Recent Applications of Ultra Wideband Radar and Communications Systems

Recent Applications of Ultra Wideband Radar and Communications Systems Dr. Robert J. Fontana, President Multispectral Solutions, Inc. Gaithersburg, Maryland USA http://www.multispectral.com

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

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Multispectral Solutions, Inc. n n

Small U.S. Business (Incorporated in 1989) Specializes in the development of custom solutions for communications and high resolution radar – Core expertise in high-speed digital & wideband RF

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Industry Leader in Rapidly Emerging UWB Technology – 34 new UWB program awards in past 11 years – 29 UWB awards within last 5 years

Ultra Wideband Systems

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

Satellite Systems

High-Speed Parallel Systems EuroEM 2000_Applications-2

What is Ultra Wideband? n

Developed as outcome of time-domain electromagnetics work – Ross (1962) – Originally referred to as “baseband”, “carrier-free”, or “impulse” – Earliest applications in high resolution radar

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Large fractional bandwidth waveforms – Typically a few cycles of an RF “carrier” Numerous techniques for UWB waveform generation – Direct impulse excitation of antenna – Spectrally filtered approaches

Direct Impulse UWB 0 Hz

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

Spectrally Filtered UWB 3 GHz

1 GHz

2 GHz EuroEM 2000_Applications-3

Ultra Wideband Advantages n

Extremely difficult to intercept – Short pulse excitation generates wideband spectra – low energy densities – Low energy density also minimizes interference to other services

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Multipath immunity Time-gated detector can excise delayed returns – time separation

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Commonality of signal generation and processing architectures – Communications • LPI/D, High Data Rates, Multipath Tolerance – Radar • Inherent high precision – sub-centimeter ranging • Wideband excitation for detection of complex, low RCS targets – Geolocation/Positioning • Sub-centimeter resolution using pulse leading edge detection

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Low Cost – Nearly “all-digital” architecture • ideal for microminiaturization into a chipset – Frequency diversity with minimal hardware modifications

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

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UWB Applications Military/Government • Tactical Handheld & Network LPI/D Radios • Non-LOS LPI/D Groundwave Communications • LPI/D Altimeter/Obstacle Avoidance Radar • Tags • Intrusion Detection Radars • Precision Geolocation Systems • UAV/UGV Datalinks • Proximity Fuzes • LPI/D Wireless Intercom Systems

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

Commercial • High Speed (20+ Mb/s) WLANs • Altimeter/Obstacle Avoidance Radars (commercial aviation) • Collision Avoidance Sensors • Tags (Intelligent Transportation Systems, Electronic Signs, Smart Appliances) • Intrusion Detection Radars • Precision Geolocation Systems • Industrial RF Monitoring Systems

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UWB Technology Development 2010

UWB has a long history of development 2000

MSSI – 34 UWB development programs for Government & military (1994-present) 1994 First UNCLASSIFIED UWB communications programs

1990

1990 OSD/DARPA “Assessment of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Technology” 1986 Ross/Fontana – First fielded “short pulse” UWB Communications system 1984 Ross/Fontana collaboration on UWB communications systems development (MSSI/ANRO)

1980

1970

1978 Bennett & Ross – “Time-Domain Electromagnetics and Its Applications” – Seminal paper on UWB 1978 Ross et al. – First demonstrated (free space) UWB communications system 1974 Morey – Fundamental patent on UWB ground penetrating radar U.S. Patent No. 3,806,795 1973 Ross – Fundamental patent on UWB communications U.S. Patent No. 3,728,632 1972 Robbins – Fundamental patent for UWB single-pulse detector U.S. Patent No. 3,662,316

1965 G. Ross – Sperry Research development of UWB technology (1965-1980) 1963 G. Ross – Ph.D. thesis in time-domain electromagnetics

1960 Late 1950’s Need for impulse response analysis of microwave N-ports (Lincoln Lab, Sperry, others)

1950

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UWB Communications

Ultra Wideband Handheld Radios Design Characteristics – – – – – –

LPI/D digital voice/data radio Full duplex Packet burst, CSMA-CD 128 kb/s (CVSD voice), 115.2 kb/s (data) 1W peak 400 MHz instantaneous bandwidth • Unique, spectrally shaped waveform design • L-band center frequency • 27% fractional BW (IBW/fo)

– Range 27% Fractional BW

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• 1-2 km with low profile, omni antennas • Multiple mile performance with higher gain antennas

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UWB Communications

Ultra Wideband Ad Hoc Network Radios Design Characteristics – Mobile ad hoc Network (MANET) radio • Multi-node, multi-hop

– Frequency-division multiplex/Time-division multiple access • Rockwell-Collins Orthogonal Domain Multiple Access (ODMA)

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– Type 1 encryption High-Speed Data Interface Serial

MBITR Wideband Antenna

UWB UHF Transceiver

Network Processing Unit

Ethernet

Crypto Interface

Voice/Data

Microcontroller

Front Panel Display & Keypad

Application Computer

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• Racal Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio (MBITR) interface • 128 kb/s voice, 115.2 kb/s data

– 1.544 Mb/s (T1) virtual channel – 10W peak, > 20% fractional BW (VHF/UHF) – Range • 1-2 km (node-to-node) with low profile, omni antennas EuroEM 2000_Applications-8

UWB Communications

High-speed Ultra Wideband Radios Design Characteristics – LPI/D command & control uplink and video downlink for UAVs and ground robots – Full duplex TDMA packet burst • C&C uplink (115.2 kb/s) • Video downlink (1-25 Mb/s compressed)

– 2W peak – 400 MHz instantaneous bandwidth • Spectrally shaped waveform design L-band center frequency – C-band version also developed

• 27% fractional BW (IBW/fo)

– Range • Up to 5 miles LOS, omni antennas

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UWB Communications

Ultra Wideband Groundwave Radios Design Characteristics – Non-LOS radio using surface/ground wave propagation – Half duplex – 128 kb/s (CVSD voice), 115.2 kb/s (data) – 10-35W, low VHF (30-45 MHz) • 40% Fractional BW 40% Fractional BW

– Relay mode (packet forwarding) – Range • 10+ miles depending upon terrain with omni (vertical polarization) antennas • Performance function of ground permittivity & conductivity – Improved performance over sea water

0 Hz

100 MHz

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UWB Communications Ultra Wideband Tags Design Characteristics – UWB tag for detection and identification of problem drivers – Vehicle-to-roadside communications of driver & vehicle information (image, data) – 0.2W peak, 400 MHz instantaneous BW • • • •

Spectrally shaped waveform design L-band center frequency 27% fractional BW 115.2 kb/s packet burst mode

– Range • 800’ range in high multipath environment • 2000’+ (line-of-sight)

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

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UWB Localization

Ultra Wideband Precision Geolocation Design Characteristics – 3-D position from time-of-flight measurements • UWB Rover with multiple UWB Beacons

– 4W peak, 400 MHz instantaneous BW

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MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

• Spectrally shaped waveform design • L-band center frequency 27% fractional BW • Packet burst, 100 updates/second

– Leading edge detector for sub-foot resolution – Range • Up to 2 km outdoors • Up to 300 feet indoors (5-25 dB/wall attenuation)

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UWB Radar

UWB Altimeter & Obstacle Avoidance Radar Design Characteristics – UWB altimeter & obstacle avoidance system – Spectrally shaped waveform design – L-band altimeter • • • •

1.0W peak, 400 MHz instantaneous BW 1.3-1.7 GHz, 27% fractional BW 25 µW average power @ 10kpps ~5000 feet range, < 1 foot resolution

– C-band collision/obstacle avoidance sensor • • • •

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

0.25W peak, 500 MHz instantaneous BW 5.4-5.9 GHz, 8.9% fractional BW 5 µW average power @ 10kpps High sensitivity – 1/4” diam. wire @ 300’

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UWB Radar

UWB Collision Avoidance Backup Sensor Design Characteristics – C-band UWB backup sensor • 0.25W peak, 500 MHz instantaneous BW • 5.25-5.85 GHz, 10.8% fractional BW • 5 µW average power

– High-speed, dual tunnel detector – Range • 1 - 50 feet against human target • 1 - 200 feet against pickup truck

– Clutter resistant – Extremely low false alarm rate – range gate cutoff “Smart” license plate • C-band collision avoidance

600 MHz BW 4.75 GHz

6.75 GHz

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radar • L-band tag (vehicle-tovehicle & vehicle-to-roadside) EuroEM 2000_Applications-14

UWB Radar

UWB Intrusion Detection Design Characteristics – L-band Through-the-wall sensor • • • •

1.0W peak, 400 MHz instantaneous BW 1.3-1.7 GHz, 27% fractional BW 25 µW average power @ 10kpps 0-200 feet (through wall)

– L-band Intrusion Sensor • • • •

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

4.0W peak, 400 MHz instantaneous BW 1.3-1.7 GHz, 27% fractional BW 100 µW average power @ 10kpps 1000 feet against human target

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UWB Radar

UWB Fuze and Collision Avoidance Radars Design Characteristics – X-band UWB fuze • • • •

0.20W peak, 4.0 GHz instantaneous BW 8.0-12.0 GHz, 40% fractional BW 0.5 µW average power 6” to 6’ range (by design)

– X-band Collision Avoidance Sensor • Design for micro air vehicle applications • Wideband patch antennas

4 GHz BW

7 GHz

MULTISPECTRAL SOLUTIONS, INC.

13 GHz EuroEM 2000_Applications-16

MSSI UWB Technology Advances 1000 Demonstrated 100 10

Data Rate (Mb/s) Range (km)

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19 86 19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00

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What’s Next for UWB? n

UWB Development – Key areas of current interest – Mobile ad hoc wireless networks – Precision geolocation – Low power tags – Short range radar sensors

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UWB Research – Channel coding and estimation (U.C. San Diego, University of Michigan, Northeastern University) – Multi-user architectures (Northeastern University, University of North Carolina, U.C. San Diego) – UWB chipset (U.C. Berkeley) – UWB antennas & systems (Stanford University, ARL-UT & University of Texas, Austin)

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UWB Commercialization – FCC Notice for Proposed Rule Making (Modifications to FCC Part 15)

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