Experimental analysis of transmit-power for IEEE 802.15.4a UWB ranging under multipath environment

Multi-path propagation introduces challenges for UWB ranging due to a large number of multi-path components and relatively long excess delays compared to the transmitted pulse duration. This paper focuses on experimental analysis for various transmit-powers, IEEE 802.15.4a UWB based ranging problem under multi-path environment. A two-step leading path detection technique is presented that robustly mitigates the timing error caused by low sampling rate problem for time of arrival (TOA) based UWB ranging system. Experimental results recorded from both anechoic chamber and real indoor environments show that non-linear relationship can be evaluated between various transmit-powers and ranging parameters such as SNR, connectivity, stability and accuracy. These relationships supply plentiful reference for UWB ranging refinement scheme design under real multi-path environment. (6 pages)