UWB Antenna Arbitration for Ranging Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
In co-existence systems where ultra-wideband (UWB) and other communication devices share an antenna or frequency spectrum, UWB ranging operations often fail due to priority conflicts with other communication protocols like Wi-Fi, leading to poor user experience and potential security issues.
Innovation Solution
A communication device with an ultra-wideband (UWB) communication unit and a further communication unit, such as Wi-Fi, where the UWB unit can request access to the shared antenna or frequency spectrum after a predefined number of failed attempts, ensuring priority for UWB operations by using a UART interface and configuring the further communication unit to grant access for a specified time, thereby preventing UWB ranging failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If UWB and other communication devices share an antenna or frequency spectrum, then device complexity is reduced and resource utilization is improved, but UWB ranging operations fail due to priority conflicts with other communication protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic priority arbitration where the UWB communication unit can dynamically request and obtain high-priority access to the shared antenna or frequency spectrum when ranging operations are needed. The system transitions from static resource allocation to dynamic control, allowing UWB to preempt other communication protocols temporarily when ranging is required, thus maintaining reliability while sharing resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary arbitration mechanism that mediates between UWB and other communication protocols for accessing the shared antenna or frequency spectrum. This intermediary layer resolves priority conflicts by evaluating the urgency and importance of different communication tasks, granting appropriate access rights to each protocol, thereby ensuring UWB ranging operations can proceed reliably without permanent dedicated hardware.
2Ease of manufacture
If a shared antenna is used between UWB and further communication units, then manufacturing cost and device complexity are reduced, but communication reliability deteriorates due to protocol priority conflicts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic priority arbitration where the UWB communication unit can dynamically request and obtain high-priority access to the shared antenna or frequency spectrum when ranging operations are needed. The system transitions from static resource allocation to dynamic control, allowing UWB to preempt other communication protocols temporarily when ranging is required, thus maintaining reliability while sharing resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary arbitration mechanism that mediates between UWB and other communication protocols for accessing the shared antenna or frequency spectrum. This intermediary layer resolves priority conflicts by evaluating the urgency and importance of different communication tasks, granting appropriate access rights to each protocol, thereby ensuring UWB ranging operations can proceed reliably without permanent dedicated hardware.
3Reliability
If UWB ranging operations are prioritized over other communication protocols, then ranging reliability is improved, but other communication functions may be interrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic resource allocation where the shared antenna or frequency spectrum is allocated to UWB for ranging operations in periodic time slots or when specifically requested. Other communication protocols can utilize the resources during non-UWB periods, creating a balanced schedule that ensures UWB ranging reliability while maintaining overall communication productivity through time-division multiplexing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic priority arbitration where the UWB communication unit can dynamically request and obtain high-priority access to the shared antenna or frequency spectrum when ranging operations are needed. The system transitions from static resource allocation to dynamic control, allowing UWB to preempt other communication protocols temporarily when ranging is required, thus maintaining reliability while sharing resources.
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided, comprising: an ultra-wideband (UWB) communication unit configured to set up a UWB communication channel with a first external communication device; a further communication unit configured to set up a further communication channel with a second external communication device; an antenna configured to be selectively used by the UWB communication unit and the further communication unit; wherein the UWB communication unit is operatively coupled to the further communication unit, and wherein the further communication unit is configured to grant the UWB communication unit access to said antenna in response to receiving a request from the UWB communication unit. This aspect represents a solution to the problem of how to facilitate avoiding that UWB ranging rounds fail in a co-existence system.