Rec. ITU-R SM.

1755-0 1

RECOMMENDATION ITU-R SM.1755-0*

Characteristics of ultra-wideband technology

(2006)

Scope
Information on technical and operational characteristics of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices is needed to study
the impact of these devices on other radiocommunication services. This Recommendation is giving the list of
terms and definitions as well as general characteristics of UWB technology.

Keywords
Ultra-wideband, short-range, modulation, radiocommunication services

The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly,

considering
a) that intentional transmissions from devices using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology may
extend over a very large frequency range;
b) that devices using UWB technology are being developed with transmissions that span
numerous radiocommunication service allocations;
c) that devices using UWB technology may therefore impact, simultaneously, many systems
operating within a number of radiocommunication services, including those which are used
internationally;
d) that UWB technology may be integrated into many applications such as short-range indoor
and outdoor communications, radar imaging, medical imaging, asset tracking, surveillance,
vehicular radar and intelligent transportation;
e) that it may be difficult to distinguish UWB transmissions from emissions or unintentional
radiations in equipment that also contains other technologies, where different limits may apply;
f) that applications using UWB technology may benefit sectors such as public protection,
construction, engineering, science, medical, consumer applications, information technology,
multimedia entertainment and transportation;
g) that devices using UWB technology for certain applications may result in their high density
deployment in some environments where stations of radiocommunication services have already
been or will be deployed;
h) that the spectrum requirements and operational restrictions for devices using UWB
technology may vary according to their application;
j) that devices using UWB technology normally operate on a non-protected, non-interference
basis;
k) that information on the technical and operational characteristics of devices using UWB
technology and applications is needed to study the impact of devices using UWB technology on
radiocommunication services; and

* Radiocommunication Study Group 1 made editorial amendments to this Recommendation in the years
2018 and 2019 in accordance with Resolution ITU-R 1.
2 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

l) that information on the terms and definitions associated with UWB technology, and devices
using UWB technology, is needed,
recommends
1 that the terms, definitions and abbreviations contained in Annex 1 should be used in
describing UWB technology and devices using UWB technology;
2 that the general characteristics contained in Annex 2 should be used to characterize UWB
technology;
3 that the technical and operational characteristics contained in Annex 3 should be considered
in studies relating to the impact of devices using UWB technology (those devices that are not
presently recognized as operating under allocations to radiocommunication services) on
radiocommunication systems;
4 that the following Notes will be considered as part of this Recommendation.
NOTE 1 – Administrations authorizing or licensing devices using UWB technology should ensure,
pursuant to the provisions of the Radio Regulations, that these devices, will not cause interference
to and will not claim protection from, or place constraints, on the radiocommunication services of
other administrations as defined in the Radio Regulations and operating in accordance with those
Regulations.
NOTE 2 – Upon receipt of a notice of interference to the radiocommunication services referred to in
Note 1 above from devices using UWB technology, administrations should take immediate
action(s) to eliminate such interference.
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 3

Annex 1

UWB terms, definitions and abbreviations

1 UWB terms and definitions

In describing UWB technologies and devices, the following terms have the definitions indicated:
Ultra-wideband technology (UWB): technology for short-range radiocommunication, involving the
intentional generation and transmission of radio-frequency energy that spreads over a very large
frequency range, which may overlap several frequency bands allocated to radiocommunication
services. Devices using UWB technology typically have intentional radiation from the antenna with
either a –10 dB bandwidth of at least 500 MHz or a –10 dB fractional bandwidth greater than 0.2.1
UWB transmission: radiation generated using UWB technology.
Activity factor: the fraction of time during which a device using UWB technology is transmitting.2
Impulse: a surge of unidirectional polarity that is often used to excite a UWB band-limiting filter
whose output, when radiated, is a UWB pulse.
Pulse: a radiated short transient UWB signal whose time duration is nominally the reciprocal of its
–10 dB bandwidth.
Radar imaging device: a device used to obtain images of obstructed objects. This includes in-wall
and through-wall detection, ground penetrating radar, medical imaging, construction and home
repair imaging, mining, and surveillance devices.
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) device: a radar imaging device that operates typically when in
contact with or within close proximity to the ground for the purpose of detecting or mapping
subsurface structures. While primarily used for examining “underground”, the term “ground” can be
expanded to mean any lossy dielectric material.
Wall radar imaging device: a sensor that is designed to examine and map the interior of walls.
The wall is usually made of a concrete structure or similar dense impermeable material that absorbs
much of the impinging radio-wave energy. Typical applications include reinforced concrete
building walls, retaining walls, tunnel liners, the wall of a mine, the side of a bridge, or another
physical structure that is dense enough and thick enough to dissipate and absorb most of the signal
strength transmitted by the imaging device.

1 The –10 dB bandwidth B–10 and –10 dB fractional bandwidth µ–10 are calculated as follows:
B–10 = fH – fL
µ–10 = B–10/fC
where:
fH: highest frequency at which the power spectral density of the UWB transmission is
–10 dB relative to fM
where:
fM: frequency of maximum UWB transmission
fL: lowest frequency at which the power spectral density of the UWB transmission is
–10 dB relative to fM,
fC = (fH + fL)/2: centre frequency of the –10 dB bandwidth.
The fractional bandwidth may be expressed as a percentage.
2 For multiple devices, see § 3 of Annex 3.
4 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

Through-wall radar imaging device: a sensor used to transmit energy through an opaque structure
such as a wall or a ceiling to detect the movement or location of persons or objects that are located
on the other side. These devices are deliberately designed to maximize energy transfer through an
opaque structure. This category may include products such as stud locators that are designed to
locate objects behind walls that are not sufficiently thick or dense enough to absorb the transmitted
signal, such as gypsum, plaster or similar walls.
UWB communication device: a short-range communication device to transmit and/or receive
information between devices.
UWB measurement device: a device used to measure distance or position.
Medical imaging device: a sensor used to detect the location or movement of objects inside the body
of a human or an animal.
Location sensing and tracking: a network of sensors installed at precisely surveyed locations to
measure the location of a remote device using UWB technology.
Vehicular radar device: a radar device mounted on land transportation vehicles to detect the
location and movement of persons or objects near a vehicle.
Multi-functional device: a device that enables multiple UWB applications, such as radar imaging,
vehicular radar, location sensing and tracking, and communication functions, using a common
platform.
NOTE 1 – The terms necessary bandwidth, occupied bandwidth, unwanted emissions, out-of-band domain
and spurious domain, as defined in Article 1 of the Radio Regulations, are generally not relevant to UWB
transmissions.

2 Abbreviations related to UWB

BPM Bi-phase modulation
DS-CDMA Direct sequence-code division multiple access
DSSS Direct sequence spread spectrum
GPR Ground penetrating radar
MB-OFDM Multiband OFDM
OFDM Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
OOK On-off keying
AM Pulse amplitude modulation
PPM Pulse position modulation
PRF Pulse repetition frequency
PSD Power spectral density
RBW Resolution bandwidth
SRR Short-range radar
UWB Ultra-wideband
WPAN Wireless personal area network
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 5

Annex 2

General characteristics of UWB technology

1 Potential high-density use

UWB technology can potentially be integrated into many applications that could offer benefits to
the public, consumers, businesses, and industries. For example, UWB could be integrated into
applications for improved public safety through the use of vehicular radar devices for collision
avoidance, airbag activation and road sensors, short-range high data rate communication devices,
tagging devices, liquid level detectors and sensors, surveillance devices, location determination
devices, and as a replacement for wired high data rate connections over short distances. Though
most devices using UWB technology would operate at very low power, the many potential UWB
applications could result in high density of devices using UWB technology in certain environments
such as office and business cores.

2 High data rate

Devices using UWB technology may operate at very low power levels and can support applications
involving multiple users at high data rates (e.g. short-range wireless personal area networks
(WPANs) at data rates greater than 100 Mbit/s).

3 Secure communications
UWB signals are potentially more covert and potentially harder to detect than non-UWB
radiocommunication signals. This is because UWB signals occupy a large bandwidth, can be made
noise-like, and can communicate with a unique randomizing timing code at millions of bits/s. Each
bit is typically represented by a large number of pulses of very low amplitude typically below the
noise level. These features result in secure transmissions with low probability of detection (LPD)
and low probability of interception (LPI).

4 Robust communications
Devices using UWB technology are generally designed to have large processing gain, a measure of
a device’s robustness against interference.

5 Communication system capacity

The theoretical system capacity of any communication system, including a UWB system, may be
calculated from the Shannon relation:

 
  Pd ( f )df 
C  B log 2 1 B  (1)
 
  N0df 
 B 

where:
C: channel capacity (bit/s)
6 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

B: channel bandwidth (Hz)

Pd ( f ): signal power spectral density (W/Hz (or dBm/Hz))
N0 : noise power spectral density (W/Hz (or dBm/Hz)).
The Shannon relation shows that the theoretical channel capacity of a UWB communication system
is very large because of its bandwidth, even though its power spectral density is very low and
restricted in amplitude.

6 UWB power spectra

UWB signals generated by basic pulse position modulation have numerous spectral peaks.
Randomization is used to make the signal more noise-like. The shape of the power spectral density
of an emitted UWB signal is usually controlled by an appropriate choice of the pulse shape,
modulation technique, timing jitter, and pseudo-noise code sequences used for randomization of the
UWB pulses. The spectral shape of a UWB transmission is additionally defined by components
such as antennas.

6.1 Requirement for a large bandwidth

UWB transmissions spread over a very large frequency bandwidth in comparison with non-UWB
transmissions. Among the challenges is finding a suitable spectrum and a way to introduce UWB
applications without causing interference into radiocommunication services.

6.2 Pulse shaping

Pulse shaping enables control of the frequency content of the UWB transmission, which can reduce
interference into radiocommunication systems. It is fundamental that pulse shapes for UWB
communications must have a zero-mean because an antenna cannot radiate signals at zero
frequency. Creative designs of pulse shapes and a variety of modulation options can be incorporated
in UWB communication system designs.

6.3 UWB modulations

For UWB pulses, information can be coded using pulse position modulation (i.e. binary or M-ary
PPM), PAM (i.e. binary or M-ary PAM), bi-phase modulation of pulse polarity (i.e. BPM),
modulation by a doublet of a positive pulse followed by a negative pulse or vice versa, and pulse
on-off keying (OOK). Furthermore, combinations of these modulations can be used. As an example,
a hybrid bi-phase and PPM modulation scheme has been shown to eliminate discrete components of
the UWB PSD.
UWB signal transmission involves pulse shaping, spreading, modulation, and randomization.
Appropriate hybrid modulation and randomization of a UWB signal makes its spectrum appear like
additive white Gaussian noise. The choice of the UWB modulation scheme impacts the power
spectral density of the radiated signal and consequently its impact on radiocommunication services.
In particular, the impact of the discrete components of the PSD can be mitigated or they can be
eliminated.

6.3.1 Pulse position modulation (PPM)

PPM is a UWB modulation technique by which data are represented by time shifts from a reference
time. Binary PPM has been a popular early choice and appears relatively early in the literature on
UWB communications. PPM modulated UWB signals may have discrete spectra that carry no
information, and may cause interference. This can be greatly mitigated by randomizing the
positions of the pulses using pseudo-noise sequences, which whitens the spectrum significantly.
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 7

This randomization for PPM has often been called time hopping (TH). Another way to reduce the
interference from PPM UWB signals is to increase the period of the pulse train. This decreases the
frequency of occurrence of discrete components of the PSD.
One form of a pulse position modulation is multiband impulse (MB-I) UWB which comprises
a method whereby the spectrum is divided into sub-bands. Impulses of very short duration are sent
in frequency and time-hopped sequences over several sub-bands. Polarity or bi-phase modulation of
data is used with the time-frequency hopped impulses. A multidimensional modulation space may
be employed by filling out a matrix of time and frequency with impulses. Complex and efficient
(with respect to Eb/N0) coherently detected modulations are also possible. The noise-like quality of
the signal results from the time-frequency hopping.

6.3.2 Bi-phase modulation (BPM)

For a binary phase modulation, a specific pulse shape and its negative are used to represent a zero
and a one. BPM yields an advantage of 3 to 6 dB over PPM in multipath-free environments. It also
has a peak power to average power ratio of less than 3 (compared to a sine wave with a ratio of 2).

6.3.3 Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)

PAM is a technique that varies the amplitude of the transmitted pulses based on the data to be
transmitted. In PAM modulated devices a set of amplitudes is selected to represent the data to be
transmitted. A pulse of any shape with a mean of zero may have its amplitude modulated with 1
variations (binary signalling) or M variation (M-ary PAM). PAM signals may be demodulated with
non-coherent techniques.

6.3.4 On-off keying (OOK) modulation

OOK is a special case of PAM UWB modulation wherein the presence or absence of a pulse within
a time slot represents a one or a zero.

6.3.5 Chirp modulated UWB

In chirp modulation, the carrier frequency is swept over a very wide band during a given pulse
interval. The sweep pattern, which encodes the data, may be linear or non-linear according to the
device requirements.
6.3.6 Modulation by a pair of opposite polarity doublets
A doublet consisting of a positive pulse followed by a negative pulse, or vice versa, provides
another form of modulation. An advantage of this type of modulation is that the choice of
separation between pulses in a doublet and the time separation between doublets enables the
frequency spectrum to be shaped to mitigate interference.

6.3.7 Direct sequence and direct sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) UWB
Direct sequence ultra-wideband (DS-UWB) uses high-duty cycle polarity coded sequences of
pulses to encode data at rates in the order of hundreds of megabits to beyond a gigabit per second or
more. For a fixed pulse rate, multiple pulses are used to represent a single bit, thus trading energy
per bit for data rate. The UWB bandwidth of DS-UWB is a function of the sub-nanosecond pulse
duration of each chip. The UWB signal is noise-like with a low probability of detection and low
probability of interception. The design of a good spreading code for DS-UWB is critical for good
performance in a multipath environment. In DS-CDMA multiple users can share the same spectrum
simultaneously by using suitable codes.
8 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

6.4 Multiband modulation and multi-user techniques

6.4.1 Multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM)
MB-OFDM structures the spectrum into several sub-bands. The data is transmitted across the bands
using a time-frequency code (TFC). Within each sub-band an OFDM modulation scheme is used to
convey information.

6.4.2 Frequency hopping for multiband (FH-UWB)

In FH-UWB the signal is distributed into one of several frequency bands for a short-time period.
This hopping between bands is done according to a pre-assigned pattern (uniform or non-uniform).
A multiband system can be based on the principle of transmitting different symbols in different
bands in a periodic sequence, very similar to frequency hopping. Various modes of operation can be
implemented by modifying the hopping rate, symbol and number of bands.

6.4.3 Time division multiple frequency modulation for multiband

Time division multiple frequency modulation is a modulation scheme similar to frequency hopping
since it uses multibands but different because the relationship between bands. Its main advantage is
that it allows one to increase the number of bits per symbol and, consequently, to reduce the symbol
rate. This reduces the effect of intersymbol-interference caused by delay spread.

6.4.4 Cross-band flexible multiple access for multiband

A cross-band flexible UWB multiple access scheme for multi-piconet wireless PANs uses specially
designed encoding and decoding matrices to obtain resilience against multi-user interference (MUI),
accommodate various spreading alternatives, enable full multipath diversity and effect scalable
spectral efficiency (from low, to medium and to high-data rates).

7 Common signalling mode (CSM)

A CSM is a candidate method by which devices using different UWB technologies may coordinate
their activity and potentially mitigate their impact on systems operating within radiocommunication
services.

8 Multipath effects
A wide transmission bandwidth (BW) is needed to overcome multipath fading in an indoor
environment. In this environment, the delay spread between different multipath reflections will be
small, and the coherence bandwidth of the channel will therefore be large. UWB communication
devices are therefore resistant to multipath fading in an indoor environment, because they have a
wide transmission bandwidth and closely spaced multipath components can therefore be resolved in
the receiver.
Figure 1 compares the signal statistics of multipath fading for signals with bandwidths of 4 MHz
and 1.4 GHz. The wider bandwidth signal exhibits a lower probability of a deep fade relative to the
mean signal level.
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 9

FIGURE 1
Probability density function of a 0.7 ns UWB pulse (1.4 GHz BW)
and of a 4 MHz wide narrow-band signal

During propagation a sub-nanosecond pulse is dispersed, which may result in Rayleigh fading in the
frequency domain. However, each of these reflections is an independent signal so a RAKE receiver
can then be used to coherently add the energy in each of the pulses that are received from each of
the multipath components to provide a gain over single path reception.

9 Imaging and location capabilities

UWB transmissions can penetrate walls and obstacles and provide high accuracy location
determination. These properties can also be useful in applications to detect movement of persons
and objects. For example, radar imaging applications can be used by law enforcement, rescue and
fire organizations to detect persons hidden behind walls or under debris in situations such as
hostage rescues, fires, collapsed buildings or avalanches. UWB can be used at hospitals and clinics
for a variety of medical applications to obtain images of organs within the body of a person or an
animal. UWB can also be used in applications:
– to locate objects such as mineral deposits, metallic or non-metallic pipes, electrical cables
in walls, and plastic land mines;
– to measure ice thickness of frozen lakes and runway conditions at airports;
– in forensic and archaeological studies; and
– to find flaws in bridges and highways.
10 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

Annex 3

Technical and operational characteristics of devices

using UWB technology

1 Operational characteristics
UWB technology can be integrated into many applications. Some UWB devices may support more
than one application. Examples of the broad categories of UWB applications and their operational
characteristics are given in Table 1.

TABLE 1
Operational characteristics of applications
UWB application Operational characteristics
1 Radar imaging – Mostly occasional use by professionals in limited numbers
– Use is limited to specific locations or geographic areas
Ground penetrating radar – Occasional use by professionals at infrequent intervals and specific
sites
– A specific application may have a limited number of devices that
operate in mobile continuous use on roadways
– Transmission is directed towards the ground
In-wall radar imaging – Occasional use at infrequent intervals
– Professional users: typically engineers, designers, and professional of
the construction industry
– Transmission is directed toward a wall
– Devices are operated typically in direct contact with the wall to
maximize measurement resolution and sensitivity
Through–wall radar imaging – Device is transportable
– Used by trained personal: normally police, emergency teams, security
and military
– Occasional use at infrequent intervals
– Deployed in limited numbers
– Transmission is directed towards a wall
– Devices may operate at some distance from the wall to maximize
operation safety in case of hostile action
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 11

TABLE 1 (end)
UWB application Operational characteristics
Medical imaging – May be used for a variety of health applications for imaging inside the
body of a person or an animal
– Indoor stationary occasional use by trained personnel
– Transmission is directed towards a body
2 Surveillance – Operate as “security fences” by establishing a stationary RF perimeter
field and detecting the intrusion of persons or objects in that field
– Continuous outdoor and indoor use in a stationary manner
3 Vehicular radar – Mobile usage
– High-density use may occur on highways and major roads
– Terrestrial transportation use only
– Transmission is generally in a horizontal direction
4 Measurement – Stationary indoor/outdoor use
5 Location sensing and – Typically fixed infrastructure; mostly stationary use
tracking – Transmitters always under positive control
6 Communication – High-density use may occur in certain indoor environments such as
office buildings
– Some applications have occasional use such as an UWB wireless
mouse; others will operate at a higher percentage of time, such as a
video link
– Outdoor use may also occur

1.1 Operational characteristics of ground penetrating radars

Table 2 includes examples of operational characteristics of some UWB ground penetrating radar
(GPR) devices currently available in the market.

TABLE 2
Operational characteristics of some UWB GPR devices
Device A, D, E and F Device B and C
Operation and control Remote or computer triggered Remote or computer triggered
Operational height Ground coupled Ground coupled
R≈0m R ≈ 0 m plus occasional off
surface to < 1 m
Deployment mode Normally down looking Normally down looking with
some wall usage
User type Normally consultant, Normally consultant,
professional, or researcher professional, or researcher
Usage mode Occasional use at specific Occasional use at specific
locations locations
12 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

2 Technical characteristics of UWB devices

2.1 Communications devices and measurement systems

The characteristics given in Table 3 provide examples of three existing communication devices.

TABLE 3
Characteristics of some UWB communications devices
Device G Device H Device I
Maximum average e.i.r.p. (dBm/1 MHz) –41.3 –41.3 –41.3
Lower frequency at –20 dB and –10 dB 3.1, 3.6  3.1 3.1, 3.6
(GHz) (–10 dB down)
Upper frequency at –10 dB and –20 dB 9.6, 10.1  10.6 9.6, 10.1
(GHz) (–10 dB down)
Antenna pattern Omni Omni Omni
Pulse rate (Mpulse/s) > 500 1 > 1 000
Bit rate (Mbit/s)  100  40  500
Range (m) ~10 < 100 4-10
Maximum average e.i.r.p. (dBm/1 kHz) in  –90  –85.3  –90
960-1 610 MHz
Maximum average e.i.r.p. (dBm/1 MHz) in < –90  –75.3  –90
960-1 610 MHz
Maximum average e.i.r.p. (dBm/1 MHz) in < –63.3  –53.3  –63.3
1 610-3 100 MHz

Device G is intended for applications within offices or homes with transmission of data up to a data
rate of 100 Mbit/s. It is also intended for operation between hand-held devices that may be outside
and that do not employ a fixed infrastructure. Such applications include links among personal
digital assistants or laptop computers. Within a wireless LAN, it may carry multiple digital video
signals among components of a video system such as between a video camera and a computer,
between a cable set-top box and a television, or between a high-end plasma display and a DVD
player.
Device H is a multipurpose device intended for use indoors for industrial, commercial, and
consumer applications where communications, precision positioning or radar sensing is required.
The device can be configured to operate over a range of data rates. The operating range depends
upon the data rate.
Device I is intended for operation within office or home applications for transmission of data at
a rate up to 500 Mbit/s. These higher data rate devices are intended to provide wireless connectivity
for many of the same applications as Device G, but also serve to provide a wireless cable
replacement for high-speed wired connections such as USB or IEEE 1394.
Figures 2 and 3 provide examples of the spectrum masks of two other devices.
Device J is intended for office and home applications for transmission of data up to a data rate of
480 Mbits/s. The specifications for this device include requirements for close-in transmitted
spectrum mask and a receiver pre-selector filter. The transmit spectrum shaping is performed in the
digital domain, and the receiver pre-selector filter is an RF component. As this device is time
division duplex, this pre-selector filter can be also used to filter the transmitted signal. Figure 2
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 13

shows the combination of the characteristics of these two filters applied to an in-band PSD of
–41.3 dBm/MHz.

FIGURE 2
Calculated spectrum mask of UWB device J

Device K is also intended for office and home applications for transmission of data up to a data rate
of 480 Mbits/s. Figure 3 shows the measured transmitted spectrum of this device.

FIGURE 3
Measured transmitted spectrum of UWB device K
14 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

2.2 Vehicular radar systems

The characteristics given in Table 4 provide an example of existing products. Vehicular radar
devices that use UWB technology operate in higher frequency bands than those used by UWB
communications devices. These devices are being designed to detect the location and movement of
objects near a vehicle, enabling features such as near collision avoidance, improved airbag
activation, and suspension devices that better respond to road conditions. Vehicular radars emit an
UWB signal over a well-defined frequency range.

TABLE 4
Example of characteristics of an existing UWB vehicular radar device
Parameter Value
Centre frequency (GHz) ~24.125
Maximum e.i.r.p. density (dBm/1 MHz) –41.3
–20 dB occupied bandwidth (GHz) 22.125 to 26.125
Pulse repetition frequency (MHz) 0.1-5
Maximum peak power (e.i.r.p.) (dBm/50 MHz) 0
Antenna pattern Directional
Mounting height (m) ~0.50
Range (m) ~20
Target separation (cm) 15-25

Impact calculations for vehicular radars should take into account the peak vehicle density, the
percentage of the Earth’s surface where those densities are achieved, and the market penetration of
UWB vehicular radars over time.

2.3 GPR systems

GPR devices are used for mapping subsurface structures. While primarily used for examining
“underground”, the term “ground” can be expanded to mean any lossy dielectric material. GPRs are
also referred to as baseband or impulse radars. A summary of the characteristics of the GPR signals
and devices is as follows:
– GPR measures in situ physical properties (i.e. permittivity, conductivity or permeability) of
the subsurface material. These in situ properties occurring in frequencies ranging from
1-2 000 MHz are difficult to determine in any other way.
– The objective of GPR measurements is to detect subsurface features. Air launched signals
are undesired and as much effort as possible is made to minimize signals which travel
through the air and which contaminate the desired measurements.
– GPR devices are part of the geophysical tool set and have been in active use for many
years. The small number of units and the general adherence to minimizing air launched
transmission have resulted in minimal interference concern.
– When GPR devices are in operation they have a low use duty cycle. It is common to make
measurements with an operational duty cycle of 10% to 1% followed by a long period of no
usage while moving to the next survey position or planning the next measurement
sequence.
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 15

– GPRs are used infrequently and the location of usage is constantly changing. These factors
further reduce the probability of interference to radiocommunication services.
– GPRs are different from through-wall radar imaging devices. Typical GPR wall
applications involve examining the interior of structures such as bridge piers, tunnel liners,
and concrete walls. The GPR signals are dissipated in the material. Through-wall radar
imaging devices are designed to launch signals into the air on the other side of the wall.
– The peak power spectral density increases as the centre frequency of the GPR decreases but
the average power spectral density does not. As frequency decreases, PRF normally
decreases and the average power remains roughly constant.
– Lower frequency (geological) GPRs are used in remote geographic areas where there is
a lower likelihood of interference with radiocommunication services.
– GPR must use a wide bandwidth signal to achieve adequate resolution.
Table 5 includes examples of technical characteristics of some UWB GPR devices currently
available in the market. (See § 1.1 for the operational characteristics of these devices.)

TABLE 5
Characteristics of some GPR devices using UWB technology
Device A Device B Device C Device D Device E Device F
Quasi peak –65 –59 –59 –57 –57 –55
e.i.r.p.
(dBm/120 kHz)
Average e.i.r.p. N/A N/A -68 N/A N/A N/A
(dBm/1 MHz)
Lower frequency 120 185 317 19 18 17
at –10 dB (MHz)
Upper frequency 580 840 1 437 79 125 202
at –10 dB (MHz)
Antenna pattern Dipole Dipole Dipole Dipole Dipole Dipole
ground- ground- ground- ground- ground- ground-
coupled. coupled. coupled. coupled. coupled. coupled.
Directional Directional Directional Directional Directional Directional
downward downward downward downward downward downward
Pulse repetition Variable to Variable to Variable to Variable to Variable to Variable to
frequency (kHz) maximum maximum maximum maximum maximum maximum
of 100 of 100 of 100 of 100 of 100 of 100
Range (m) 0 to 5 0 to 2.5 0 to 2 0 to 20 1 to 10 0 to 5

3 Activity factor of devices using UWB technology

When applying activity factor to deployment scenarios of multiple devices using UWB technology,
technology penetration, peak use rate, frequency of use, and other factors related to deployment
(including penetration of competing technologies (wireline, infrared, etc.)) should be considered.
16 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

3.1 Activity factors and technology penetration of 24 GHz vehicular short-range radar
(SRR) devices
The SRR activity factors derived in this section are meant to serve as a basis for determining the
aggregate interference from a large number of vehicles equipped with SRR devices using UWB
technology.
The calculation of the level of this aggregate interference should be based on a deployment model
that takes into account the fact that different modes of operation and that not all SRR devices are
operating at the same time.

3.1.1 Pulsed devices, pulse gating and activity factor

Pulsed SRR devices cannot operate on a continuous basis because of their inherent operation
principle that results in a typical Crest factor3 of more than 20 dB.
The SRR modes of operation that influence the device activity factor are described in § 3.1.2
through § 3.1.4.

3.1.2 SRR modes of operation

For an SRR, the activity factor includes long switch-off periods (e.g. due to not using all sensors in
certain driving situations) as well as short switch-off periods.
Several modes of operation of SRR devices leading to an average power reduction need to be
considered in the derivation of the activity factor:
– SRR switched off: Depending upon the control device in a vehicle, SRR devices may be
turned off automatically when the vehicle is stopped for a duration longer than some preset
interval, for example at a traffic light or a railroad crossing. In some vehicles both the
engine and the SRR devices may be turned off while in other vehicles the engine may
remain on but some or all SRR devices may be turned off.4
– Reduced pulse repetition frequency: The parking aid and stop-and-go application can run at
a reduced PRF because of the low vehicle speed and slowly changing traffic scenario. This
reduction in PRF proportionately reduces the average power of the ensemble of SRR
devices. The nominal PRF in this context is then the frequency where the SRR device
achieves the maximum allowed mean power. Depending on the traffic scenario dynamics
some applications will run on a lower PRF or with longer quiescent periods. Both effects
reduce the transmitted mean power. This mean power reduction can be expressed as
an activity factor.
– Non-UWB mode: Most sensors are being designed to also operate in certain driving
situations in a non-UWB mode within the 24.00 to 24.25 GHz band. The non-UWB mode
can be either a narrow-band mode in this frequency range or a Doppler mode (continuous
wave (CW) mode).
The reason for a non-UWB mode of SRRs is that some vehicular applications or driving
situations need either less object separation capability (which results in a much smaller
occupied bandwidth) or a longer detection range (which requires higher emission power as
might be permitted solely in this band). SRR devices may switch between either
a wideband mode or a narrow-band mode. When an SRR device is operating in a non-UWB
mode, its emissions are not considered to be UWB transmissions.

3 The Crest factor (CF) is defined by: CF = 10 log (Ppk/Prms), with Ppk: peak power and Prms: average power.
4 Some low fuel consumption car models already use this technique.
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 17

– Partial frequency range and multiband UWB operation: A further reduction in the
aggregate mean power of the SRR ensemble is possible when the SRR devices share the
available frequency range, each using a different portion of the available frequency band. In
this case, interference to radiocommunication services can be mitigated by changing
frequency to a different portion of the band.

3.1.3 Activity factor typical value estimation for different SRR operation modes
In Table 6 the activity factor for SRR is estimated for the different operation modes used in various
driving situations.

TABLE 6
Calculation of estimated activity factor for all modes of operation
Modes of operation

“SRR “Reduced PRF” mode “Non-

switched (PRF reduced from UWB” Activity
off” mode 100% to 10%) mode factors from
Occurrence of all modes of
Time Activity
Time SRR driving operation
Activity UWB factors from
Driving situations switched situations in weighted
(1) factor mode in all modes of per cent of by the
on in Time full (4)
from this per cent of operation driving time occurrence of
per cent of PRF(2) in
mode(3) driving the driving
driving time per cent of
(activity time situations
(activity driving time
factor (activity
factor
No. 2) factor
No. 1)
No. 3)
Highway, moving 100 80 82 60 49.2 55.00 27.06
traffic
Highway, slow 100 100 100 80 80.0 10.00 8.00
traffic
City driving 70 80 82 70 40.2 35.00 14.06
City, forward 100 0 10 100 10.0 0.05 0.01
parking
City, backward 100 0 10 100 10.0 0.05 0.01
parking
Resulting activity factor (%) 49.1
(1)
Time SRR switched on = 100% – SRR switched off.
(2)
Time full PRF = 100% – Time reduced PRF.
(3)
Activity factor = (Time full PRF * 100%) + (100% – Time full PRF * 10%).
(4)
Product from activity factors Nos. 1 to 3.

NOTE 1 – The numbers in Table 6 are estimates made at the time this Table was prepared. Administrations
may wish to undertake their own analysis of these factors when doing their studies.
The calculations show that the use of the different modes of operation result in an aggregate activity
factor of around 50% leading to a power reduction of 3 dB.

3.1.4 Technology penetration estimation

There will be alternative technologies for some of the functionality supplied by 24 GHz UWB SRR
devices, including 79 GHz UWB SRR devices if appropriate, infrared, ultrasonic and closed circuit
18 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

video devices. A 100% penetration of SRR devices using UWB technology in the 24 GHz band is
unrealistic. It is more likely that the eventual penetration will stabilize at a smaller percentage.
Table 7 evaluates the 24 GHz SRR penetration and other competing technologies.

TABLE 7
Technology penetration estimation for short-range sensors
Technology penetration
Technology (%)
Europe/2013 Europe/2030 USA/2030
24 GHz UWB SRR sensors 7 0 40
79 GHz UWB SRR sensors 1 55 0
Narrow-band SRR sensors 20 10 10
(e.g. 24.00-24.25 GHz band)
Infrared and ultrasonic sensors 15 15 15
Camera based sensors 2 10 10
Vehicles with no short-range sensors 55 10 25

NOTE 1 – The numbers in Table 7 above are estimates made in 2005. Administrations may wish to
undertake their own analysis of these factors when doing their own studies.
On a long-term basis (2030) it is assumed that the UWB SRR technology would represent
a penetration of about 55%. The penetration in the 24 GHz band of SRR UWB technology is
assumed to be around 40% if no mandatory limitations are applied by national regulators. It has to
be noted that the regulation in Europe authorizes the placing into the market of 24 GHz SRR until
2013 and limits the penetration to 7% of the car fleet.
Even many years after the market introduction of SRRs, a significant number of cars will have no
short-range sensors at all. This can be derived from the experience of the introduction of many other
automotive technologies. Even if all new cars were to be equipped with such sensors in some years
it would take 15 years until the vehicle density approached 100%. This penetration would
unrealistically assume that no other automotive safety technologies are developed during this
period.
A penetration of 7% or 40% for 24 GHz UWB SRR corresponds to mitigation factors of 11.5 dB
and 4 dB respectively.

3.2 Activity factor description for location sensing and tracking systems
In a normal deployment in a workplace, e.g. hospital or office, it is expected that the density of
active transmitters will be about one active device per 200 m2. Wide area deployment utilizes
a cellular architecture, with UWB transmitters in different cells using different UWB channels.
If two UWB transmitters are being managed by the same cell, the system will ensure that they are
not active simultaneously by use of time-resource sharing.
A typical operational UWB location tag will emit a signal for a period, followed by a period in
which it does not transmit. The non-transmit period is dependent on its activity rate, which can be
changed according to the type of application. For example, a tag carried by a person might transmit
once a second (i.e. duty cycle of 24 ms every second or 2.4%) and a tag placed on an item of
equipment might transmit only once every 10 s (i.e. a duty cycle of 0.24%). There will be
a maximum rate at which a tag is allowed to transmit, resulting in a maximum duty cycle.
 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0 19

For equipment that does not move very often (e.g. once a week) the duty cycle is typically very
much smaller than the above figures.

3.3 Activity factor of communication devices using UWB technology

In this section, activity factors for communication devices that use UWB technology are derived.
Several simulation scenarios were considered:
– The aggregation of emitted power from a large number of transmitters into victim receivers
(ground or satellite based).
– The concentration of power from a “hot spot” into a victim receiver.
– The interference generated from individual transmitters in a cluster into nearby victim
receivers.
– The market penetration of devices using UWB technology versus competing technologies
(wireline, infrared, etc.).
It is necessary to determine the aggregate activity or “on-air” time of devices using UWB
technology to study the effect of a large number of devices on affected radiocommunication
services. Where interference from the nearest device using UWB technology is predominant (rather
than aggregate effects), the use of average activity factors is not appropriate in interference studies.
For these studies, sufficient information needs to be included to effectively model the behaviour.
The aggregate activity factors below were derived using the following assumptions:
– UWB e.i.r.p. density of –41.3 dBm/MHz is assumed.
– Devices using UWB technology did not use an outdoor infrastructure.
– There were no outdoor surveillance devices taken into consideration as part of the outdoor
evaluation.
– The analyses were for WPAN and similar high data rate applications.
– Under all scenarios considered, streaming video applications dominate UWB applications
to a level greater than 95%.
A peak value of the aggregate activity factor for multiple devices using UWB technology was
derived considering the highest estimated rate of UWB market penetration, peak use rate, frequency
of use, and other factors related to deployment including market population growth and market
share of alternative technologies.
Anticipating the future activity factor is very challenging as it requires prediction of future adoption
of the technology which is in turn subject to variables such as competitive technologies. For this
reason, the activity factor is stated as a range with the principal assumptions listed above.

3.3.1 Activity factor for indoor communication devices

– 1-5% activity factor, averaged over the complete population.
– Factors which may increase the activity factor:
– Increased population of un-coded or minimally coded video. This range of 1-5%
assumes that a minimal amount of minimally coded video is employed. If uncoded
video becomes more predominant, the activity factor would increase.
– Increased market penetration of devices using UWB technology used for video
transmission.
20 Rec. ITU-R SM.1755-0

– Factors which may decrease the activity factor:

– Increases in efficiency of the compression technologies used – advanced compression
technologies entering the market, such as MPEG-4 and DVM have the potential to
reduce the activity factor.
– Lower market penetration of devices using UWB technology used for video
transmission.

3.3.2 Activity factor for outdoor communication devices

The outdoor aggregate activity factor is significantly lower than the indoor factor primarily because
of the unavailability of high data rate streaming video sources for outdoor applications. UWB is
primarily employed outdoors for file transfer and low data rate streaming.
– 0.01-0.02% activity factor, averaged over the complete population.
– The outdoor activity factor may increase or decrease based upon the penetration of UWB
into handheld devices.

3.4 Activity factors of other types of devices using ultra-wideband technology

Table 8 shows the activity factor for a device using UWB technology for various applications.

TABLE 8
UWB application Typical activity factor
(%)
Ground penetrating radar <1
Medical imaging systems <1
Other radar imaging systems (wall, through-wall, etc.) 1
Surveillance systems 50