An adaptive up/down transceiver-power control methodology for IEEE 802.15.4a UWB ranging in multi-path environments

This paper presents an experimental analysis for low Signal to Noise Ratio, 802.15.4a UWB based ranging problem in multi-path environment. The benefits of transceiver-power control methodology are considered at two levels: (1) active management of the ranging performance at the base station; (2) a power control loop is presented at the mobile node where the effects of multi-path propagation on the uplink between mobile node and the base station are the major factors influencing the ranging performance. The UWB ranging capabilities of the system employing the adaptive up/down transceiver-power control methodology are examined in detail and practically validated in a multi-path environment. A comparison is then made with the pre-existing non-power control method which uses maximum transmit-power of FCC limits only. Significant channel stability and accuracy improvements are highlighted for the proposed transceiver-power control paradigm.