UWB Receiver Ternary Sampling for First-Path Detection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems face challenges in determining the first path of a received signal due to noise, multipath components, and power consumption, particularly in compact devices like RFID tags, where known implementations are either power-intensive or inefficient in circuitry.

Innovation Solution

A method for determining the first path in a UWB communication system involves developing a channel impulse response estimate, selecting coefficients, calculating statistics, and using a ternary analog-to-digital converter with positive and negative magnitude thresholds to reduce power consumption and circuit size, while improving performance by correlating and filtering the signal effectively.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If known implementations of first path determination are used in compact devices like RFID tags, then measurement precision is improved, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefirst path determination accuracyVSAvoidpower consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the operational parameters of the analog-to-digital converter by implementing ternary quantization with positive and negative magnitude thresholds instead of conventional binary quantization. This parameter change in the quantization scheme reduces the computational complexity and power consumption while maintaining the ability to accurately determine the first path in the channel impulse response

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Measurement precision

If known implementations of first path determination are used, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefirst path determination accuracyVSAvoidcircuit complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent simplifies the circuit complexity by changing the quantization parameter from conventional binary to ternary with magnitude thresholds. This reduces the number of decision boundaries and logic circuits required in the analog-to-digital converter, thereby reducing overall device complexity while preserving measurement precision

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts and eliminates unnecessary circuit elements by implementing a streamlined analog-to-digital converter that uses ternary quantization with positive and negative magnitude thresholds. This extraction of only the essential functionality reduces circuit complexity while maintaining the core capability of accurate first path determination

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS10090879B2Receiver for use in an ultra-wideband communication system

Publication Date: 2018.10.02 DECAWAVE

AI summary

In an ultra-wideband (“UWB”) receiver, a received UWB signal is periodically digitized as a series of ternary samples. The samples are continuously correlated with a predetermined preamble sequence to develop a correlation value. When the value exceeds a predetermined threshold, indicating that the preamble sequence is being received, a stream of estimates of the channel impulse response (“CIR”) are developed. When a start-of-frame delimiter (“SFD”) is detected, the best CIR estimate is provided to a channel matched filter (“CMF”) substantially to filter channel-injected noise. The time of arrival of the first arriving path is developed from the stream of CIR estimates.