-to-digital converter, a 6 level analog-to-digital converter, and a 8 level analog-to-digital converter.

24. A method of receiving and demodulating an ultra-wideband signal, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the ultra-wideband signal, the ultra-wideband signal comprising a plurality of ultra-wideband pulses;

generating a template signal;

correlating the ultra-wideband signal with the template signal;

estimating a coarse timing reference from a correlation of the ultra-wideband signal and the template signal;

updating the template signal based on the coarse timing reference;

correlating the ultra-wideband signal with the updated template signal; and

detecting an ultra-wideband pulse from the correlation of the ultra-wideband signal and the updated template signal.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein each of the plurality of ultra-wideband pulses has duration ranging from about 10 picoseconds to about 1 millisecond.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the plurality of ultra-wideband pulses is modulated by at least one method selected from a group consisting of:

ternary modulation, binary phase shift keying, pulse amplitude modulation, and pulse position modulation.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of correlating the ultra-wideband signal with the template signal comprises:

multiplying the ultra-wideband signal and the template signal to produce a product signal; and

attenuating a high frequency component of the product signal.

28. An ultra-wideband receiver comprising:

a template generator that generates a local signal similar to an incoming signal;

a single correlator structured to update the local signal based on the incoming signal and recover data;

at least one filter connected to the correlator;

an energy estimator connected to the at least one filter; and

a pulse detector connected to the at least one filter.

29. A method of receiving and demodulating an ultra-wideband signal, the method comprising the steps of:

means for receiving the ultra-wideband signal, the ultra-wideband signal comprising a plurality of ultra-wideband pulses;

means for generating a template signal;

means for correlating the ultra-wideband signal with the template signal;

means for estimating a coarse timing reference from a correlation of the ultra-wideband signal and the template signal;

means for updating the template signal based on the coarse timing reference;

means for correlating the ultra-wideband signal with the updated template signal; and

means for detecting an ultra-wideband pulse from the correlation of the ultra-wideband signal and the updated template signal.