Abstract :
In this paper, we present a method to obtain a set of orthogonal pulses to be used in pulse-shape modulation (PSM) for ultra-wideband (UWB) communications. The pulses are built as linear combinations of Hermite functions which are shown to have unique advantageous features. Mathematical restrictions of othogonality and spectral efficiency are introduced as guidelines for a search procedure to find the best set of pulses. Additionally, this procedure is adapted and used to design an FCC-compliant pulse. A quaternary PSM scheme is implemented with orthogonal pulses obtained by the proposed method, and the results of a simulation are shown.