As defined by the FCC, an ultra-wideband (UWB) signal is an antenna transmission in the range of 3.1 GHz up to 10.6 GHz at a limited transmit power of −41.3 dBm/MHz with an emitted signal bandwidth that exceeds the lesser of 500 MHz or 20% of the center frequency. UWB signals are currently employed for high-bandwidth, short range communications that use high bandwidth radio energy that is pulsed at specific time instants.
Applications for FCC-defined transmissions include distance-based location and tracking applications, and localization techniques that employ precision time-of-arrival measurements. Examples of such UWB applications include RFID tags that employ UWB communication technology for tracking, localization and transmitting information. Other types of UWB applications include precision radar imaging technology.
Pulsed super high frequency (SHF) signals of from about 3 to about 30 GHz may be generated by switching a continuous wave signal on and off to generate a short SHF pulse of energy for transmission by an antenna. Such a continuous wave signal may be generated by a continuous wave oscillator. A switch may be coupled between the continuous wave oscillator and the output of the circuit to produce the pulsed SHF signals by cycling the switch on and off.