Project Details
Projekt
Information Fusion for Wireless Sensor Networks with Integrated UWB Communication and Radar Capabilities (UWB-InFuCoRa)
Applicant
Professor Dr. Rudolf Mathar
Subject Area
Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
Term
from 2010 to 2014
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 177388414
Ultra-wideband (UWB) signals can be used both for communication and radar applications. In the present project, system concepts for wireless sensor networks with sensor nodes completely based on UWB technology will be investigated. The approach of integrating communication and sensing functionalities into one UWBbased hardware unit enables compact, cheap and energy-efficient sensor nodes and hence fulfills major requirements of wireless sensor networks. As two primary applications of wireless sensor networks we will consider the detection and classification of targets.The project will start with a requirement analysis for the radar and the communication functionality. Based on this analysis, a joint signaling concept will be derived, which exploits synergetic effects between the two tasks. A crucial issue is an appropriate division of the joint UWB channel into the sensing and the communication task. For the performance of both tasks, multiple access interference, which is typical for multi-user UWB systems plays a significant role. To control the individual sensor node performance we will extract UWB parameters for both the radar and the communication task.Since the compact and low complexity UWB nodes are subject to power and communication constraints, the detection and classification performance of a single node is limited compared to present complex radar systems. To obtain an appropriate global system performance, we will analyze the fusion of multiple local detection and classification results into a reliable global decision. The strategies for information fusion will be adapted to the derived signaling concept, especially by considering common resource constraints for the communication and radar signals. The ultimate goal of the project is a theoretical concept for a distributed radar system for detection and classification applications, which is completely based on UWB technology and which is able to provide scalable performance with varying numbers of sensor nodes.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
