Satellite Communications using Ultra Wideband (UWB) Signals

This paper considers the satellite communication systems using the multiband UWB signal format. For terrestrial short-distance high-speed communications, the multiband UWB scheme have been proposed in IEEE 802.15 TG3a and discussion is ongoing at the standardization body. In the multiband UWB scheme, frequency hopping is adopted over 3.1 10.6 GHz, which is regulated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) of the U.S.A., and the bandwidth of one hopping spectrum (subband) is about 500 MHz. Multiband technology inherently has suitable characteristics for the terrestrial UWB such as applicability to variable transmission rates, avoidance of harmful interference to other systems, simple localizability of frequency allocations, and so forth. This paper presents a satellite communication downlink employing the multiband UWB signal transmission. The total bandwidth is assumed to be 500 MHz in the allocation of the satellite downlink and it is divided into multiple subbands. We report the initial results of the study on the link budget calculation and the estimation of the signal transmission speed assuming the multiband UWB signal transmission from a GSO (GeoStationary Orbit) satellite to the earth’s surface.