INTRODUCTION TO ULTRA WIDEBAND COMMUNICATIONS

Ultra-wideband communications is fundamentally different from all other communication techniques because it employs extremely narrow RF pulses to communicate between transmitters and receivers. Utilizing
short-duration pulses as the building blocks for communications directly generates a very wide bandwidth and offers several advantages, such as
large throughput, covertness, robustness to jamming, and coexistence with current radio services .

2. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

Ultra-wideband communications is not a new technology; in fact, it was first employed by Guglielmo Marconi in 1901 to transmit Morse code sequences across the Atlantic Ocean using spark gap radio transmitters. However, the benefit of a large bandwidth and the capability of implementing multi-user systems provided by electromagnetic pulses were never considered at that time.
Approximately fifty years after Marconi, modern pulse-based transmission gained momentum in military applications in the form of impulse radars. From the 1960s to the 1990s, this technology was restricted to military and Department of Defense (DoD) applications
under classified programs such as highly secure communications. However, the recent advancement in micro processing and fast switching in semiconductor technology has made UWB ready for commercial applications.
Therefore, it is more appropriate to consider UWB as a new name for a long-existing technology.

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