Mapping radio-frequency noise in an ultra-wideband communication system

• US 20060285577A1
• Filed: 04/27/2005
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Pulse-Link Incorporated
• Inventors: Miller, Charles E., Santhoff, John H., Arrieta, Rodolfo T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,349,485 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/130
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7174 Pulse generation in general H04L25/03834
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7176 Data mapping, e.g. modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1816 with retransmission of the same, encoded, message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1829 Arrangements specially adapted for the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/203 Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/023 Multiplexing of multicarrier modulation signals multicarrier modulation H04L27/2601
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria

Abstract

A system and method for mapping. radio-frequency (RF) noise, and estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system is provided. One method includes placing a plurality of time bins within a plurality of time frames and assigning a plurality of UWB communication channels comprising selected time bins. RF noise amplitude data is then sampled from selected time bins. The sampled RF noise amplitude data from the time bins is then averaged, thereby obtaining an average RF noise amplitude in each of the plurality of channels. The RF noise amplitude indicates the amount of RF noise present in a channel. The channels may then be ranked based on the characteristics of the RF noise.

Claims

1. A method for estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

pseudo-randomly placing a plurality of time bins within a plurality of time frames, each time bin comprising one or more data bits;

assigning a plurality of channels comprising selected pseudo-randomly placed time bins;

transmitting a multiplicity of data bits through the plurality of channels;

monitoring the number of data bits transmitted through each channel;

determining a number of data bit errors in the transmissions;

determining a projected bit error rate for at least one transmission; and

grading a channel quality using at least the projected bit error rate.

2. The method for estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system of claim 1, wherein determining a projected bit error rate for at least one transmission is obtained iteratively through the following equation:

3. The method for estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system of claim 2, wherein the confidence level CL is a statistical confidence that the bit error rate will be less than or equal to the projected bit error rate.

4. A method for estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system, comprising:

means for pseudo-randomly placing a plurality of time bins within a plurality of time frames, each time bin comprising one or more data bits;

means for assigning a plurality of channels comprising selected pseudo-randomly placed time bins;

means for transmitting a multiplicity of data bits through the plurality of channels;

monitoring the number of data bits transmitted through each channel;

determining a number of data bit errors in the transmissions;

means for determining a projected bit error rate for at least one transmission; and

grading a channel quality using at least the projected bit error rate.

5. The method for estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system of claim 4, wherein determining a projected bit error rate for at least one transmission is obtained iteratively through the following equation:

6. The method for estimating channel quality in a multi-channel ultra-wideband communication system of claim 5, wherein the confidence level CL is a statistical confidence that the bit error rate will be less than or equal to the projected bit error rate.