Implementation of a wireless test bed for the functional verification of the ultra-wideband Detect-and-Avoid mechanism

Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) is a mechanism to be employed in Ultra Wideband (UWB) systems that enables them to coexist with other, typically licensed radio services in the same part of the radio spectrum. To protect these licensed services from interference, regulatory authorities defined detailed DAA models and parameters. For chip and equipment manufacturers, the ability to verify the compliance of their UWB products with regulatory and standards requirements through measurements will be essential. Owing to the novelty of the DAA mechanism, the nature of the devices to be tested, and the very low power levels to be detected, such RF compliance tests constitute a major challenge. In this paper we describe a setup and procedure for UWB DAA test and measurement that was developed in the frame of FP7 project WALTER; furthermore we highlight a number of difficulties encountered in this process due to physical constraints, and provide solution proposals. Although WALTER focused on the MB-OFDM variant of UWB, as defined by the Wimedia Alliance, its findings and conclusions are not limited to this particular UWB technology.