On the performance of pulsed frequency modulated UWB local positioning systems

Recently, a novel ultra-wideband (UWB) local positioning concept based on pulsed frequency modulated (PFM) signals was introduced by the research groups of the authors of this paper. The current paper presents a detailed analysis of the performance - i.e. range and accuracy - of the proposed PFM-UWB approach. It is shown that with PFM-UWB an excellent coverage / range can be achieved. It is also shown that for high precision ranging a VCO with good phase-noise performance is needed. Based on simulations and measurement results the theoretical findings are verified. The results confirm that PFM-UWB allows for accuracy in the mm-range and a maximum range of more than 100 m with a measuring time of only 1 ms.