Antennas and Propagation Measurement Techniques for UWB Radio

The progressive development of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) antennas and microelectronics allows for a wide range of future UWB radio communication applications. The paper focuses on testing and measuring various antennas and propagation aspects important in UWB radio. The ‘Delft approach’ of measuring UWB antennas using time-domain measurement techniques is explained including the diagnostics of antenna mismatch and wave scattering from the inside and the antennas environment. The approach is illustrated with measurements.The experimental time-domain set up allows instantaneous measurements up to 26GHz. After an overview of various UWB antennas some latest developments of a miniaturized antenna are reported. UWB channel measurements in ‘short-range radio’ illustrates that good insight in the propagation of short radar pulses can be obtained.