Ultra-wideband multichannel receiver test bed

Developing a test bed for the study of UWB (Ultra Wide Band) MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) systems requires unique capability not necessarily found in common commercially available devices. Some of the characteristics attractive to research test beds are impractical when applied to commercial solutions, this is especially true of UWB where commercial devices targeting accepted applications and changing government standards dictate fairly narrow confines for the operation of UWB signals. This paper is an overview of the techniques, challenges and solutions adapted to a custom receiver front end allowing minimum distortion, noise and interferences while providing the researcher with the most adaptable platform we could provide for the research being performed on the Tennessee Technological University UWB MIMO test bed. In addition, phase noise in the distributive clock is discussed as well. Finally, we introduce the digital section built on a customized multichannel digitizer that is capable of processing data in real time.