Graduation Year

2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.E.E.

Degree Granting Department

Electrical Engineering

Major Professor

Ravi Sankar, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Wilfrido Moreno, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Huseyin Arslan, Ph.D.

Keywords

Ultra wideband, Multipath, 802.11a, Power spectral density, Throughput

Abstract

Ultra Wideband (UWB) is an emerging technology for use in the indoor wireless personal area networks and ad hoc networks. The more common form of UWB which uses sub-nanosecond pulses without any form of carrier signal is considered in this research. UWB signals have a large bandwidth with allocated frequency spectrum from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz and maximum power restricted to -41dBm/MHz. The IEEE 802.11a is a popular standard for high data rate wireless local area networks (WLANs). The operating frequency of the IEEE 802.11a WLAN is 5 GHz which is right inside the allocated UWB frequency spectrum.

One of the main obstacles facing the implementation of UWB devices is the challenge of reducing interference caused by UWB to other systems and vice versa. The potential operating areas/frequencies of the IEEE 802.11a WLAN and UWB systems overlap and therefore the problem of UWB interference to the IEEE 802.11a WLANs and vice versa becomes significant.

In this research we have focused on studying the effect of UWB interference on IEEE 802.11a WLANs. The different UWB parameters that affect the interference caused by UWB to IEEE 802.11a WLAN have been considered for determining their effect on the performance of the IEEE 802.11a WLAN. The effect of UWB multipath on the performance of the IEEE 802.11a WLAN has been observed. The UWB parameters have also been compared based on their effect on the performance of the IEEE 802.11a system in the presence of UWB multipath. Additionally, two different interference mitigation techniques that reduce UWB interference to the IEEE 802.11a WLANs have been studied.

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