Communications systems and methods

• US 20050078734A1
• Filed: 07/19/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Staccato Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Baker, David, Moore, Mark Justin
• Granted Patent: US 7,460,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/130
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71637 Receiver aspects H04B1/7183 takes precedence

Abstract

This invention generally relates to wired and wireless ultra wideband (UWB) data communications apparatus and methods, and in particular to UWB receiver systems and architectures. An ultra wideband (UWB) receiver system comprising: a receiver front end to receive a UWB signal; an analogue-to-digital converter coupled to said receiver front end to digitise said received UBW signal; and a correlator coupled to said analogue-to-digital converter to correlate said digitised UWB signal with a reference signal.

Claims

1. An ultra wideband (UWB) receiver system comprising:

a receiver front end to receive a UWB signal;

an analogue-to-digital converter coupled to said receiver front end to digitise said received UWB signal; and

.

a correlator coupled to said analogue-to-digital converter to correlate said digitised UWB signal with a reference signal.

2. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said UWB signal comprises a plurality of pulses, and wherein said correlator comprises a plurality of correlation modules to perform a plurality of correlations substantially in parallel between said digitised UWB signal and differently delayed versions of said reference signal to locate a said pulse.

3. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said correlator further comprises a discriminator coupled to outputs of said correlation modules to identify a said pulse.

4. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said correlator is configured to locate a position in time of a said pulse.

5. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 4 wherein said correlator is further configured to determine a phase of a said pulse.

6. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 2 wherein each said pulse has a plurality of multipath components, and wherein each said module is configured to correlate a plurality of multipath components of a said pulse with said reference signal.

7. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said UWB signal comprises a plurality of pulses, wherein each said pulse has a plurality of multipath components, and wherein said correlator comprises at least one multiply-accumulate module configured to correlate a plurality of said multipath components of a said pulse with said reference signal.

8. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said analogue-to-digital converter comprises a plurality of analogue-to-digital conversion modules to provide a plurality of successively delayed digital samples of said UWB signal substantially in parallel, and wherein said correlator is configured to process said successively delayed digital samples substantially simultaneously, whereby said receiver system is configured to correlate a portion of said received UWB signal comprising a plurality of samples of said signal with a portion of said reference signal.

9. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said UWB signal comprises a plurality of pulses, and wherein said portion of received UWB signal has a duration of substantially a duration of a multipath component of said pulse.

10. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a reference signal memory to store said reference signal.

11. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 10 wherein said UWB signal comprises a plurality of pulses, and wherein said stored reference signal comprises a template of a said pulse, said template including at least two substantially time-resolved multipath components of a said pulse.

12. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 10 wherein said reference signal memory has a plurality of outputs configured to simultaneously provide a plurality of reference signal samples each of a successively increased reference signal phase.

13. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 12 wherein each of said reference signal samples comprises a set of samples defining a sequence of points on said reference signal.

14. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 10 further comprising a controller to determine reference signal data from said digitised UWB signal, and to write said determined data into said reference signal memory.

15. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said receiver front end includes a received signal level adjuster, and wherein said signal level adjuster is responsive to said reference signal.

16. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said receiver front end includes a power controller to control a power supply to said analogue-to-digital converter, and wherein said power controller is responsive to said reference signal.

17. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 for reception of said UWB signals from a plurality of UWB transmitters, further comprising means to select one of a plurality of said reference signals for receiving a signal from a corresponding one of said transmitters.

18. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 17 wherein said selecting means comprises a controller to select ones of said reference signals on a time multiplexed basis.

19. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said receiver front end includes a received signal level adjuster, and further comprising a monitor to store at least one statistical characteristic of said UWB signal, and a controller to control said signal level adjuster responsive to said monitor.

20. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said analogue-to-digital converter is configured to operate at greater than 1 G samples/second, preferably greater than 10 G samples/second.

21. An ultra wideband (UWB) receiver system for reception of UWB signals from a plurality of UWB transmitters, the receiver system comprising:

a receiver front end to receive a said UWB signal;

a correlator coupled to said receiver front end to correlate said UWB signal with a reference signal; and

means to select one of a plurality of said reference signals for receiving a signal from a corresponding one of said transmitters;

the system further comprising a reference signal memory to store said plurality of reference signals.

23. A UWB receiver system as claimed in claim 21 wherein said selecting means comprises a controller to select ones of said reference signals on a time multiplexed basis.

22. (canceled)