Accurate analysis of a high data rate UWB-DTR system in dense multipath fading channels

In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to evaluate the exact bit error rate (BER) performance of a high data rate Ultra-Wideband Differential Transmitted-Reference (UWB-DTR) system over a perfect IEEE 802.15.3a Channel Model 1 (CM1). Our analytical framework includes noise, inter-path/pulse interference (IPI), inter-symbol interference (ISI), and log-normal fading. We consider log-normal fading, which is an essential characteristic of CM1, for the first time. We show that the UWB-DTR system reaches an error floor in the high data rate mode of operation. It is shown that in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes both the faded and the unfaded performance curves converge. The exact BER performance of the DTR system in CM1 is also derived via simulations to justify the derived formulas. Both the analytical and the simulation results show that the DTR-UWB receiver is too susceptible to a small change in the integration interval.