Adaptive CA-CFAR threshold for non-coherent IR-UWB energy detector receivers

• Published in: IEEE communications letters Vol. 13; no. 12; pp. 959 - 961
• Main Authors: Maali, A., Mesloub, A., Djeddou, M., Mimoun, H., Baudoin, G., Ouldali, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.12.2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Band pass filters; cell averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR); Computer Science; Computer simulation; Detection, estimation, filtering, equalization, prediction; Detectors; Energy use; Exact sciences and technology; Frequency; Information, signal and communications theory; Laboratories; Monte Carlo methods; Networking and Internet Architecture; Propagation delay; Pulse amplifiers; Radar detection; Radiocommunications; Radiolocalization and radionavigation; Receivers; Sampling methods; Signal and communications theory; Signal, noise; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Thresholds; Time of arrival estimation; Time-of-arrival (TOA); Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); Transmitters. Receivers; ultra wideband (UWB); Ultra wideband technology; Ultrawideband; Wideband; Performance evaluation; Monte Carlo method; Averaging method; Parameter estimation; Infrared detector; Receiver; cell averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR); Adaptive method; Photodetector; Ultra wide band; False alarm rate; Arrival time; Wide band signal; Time-of-arrival (TOA); Channel estimation; Radar; Numerical simulation; ultra wideband (UWB)
• ISSN: 1089-7798; 1558-2558
• DOI: 10.1109/LCOMM.2009.12.091579

In the present letter, a new adaptive threshold comparison approach for time-of-arrival (TOA) estimation in ultra wideband (UWB) signals is proposed. This approach can be used with non-coherent energy detector receivers in UWB systems. It exploits the idea of cell averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) used in radar systems, where the threshold changes every energy block. The performance of several approaches are compared via Monte Carlo simulations using the CM1 channel model of the standard IEEE 802.15.4a. Both simulation results and comparisons are provided highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed approach.