Potential of UWB technology for the next generation wireless communications

This paper discusses the potential deployment of ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology for next generation wireless communications. Firstly, the state-of-art in UWB technology is reviewed. Then, the current status of worldwide regulatory efforts and industrial standardization activities is discussed. Various technical challenges that remain to be solved prior to the successful deployment of UWB systems as well as the possible technical approaches are also reported. Specifically, we envisioned the potential of location awareness capabilities to provide new applications and usage models for future mobile terminals. An overview of the existing ranging and localization techniques is presented and some technical aspects as well as design trade-offs in terms of device complexity and ranging accuracy are highlighted. Finally, since UWB systems operate as overlay systems, issues of coexistence and interference with existing narrowband systems are presented.