Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) technology uses pulsed
emissions that are of very short duration which result in very
wideband low power emission bandwidths that are in the order of GHz.
This technology promises to be useful in many civil and military
applications such as communication, construction, transportation,
public protection and disaster relief. Indeed, the technology can be
used to find the location of objects in the ground, through walls,
measure levels in a container, or to transfer large amounts of data
such as video very rapidly. A quick search on the internet will yield
many descriptions of the technology, as well as good historical
information on its development.
Industry Standards
The 802.15 group of the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is currently working on the development
of an industry standard that would make use of UWB. Indeed, UWB is the
leading technology contender for high-speed, short-range wireless
networks in TG 3a,
while TG 4a is
looking at UWB as a candidate for a potential alternative physical
layer to the 802.15.4 standard for low-power, low-data-rate wireless
networks.
However, the IEEE standardization efforts have are
plagued the inability of the two major competing industry camps, each
supporting its own flavour of UWB. Multiband Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM)
and Direct Sequence UltraWideBand (DS-UWB)
are both being considered. As regulators usually like to consider
technology neutral approaches, the lack of technology standardization
at the industry level, makes the regulatory standardization efforts
more difficult.
Regulatory Problems
The very nature of UWB emissions, to spread over
many frequency bands allocated to radiocommunications services,
creates new technical and regulatory challenges when the possible
introduction of devices using this technology are considered.
In order to solve this dilemma,
Task Group 1/8 of the International Telecommunication Union
Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) has been working to develop four
recommendations in response to
Question ITU R 226/1, “Spectrum management framework related to
the introduction of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices,” and to
Question ITU-R 227/1, “Compatibility between ultra-wideband (UWB)
devices and radiocommunication services.”
These recommendations are needed to characterize
UWB devices both technically and operationally, to study their
compatibility with systems in the allocated services, to prepare a
spectrum management framework for the introduction of UWB
technologies, and to develop measurement techniques for these
emissions. They have been identified as follows:
-
ITU-R Recommendation on the characteristics of
UWB (ITU-R SM.[UWB.CHAR])
-
ITU-R Recommendation(s) addressing the
compatibility of systems using UWB technology with systems operating
within radiocommunication services (ITU-R SM.[UWB.COMP] and a
separate Report on Compatibility Studies)
-
ITU-R Recommendation providing guidance to
administrations on a spectrum management framework for UWB (ITU-R
SM.[UWB.FRAME])
-
ITU-R Recommendation on measurement techniques
for UWB (ITU-R SM.[UWB.MES])
Each of these five working documents appear on the
ITU-R
website as annexes to the Chairman’s report of the last meeting of
TG 1/8. Tentatively, the work of TG 1/8 was to be completed by the end
of 2004; however, due to the volume of contributions and the required
work to process this material into quality ITU documents, TG 1/8 as
agreed to extend its work into 2005.
The next meeting of TG 1/8 is scheduled for
November 2004 in Geneva. In addition to the usual consideration of all
input contributions, five correspondence groups tasked to work
electronically between meetings will report on their progress. It is
expected that this meeting will significantly move the work forward.
Given the importance of this work, the CITEL PCC-II
Working
Group on Terrestrial Fixed and Mobile Radiocommunication Services
has decided to follow the work of TG 1/8 closely as it is relevant to
its consideration of low-power devices.
Marc Girouard
Manager, Radio Equipment Standards
Spectrum Engineering Branch
Industry Canada
Additional Information:
(Spanish)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=es&q=UWB&btnG=B%C3%BAsqueda+en+Google&lr=
(English) http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=UWB&meta=
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