On performance of MRC-FDE UWB system with direct sequence spreading

Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology has become an ideal candidate for wireless personal area network (WPAN). UWB channel is characterized by rich multipath components. Single carrier block transmission with frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) is an effective way to combat frequency selective channels. In order to collect full multipath diversity when operating FDE, direct sequence spreading is introduced to cyclic prefix (CP) block transmission UWB system. With maximal ratio combining (MRC) FDE, theoretical analysis show that full diversity could be strictly achieved. It is also demonstrated that the system shows a robust performance with short CP or even without CP. Finally, it is shown that the receiver complexity of the system is even lower than conventional linear frequency domain equalizers. Theoretical analysis results are verified by computer simulations.