Effective Interference Control in Ultra-Wideband Wireless Networks

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is a viable candidate for next generation wireless communications, with merits such as high data rate, low power, robustness to multipath fading, and positioning capability. Multiple nearby transmissions can be supported in UWB networks, using an appropriate code assignment mechanism. Different from cellular networks, the near-far problem in UWB networks cannot be solved solely by power control at the physical layer. Instead, it should be managed jointly with the radio resource allocation at the link layer in order to achieve interference control. This article reviews possible solutions for distributed code assignment in UWB networks, and investigates two effective approaches, namely spatial exclusion and temporal exclusion, for interference control in UWB networks.