UWB Ranging Round Scheduling via Narrowband Advertisements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Regulatory rules and technical limitations constrain the operating range and efficiency of ultra-wideband (UWB) and narrowband (NB) wireless signaling, making it difficult for systems to achieve desired performance.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid signaling technique combining UWB and NB signaling, where NB signaling assists UWB by providing synchronization and scheduling data, allowing UWB transmissions to be fragmented into short bursts over multiple intervals, improving synchronization and reducing energy emission constraints.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If UWB signaling is used for wireless communication, then precise distance and position estimation is achieved, but regulatory energy emission limits constrain the operating range and efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The UWB signal transmission is segmented into multiple short bursts distributed across different time intervals rather than a single continuous transmission. This segmentation allows the system to achieve the required measurement precision through accumulated signal energy while keeping the power emission in each individual burst within regulatory limits, thereby resolving the contradiction between precision and energy constraints
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic UWB signal bursts separated by time intervals, where multiple periodic transmissions accumulate to achieve the desired measurement precision. The periodic nature allows energy to be distributed over time, maintaining compliance with emission limits while building sufficient signal strength for accurate distance and position estimation
2Reliability
If UWB signaling operates under regulatory constraints, then energy emission limits are complied with, but operating range and efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Narrowband signaling is used in advance to exchange synchronization and scheduling data before UWB transmissions begin. This preliminary action establishes the temporal and frequency references needed for efficient UWB operation, allowing the system to achieve better operating efficiency while maintaining regulatory compliance through coordinated burst transmissions
3Measurement precision
If NB signaling assists UWB with synchronization data, then synchronization precision is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Narrowband signaling serves as an intermediary that provides synchronization and scheduling data to facilitate UWB operations. The NB component acts as a mediator that establishes the temporal framework for UWB bursts, improving synchronization precision while the dual-mode architecture manages complexity through clear functional separation between NB and UWB subsystems
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for utilizing a hybrid of ultra-wideband (UWB) and narrowband (NB) signaling to provide more efficient operating range and operating efficiency. In one example, a first subsystem of a first device may determine parameter data for a ranging round (e.g., UWB and/or NB-assisted (NBA) UWB multi-millisecond (MMS) ranging), and transmit the parameter data to a second subsystem of the first device. The parameter data may indicate a first time associated with a first time domain for performing ranging. The second subsystem may determine a second time based on the first time, whereby the second time is associated with a second time domain for performing NB signaling (e.g., via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol). The first device may transmit via an NB signal an advertisement packet that indicates the second time. The first device may then initiate the ranging round at the first time.