The modem for ultra-wideband communication employing surface-acoustic-wave devices

In recent years, a novel technology for wireless communication which has been attracting a great deal of attention is UWB (ultra-wideband). This communication system is the high data-rate transceiver for WPAN (wireless personal area network) or the wireless modules for sensor networks with low power consumption, which transmit extremely short narrow pulses without carrier-waves. We have developed the prototype of a unique modem (modulator/demodulator) based on our original technique for the UWB transmission system. The special features of our UWB modem are the application of SAW matched filters that enable us to miniaturize the front-end modules and make the power consumption low because of passive devices, asynchronous circuit structure, etc. In this paper, the prototype of the modem system and some key devices originally developed are introduced, along with details of their good performance.