System and method for fast acquisition of ultra wideband signals

An ultra wideband receiver comprising:

• an ultra wideband antenna;
• an ultra wideband receiver coupled to the uwb antenna for receiving an input signal, said ultra wideband receiver further comprising:
• a sampling stage for sampling the input signal and generating a sampled signal;
• a summation stage for summing a plurality of sampled signals and generating a sum signal;
• an evaluation stage for evaluating one or more sum signals to generate an evaluation result;
• a threshold comparator to compare the evaluation result with a threshold;
• wherein the threshold is varied based on a performance criterion.

An ultra wideband receiver comprising:

• an ultra wideband antenna;
• an ultra wideband receiver coupled to the uwb antenna for receiving an input signal, said ultra wideband receiver further comprising:
• a sampling stage for sampling the input signal and generating a sampled signal;
• a summation stage for summing a plurality of sampled signals and generating a sum signal;
• a first evaluation stage for evaluating one or more sum signals to generate an evaluation result;
• a threshold comparator to compare the first evaluation result with a threshold;
• a plurality of subsequent evaluation stages for comparing one or more sum signals to generate a evaluation results;
• wherein data is demodulated after all of the thresholds are satisfied.

An ultra wideband receiver comprising:

• an ultra wideband antenna;
• an ultra wideband receiver coupled to the uwb antenna for receiving an input signal, said ultra wideband receiver further comprising:
• a sampling stage for sampling the input signal and generating a sampled signal;
• a summation stage for summing a plurality of sampled signals and generating a sum signal;
• a gain control loop having a gain setting, said gain control loop for compressing the dynamic range of the sum signal;
• an evaluation stage for evaluating one or more sum signals to generate an evaluation result;
• a threshold comparator to compare the evaluation result with a threshold;
• wherein the threshold is adjusted based on said gain setting.
• wherein data is demodulated after the threshold is satisfied.

A method for receiving an ultra wideband signal, said method comprising:

• sampling said ultra wideband signal to generate a sampled signal;
• summing a plurality of sampled signals to generate a sum signal;
• generating an evaluation criteria based on at least one said sum signal;
• comparing said evaluation criteria with a predetermined threshold value;
• proceeding with further processing when the threshold is met;
• generating a performance criterion relating to the threshold value;
• adjusting the threshold value based on the performance criteria;

A method of acquiring an ultra wideband signal, comprising the steps of:

• (a) establishing an acquisition threshold;
• (b) obtaining a template signal;
• (c) receiving the ultra wideband signal;
• (d) comparing the received ultra wideband signal and the template signal to produce a comparison result;
• (e) determining whether the comparison result satisfies the acquisition threshold;
• and
• (f) if the comparison result fails to satisfy the acquisition threshold, varying the acquisition threshold based on a performance criteria and returning to step (b), and if the comparison result satisfies the acquisition threshold, locking on the received ultra wideband signal.