UWB Frequencies | UWB Channels | UWB Bandwidth | UWB EIRP
This page mentions UWB Frequencies,UWB Channels, UWB Bandwidth and UWB EIRP used for various UWB applications.
What is UWB technology ?
The term UWB stands for Ultra-Wideband which is a radio technology as defined in IEEE 802.15.4a. The main application of UWB is to measure distance and location by estimating time to travel by radio frequency signals between two devices. It does the distance/location estimation more accurately in the presence of noise and multipath interference compare to wifi/BLE. WiFi and BLE systems calculate distance based on RSSI which is not accurate as signals may pass through walls or get reflected. It has been adopted by leading manufacturers of smartphones and other devices. It is being used in different industries such as healthcare, automotive, factory automation, wireless and so on. UWB operates in unlicensed spectrum similar to other wireless technologies. Due to this, it may become ubiquitous like WiFi and BLE. It seems to be about 50 times faster than GPS and updates upto 1000 times per second. The update rate is faster than BLE beacon.
Following are the benefits of UWB technology:
• It offers ultra accurate distance estimation with centimeter resolution.
• It is ultra reliable as it offers high immunity against multipath and other interference types.
• It offers low latency which is 50 times faster than GPS.
• It is affordable due to low power consumption and lower cost.
• It offers refresh rate of 200 to 1000 times per second.
• It is secure as it uses distance bounding procotol as per IEEE 802.15.4z.
UWB Channels vs UWB Frequencies vs UWB bandwidth
Following table mentions UWB channels and their corresponding UWB center frequency and UWB bandwidth.
| UWB Channels | UWB Center Frequency | UWB Bandwidth | Region used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 399.36 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA |
| 1 | 3494.4 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe |
| 2 | 3993.6 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, Japan, Korea |
| 3 | 4492.8 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, Japan, Korea |
| 4 | 3993.6 MHz | 1331.2 MHz | USA, Europe |
| 5 | 6489.6 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, China |
| 6 | 6988.8 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, China |
| 7 | 6489.6 MHz | 1081.6 MHz | USA |
| 8 | 7488 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, Korea, China |
| 9 | 7987.2 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, China |
| 10 | 8486.4 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, China |
| 11 | 7987.2 MHz | 1331.2 MHz | USA, Japan, Korea |
| 12 | 8985.6 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Japan, Korea |
| 13 | 9484.8 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Japan, Korea |
| 14 | 9984 MHz | 499.2 MHz | USA, Japan, Korea |
| 15 | 9484.8 MHz | 1354.97 MHz | USA, Japan, Korea |
As mentioned in the table, UWB frequencies are categorized into sub-GHz band (USB channel 0), Low band (UWB channels 1 to 4) and high band (UWB channels 5 to 15). UWB uses unlicensed spectrum and hence anyone can implement communication link using UWB transmitter and UWB receiver without obtaining regulatory license provided system operates within frequency and power limits. FCC has defined frequencies from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz for use in UWB applications. As mentioned UWB spectrum is divided into various UWB channels. All the UWB channels are not used in all the regions.
UWB EIRP limits
Following table mentions UWB EIRP limits for various UWB frequencies.
| UWB Frequency | EIRP |
|---|---|
| 960 to 1610 MHz | -75.3 dBm |
| 1610 to 1990 MHz | -53.3 dBm |
| 1990 to 3100 MHz | -51.3 dBm |
| 3100 to 10600 MHz | -41.3 dBm |
| > 10600 MHz | -51.3 dBm |
As mentioned in the table, FCC limits maximum radiation power to -41.3 dBm from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz range. The figure shows EIRP limits for frequencies outside this range (3.1-10.6 GHz).
Refer UWB basics >> and UWB Radar System tutorial >>.
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