Low Complexity Multi-User Detection System for TH-UWB Networks

Multiple access interference (MAI) is present in wireless systems when multiple users attempt to access a network, and can be especially problematic within time-hopping (TH) ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) systems. Single user algorithms can be augmented to model and suppress some types of noise, but are ineffective at combating MAI due to an inability to model it very precisely. Multi-user detection algorithms can be used to greatly decrease multiple access interference by decoding the signals of all the users in a system rather than treating them as noise. Unfortunately these multi-user systems increase exponentially in complexity with the number of users, thereby increasing in chip size, cost, and memory and power requirements.

Researchers at the University of Alberta’s iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory have developed a novel “multisampling” multi-user detection method for TH-UWB transmission systems that greatly reduces the complexity of the transmitter and receiver and much more effectively accounts for the noise produced by multiple users in a system. Simulations show that this new system has a better performance than non-linear single-user UWB receivers, and is much less complex than optimal multi-user detectors.

• This technology achieves a better bit error rate performance than nonlinear single-user UWB receivers - resulting in a more robust and faster transfer of data over wireless networks, and is
• Less complex than optimal multi-user detectors - requiring a smaller, cheaper chipset with lower memory and power requirements.