With roots in military applications, such as airplane radar imaging through
trees, UWB will most likely be used for short-distance wireless communications.
UWB devices send and receive relatively short-range, high-speed
transmissions. UWB devices can be used to provide connectivity in home and
office WLANs, and can provide short-distance connections among mobile devices
such as cell phones, pagers, and handheld computers.
In addition to
communications, UWB technology has other significant applications. It relies on
razor-thin, precisely timed pulses similar to those used in radar applications.
These pulses give UWB wireless the ability to detect buried objects or movement
behind walls. As shown in Figure
, these
capabilities could be important for rescue and law-enforcement missions.
The UWB precision pulses can also be used to determine the position of
emitters indoors. By operating like a local version of the Global Positioning
System (GPS), a UWB wireless system can triangulate the location of goods
tagged with transmitters, using multiple receivers placed in the vicinity. This
ability might be very useful to department store personnel, to keep track of
high-value products on the shelves or in the warehouse. This location-finding
feature could also be used to enhance security. For example, UWB receivers
installed in smart door locks or ATM machines could permit them to operate only
when an authorized user is within a meter (3.3 ft) of the device. Authorized
users could carry a UWB transmitter for identification.
UWB technology
uses short-duration pulses that dart around other traffic traversing the same
airwaves. As a result, UWB can operate across spectrum that is already occupied
by other radio services. This technology works well in buildings and other
dense environments because it uses signal reflections from walls and other
solid objects to send data.