ULTRAWIDEBAND

Understanding UWB over coax

A properly optimized wireless UWB chipset/coax solution is capable of
traversing coax splitters and distances throughout the home to achieve
a whole-home network.

By Dan Friedman

2-Way Splitter Unsertion Loss vs. Frequency

0

C
-5
onsumers are increasingly practicing the ben-
-10
efits of whole-home data networks for activi-

Insertion Loss (dB)

ties like web surfing and e-mail access. Now, -15
the industry is pursuing the creation of home networks -20
that enable not just web browsing and e-mail, but the -25
ability to access movies, music, data and more—located
-30 2WY_SP1 2WY_SP2 2WY_SP3
anywhere in the home—from any other suitable device
-35
within the home. Market research firm ABI Research
recently referred to the converging factors that are -40
2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
enabling the coming widespread adoption of home mul- Frequency (GHz)
timedia networks as a broadband video “perfect storm.” Figure 1. Insertion loss of two-way splitters.
The core network applications, such as multiple simul-
taneous streams of high-definition (HD) movies, TV and 4-Way Splitter Insertion Loss vs. Frequency
(Great Quality GQ-201-234)
multichannel audio, all with “trick play” (e.g., pause, 0
fast forward and fast rewind, present significant techni- -5
Insertion Loss (dB)

-10
cal challenges. Networking HDTV around the home, -15
for example, creates bandwidth and quality of service -20
(QoS) hurdles. It also forces content providers to deal -25
-30
with concerns about digital piracy. To address these is- -35
sues, industry groups such as the High Definition Audio- -40
Video Network Alliance (HANA), comprised of a cross -45
-50
section of content and service providers, CE manufac- 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
turers, technology companies and more, are emerging. Frequency (GHz)

Within this framework, ultrawideband (UWB) technol-
ogy has been promoted as a wireless connectivity solution
for HDTV. Despite the attention UWB wireless technology
has garnered, it is still basically a short-range, single-room
solution. At first glance, it hardly appears to be a solu-
tion fit to enable whole-home HD multimedia networks.
However, a whole-home network can be achieved by
using a properly optimized wireless UWB chipset. Instead
of coupling it to an antenna, the engineer would need to
do an impedance match to 75  and couple it to a coaxi-
al cable. Being a shielded media, coax can handle higher
transmit power levels and since the intended transmis-
sion receiver is not wireless, it is not subject to the con-
straints of the wireless UWB emissions regulations. Coax
is also prevalent in approximately 80% of North Ameri-
can homes and more than 400 million homes worldwide.
Using a common chipset optimized to enable simultane-
ous coax and wireless HD multimedia networks, coupled
Figure 2. Insertion loss of four-way splitters.
with an isochronous 802.15.3 MAC optimized for manag-
ing multiple simultaneous streams of HD video with guar-
anteed QoS; a UWB chipset solution is created that over-
comes the whole-home networking hurdles. It can network
multiple simultaneous streams of HDTV with trick play
functionality, at hundreds of feet around the home, while
supporting acceptable content protection mechanisms.
Creating such a hybrid coax/wireless solution from a
common chipset yields a number of advantages compared
to the alternative; creating a bridge between two dissimilar
wired and wireless technologies. Aside from cost reduc-
tions that result from the elimination of the requirement for
two separate radios, a common chipset possesses a com-
mon MAC and, therefore, no bridging is required. This
preserves critical QoS and content protection mechanisms
across the separate wired and wireless transmission media.

10 www.rfdesign.com July 2006

 ULTRAWIDEBAND
CALRAD & PDI 8-Way CATV Splitters RG-6 Attenuation Curve vs. Length
Insertion Loss vs. Frequency 0
-10
RG-6 Attenuation Curve
RG6_100FT vs. Length RG6_100FT
RG6_100FT
-10
-15
-20
Insertion Loss (dB)

-20

Attenuation (dB)
-30
-25
-40
-30 -50

-35 -60
CALRAD 8WY 1 CALRAD 8WY 2 CALRAD 8WY 3
PDI 8WY 1 PDI 8WY 1 PDI 8WY 1
-40 -70
3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5.0 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)

Figure 3. Eight-way splitters frequency response.
UWB: Not just for wireless anymore
Much has been written about UWB wireless technol-
ogy over the past several years. This article, therefore, will
focus on UWB over coax, its performance characteristics,
common misconceptions, and collected data and test char-
acterizations. The principles discussed address the concept
of UWB over coax in general and as such a specific discus-
sion of modulation, physical layer characteristics and MAC
implementations will not be included. This article addresses
the characteristics surrounding a UWB-coax home network.
UWB-over-coax characteristics
It is limiting to think of UWB as an application. Its true
definition is essentially any signal that occupies more than
500 MHz of spectrum simultaneously or more than 20%
of the fractional bandwidth of the available transmission
media. Thus, when referring to “UWB-over-coax,” keep in
mind that what is being described is a signal through the
coaxial cable that occupies more than 500 MHz of spectrum
simultaneously. For the purpose of the measurements dis-
cussed in this article, a UWB signal from the CWave UWB
chipset, which is just over 1.3 GHz wide, will be employed.
In the wireless world, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) mandates UWB wireless signals oper-
ate above 3.1 GHz. At the same frequencies inside a coax
no other application exists or is planned today, making the
UWB-over-coax signal completely coexistent with all leg-
acy coax applications. If operations on coax are at the exact
same frequencies as used in UWB wireless communica-
tions, it also makes the implementation of a chipset that can
Figure 4. Attenuation vs. frequency for various RG-6 cable lengths.
with coax cable aren’t designed to work above 1.5 GHz.
The resultant attenuation at higher frequencies intro-
duces echoes and multipath that is difficult to equalize
and control. It, therefore, isn’t feasible to transmit sig-
nals above 3 GHz over existing coax home networks, so
UWB over coax must not be feasible. After all, any fea-
sible coax networking technology must have the ability
to contend with what already exists in people’s homes.
 Response: This is an entirely appropriate initial ob-
jection—but from a narrowband perspective and not from
a UWB perspective. While it is true that CATV RF split-
ters are typically rated for operation up to no more than
1 to 2 GHz, that is by no means the maximum frequency
at which most are capable of operating. When spread-
ing the UWB signal energy over 1.3 GHz of spectrum,
any spectrum nulls or drop-outs are, for the most part,
averaged out over the 1.3 GHz. A UWB signal in the
frequency domain is low, but in the time domain can be
fairly high, which provides for a reliable and robust link.
As for echoes and multipath, these are typically a narrow-
band concern and cause less concern for several reasons.
First, any reflections are typically very low in ampli-
tude and attenuated by the coax cable itself. Given the
harsher requirements for reliable operations in UWB
wireless communications, as a general rule, engineers
actually like echoes and multipath and, in some cases,
RG-59/U vs. RG-6/U Attenuation Curve Comparison
-10
RG59_100 RG59_100

handle coax and wireless communications simultaneously -15

Insertion Loss (dB)

easier to architect. Therefore, what is described in this article

is a signal of more than 500 MHz spread (>1.3 GHz herein),
-20
at frequencies greater than 3 GHz, transmitted and received
inside of the coaxial cable instead of across antennas.
-25
Common misconceptions
It is usually about this point in any explanation about
-30
UWB over coax that the first objections arise. De- 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
Frequency (GHz)
monstrable silicon is making overcoming such objec-
tions much easier. The most common objection is: Figure 5. The 100-foot cable frequency response for RG-59 (red) and RG-6
 Objection: The RF splitters around every home (blue).

12 www.rfdesign.com July 2006

 ULTRAWIDEBAND
FCC Unintentional Emission Limits
Frequency of Emissions (MHz) Field Strength (microvolts/meter)
See CISPR Publication 16 characterized each port for the best insertion loss
30-88 100 characteristics from 3 GHz to 5 GHz band. Figure
88-216 150
3 shows each splitter’s performance in this band.
 RG-6 quad-shielded and RG-59 coaxial cables.
216-960 200
Several segments of differing length (100, 200 and
Above 960 500
300 feet) of RG-6 coaxial cable were character-
Example Maximum Cable Length/Splitter Combinations ized. Attenuation vs. frequency curves are shown
in Figure 4. Attenuation slopes increase by 3 dB
PHY Rate 4-Way Splitter 2-Way Splitter Cable Length (ft)
per 100 feet of cable segment. The absolute val-
21 Mbps 1 2 ~ 30
ue of attenuation increases by 12 dB per 100 feet.
83 Mbps 0 2 ~ 350 For comparison purposes, an off-the-shelf stan-
83 Mbps 1 1 ~ 300 dard RG-59/U coaxial cable (sample part numbers
168 Mbps 1 1 ~ 300 BV-14W, BV-15W, BV-16W) was used. Figure 5
337 Mbps 1 1 < 300 represents a sweep of the BV-16W 100 feet segment.
675 Mbps 1 1 < 300
There is 5 dB more attenuation at 4 GHz, with ap-
proximately equal tilt from 3 GHz to 5 GHz of -10dB,
wish there was more of it. As an example, consider that as compared to a 100 foot RG-6/U quad shield cable.
the CWave UWB radio essentially has a RAKE receiver  Compliance with FCC rules for unintention-
that is capable of capturing multipath and using it to co- al radiation. The maximum transmitter power for the
herently add energy and increase receiver sensitivity. CWave chipset-based modem was determined so that
A narrowband receiver might generally see this energy it complies with FCC Part 15 regulations for uninten-
as uncorrelated noise, but for a UWB receiver process- tional emissions. The maximum permitted emissions
ing in the time domain it represents potential signal gain. are summarized in the Table 1. Table 2 provides ex-
amples for CWave PHY layer data rate performance as-
Characterization suming no additional amplifier is used at the receiver.
What follows is a summary and overview of character- Pulse~LINK has experimented with several methods
ization and data-rate capabilities of UWB technology like of extending the range for high data rate transmissions
CWave, measured in several over-coax scenarios. It in- over coaxial cable, including the use of specially de-
cludes the performance of various combinations of splitters signed amplifiers at the receiver end. Such methods have been
and cable lengths, while maintaining application layer data- tested to provide a reliable PHY rate capability of 675 Mbps
rate capabilities in excess of 400 Mbps after forward error through more than 300 feet of cable including two splitters.
correction (FEC), data framing and checksum overhead.
Modular tests for all the constituent components were Conclusion
performed in order to fully understand end-to-end charac- The above data illustrates that UWB, often consid-
teristics of the link. An Anritsu 37269B vector network an- ered a wireless-only technology, has the ability to serve
alyzer was used to perform an S21 sweep of the frequency as a broadband distribution backbone for in-home
range of interest (2 GHz to 6 GHz), to characterize cable coax networks. Properly optimized UWB-coax solu-
segments for various segment lengths and the insertion loss tions are capable of traversing coax splitters and distanc-
of the splitters. Details of measurements are provided below. es throughout the home. By using the same chipset for
 Splitters. During testing, off-the-shelf two-way, four- both wireless and coax solutions, multimedia content
way and eight-way splitters were characterized. Sample obtained from any STB, DVD, PVR, media center PC,
results are shown in graphs of Figures 1, 2 and 3. The sam- network attached storage device or other source within
ple two-way splitter part number is GQ 201-232, and the the home, can seamlessly be shared with any other TV
four-way splitter part number is GQ 201-234. As shown or multiple other TVs simultaneously, anywhere else
in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the insertion loss of various in the home. This solution can provide the neces-
two-way splitter models varies in the band of interest (3 sary QoS and content protection assurances main-
GHz to 5 GHz) over a 7 dB to 10 dB range. The inser- tained on a common network platform solution.
tion loss of the tested four-way splitter is in the 12dB to
25 dB range, over the 3 GHz to 5 GHz band of interest.
Dan Friedman is the vice president of marketing at Pulse~LINK.
Several 8-way splitters were also characterized. The He has more than 23 years of experience in marketing, sales
two sample models used for these figures are from CAL- and system engineering in the hi-tech sector, including defining
RAD Electronics (model 75-713-8) and PDI (mega- system architecture solutions of new semiconductor products in
the consumer electronics and wireless market. Friedman currently
splitter model PDI-8WMVS-5). Both of these 8-way holds a MSEE and BSEE from UC Santa Barbara and a Graduate
splitters are rated up to 1 GHz. The performance test Certificate in Finance at UC San Diego.

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