Ranging in the IEEE 802.15.4A standard using energy detectors

Ranging is strongly dependend of an accurate estimation of time-of-arrival (TOA), which requires fine temporal resolution. Ultrawide band (UWB) pulses fulfill this requirement, but the pulses are spread in time by multipath propagation. The major concern in ranging therefore is a proper detection of the leading edge. The IEEE 802.15.4a standard defines a way of TOA-based ranging with coding gain by exploiting a series of ternary preamble sequences with perfect autocorrelation properties. The focus of this work is on the implementation of a standard compliant ranging method, as well as on simulations evaluating the performance of energy detectors applying this method.