On the Variance-Based Detection for Impulse Radio UWB Systems

A variance detection (VD)-based impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) system has the potential of mitigating narrowband interference (NBI), even in multipath environments. However, as a highly nonlinear system, which involves fourth-order multiplications, comprehensive analysis and evaluations of its performances have not been seen so far. In this paper, we address the issues by developing a log-normal random distribution model for the VD-based IR-UWB receiver and deriving the analytical bit-error-rate formulas for the system in both additive white Gaussian noise and CM1 multipath channels with and without NBIs for the first time. Furthermore, through both theoretical analysis and simulations, we show that the presented VD-based receivers can outperform the conventional energy-detection-based and the fourth-order detection-based receivers and have a stronger inherent ability to mitigate destructive performance degradation caused by strong NBIs. This makes the VD-based IR-UWB system a good candidate as a non-coherent IR-UWB receiver for low power and low complexity applications.