Ultra wideband signal impact on IEEE802.11b and Bluetooth performances

This paper presents the results of a co-existence study investigating the impact of ultra wideband (UWB) interference on IEEE802.11b and Bluetooth networks. Results are based on the experimental test measurements made at the University of Oulu, Finland using simple high power UWB transmitter prototypes as interference sources. Preliminary results showed that, under the extreme conditions of this experiment, both IEEE802.11b and Bluetooth networks slightly suffer from the existence of several high proximity UWB signals. In our study, several high power UWB transmitters that greatly exceed the FCC radiation regulations have been used, and the measurement settings presents the worst case scenario due to the very short distance between the interferers and the victim system. Effectively our study indicates the use of hundreds of FCC compatible UWB devices at a same space.