volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Although the automatic and robust cluster identification is crucial for ultra-wideband propagation modeling, the existing schemes may either require interactions with analyst, or fail to produce reasonable clustering results in more universal propagation environments. In this article, we suggest a novel cluster identification algorithm. Rather than assuming the limited exponential power decay characteristics on UWB channels, from a novel perspective cluster identification is formulated as the local discontinuity detection based on wavelet analysis. Firstly, in order to comprehensively reflect the prevailing amplitude changes induced by new clusters, the moving averaging ratio is extracted from the measured UWB channel impulse responses. Subsequently, the appealing local-transient analysis ability of wavelet transform is properly exploited, and a computationally efficient cluster extraction method is developed. Distinguished from the subjective visual inspection and excluding any analyst interaction, the presented scheme can automatically discover multiple clusters. Our algorithm is premised on the general amplitude discontinuity, and hence is applicable to various complicated operation environments. Moreover, the produced clustering results, essentially depicting realistic physical propagations, are also independent of parameter configurations. Experiments on both simulated channels and the measured data in typical vehicle cabin further validate the proposed method.

1. Yang, L. Q. and G. B. Giannakis, "Ultra-wideband communications: An idea whose time has come," IEEE Signal Proc. Mag., Vol. 21, No. 6, 26-54, 2004.
doi:10.1109/MSP.2004.1359140

2. Withington, P., H. Fluhler and S. Nag, "Enhancing homeland security with advanced UWB sensors," EEE Microw. Mag., Vol. 4, No. 3, 51-58, 2003.
doi:10.1109/MMW.2003.1237477

3. Cheolhee, P. and T. S. Rappaport, "Short-range wireless communications for next-generation networks: UWB, 60 GHz millimeter-wave WPAN, and ZigBee ," IEEE Wirel. Commun., Vol. 14, No. 4, 70-78, 2007.
doi:10.1109/MWC.2007.4300986

4 . Alomainy, A., A. Sani, A. Rahman, J. Santas, and Y. Hao, "Transient characteristics of wearable antennas and radio propagation channels for ultra-wideband body-centric wireless communications ," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 57, No. 4, 875-884, Apr. 2009.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2009.2014588

5. Win, M. Z. and R. A. Scholtz, "Ultra-wide bandwidth time hopping spread spectrum impulse radio for wireless multiple-access communications," IEEE Trans. on Commun., Vol. 48, No. 4, 679-689, 2000.
doi:10.1109/26.843135

6. Batra, A., J. Balakrishnan, G. R. Aiello, J. R. Foerster, and A. Dabak, "Design of a multiband OFDM system for realistic UWB channel environments," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., Vol. 52, No. 9, 2123-2138, Sep. 2004.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.2004.834184

7. Cramer, R. J., R. A. Scholtz, and M. Z. Win, "Evaluation of an ultra-wideband propagation channel," EEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 50, No. 4, 561-570, May 2002.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2002.1011221

8. Cassioli, D., M. Z. Win, and A. F. Molisch, "The ultra-wide bandwidth indoor model: From statistical model to simulations," IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., Vol. 20, No. 9, 1247-1257, 2002.
doi:10.1109/JSAC.2002.801228

9. Molisch, A. F., K. Balakrishnan, C. C. Chong, D. Cassioli, S. Emami, A. Fort, J. Karedal, J. Kunisch, H. Schantz, K. Siwiak, and M. Z. Win, "A comprehensive model for ultra-wideband propagation channels," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., 3151-3166, 2006.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2006.883983

10. Saleh, A. and R. Valenzuela, "A statistical model for indoor multipath propagation," IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., Vol. 5, No. 2, 128-137, Feb. 1987.
doi:10.1109/JSAC.1987.1146527

11. Foerster, J. (ed.), "IEEE 802.15.SG3a channel modeling sub-committee report final," IEEE p802.15-02/490r1-SG3a, Feb. 2003.

12. Molisch, A. F., et al., "IEEE 802.15.4a channel model -Final report," IEEE 802.15-04-0662-00-004a, Nov. 2004.

13. Carbonelli, C. and U. Mitra, "Clustered ML channel estimation for ultra-wideband signals," IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun., Vol. 6, No. 7, 2412-2416, 2007.
doi:10.1109/TWC.2007.051006

14. Witrisal, K., G. Leus, G. Janssen, M. Pausini, F. Troesch, T. Zasowski, and J. Romme, "Noncoherent ultra-wideband systems," IEEE Signal Proc. Mag., Vol. 26, No. 4, 48-66, 2009.
doi:10.1109/MSP.2009.932617

15. Chen, Z. and Y.-P. Zhang, "Effects of antennas and propagation channels on synchronization performance of a pulse-based ultra-wideband radio system," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 115, 95-112, 2011.

16. Molisch, A. F., "Ultra-wideband propagation channels," IEEE Proc., Vol. 97, No. 2, 353-371, Feb. 2009.
doi:10.1109/JPROC.2008.2008836

17. Chuang, J., S. Bashir, and D. G. Michelson, "Automated identification of clusters in UWB channel impulse responses," Proc. of Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), 761-764, 2007.

18. Stefanski, A., "Characterization of radio-wave propagation in indoor industrial environments,", Degree Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2010.

19. Ciccognani, W., A. Durantini, and D. Cassioli, "Time domain propagation measurements of the UWB indoor channel using PN sequence in the FCC-compliant band 3.6-6 GHz," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 53, No. 4, 1542-1549, Apr. 2005.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2005.844442

20. Haneda, K., J.-I. Takada, and T. Kobayashi, "Cluster properties investigated from a series of ultra-wideband double directional propagation measurements in home environments," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 54, No. 12, 3778-3788, 2006.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2006.886526

21. Nikookar, H. and R. Prasad, Introduction to Ultra Wideband for Wireless Communications, Signals and Communication Technology, 164-171, Springer Science & Business Media B.V., Berlin, 2009.

22. Li, X., L. Yang, S. X. Gong, and Y. J. Yang, "A novel tri-band-notched monopole antenna," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 23, No. 1, 139-147, 2009.
doi:10.1163/156939309787604580

23. Song, H. W., J. N. Lee, J. K. Park, and H.-S. Lee, "Design of ultra wideband monopole antenna using parasitic open loops," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 23, No. 5-6, 561-570, 2009.
doi:10.1163/156939309788019778

24. Danesfahani, R., L. Asadpor, and S. Soltani, "A small UWB CPW-FED monopole antenna with variable notched bandwidth," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 23, No. 8-9, 1067-1076, 2009.

25. Chen, D. and C. H. Cheng, "A novel compact ultra-wideband (UWB) wide slot antenna with via holes," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 94, 343-349, 2009.
doi:10.2528/PIER09062306

26. De Villiees, J. P. and J. P. Jacobs, "Gaussian process modeling of CPW-FED slot antennas," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 98, 233-249, 2009.
doi:10.2528/PIER09083103

27. Hu, S., C. L. Law, and W. B. Dou, "A tapered slot antenna with flat and high gain for ultra-wideband applications," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 23, No. 5-6, 723-728, 2009.
doi:10.1163/156939309788019732

28. Gao, G. P., M. Li, S. F. Niu, X. J. Li, B. N. Li, and J. S. Zhang, "Study of a novel wideband circular slot antenna having frequency band-notched function," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 96, 141-154, 2009.
doi:10.2528/PIER09080308

29. Xia, Y. Q., J. Luo, and D. J. Edwards, "Novel miniature printed monopole antenna with dual tunable band-notched characteristics for UWB applications," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 24, No. 13, 1783-1793, 2010.

30. Gong, J.-G., Q. Li, G. Zhao, Y. Song, and Y.-C. Jiao, "Design and analysis of a printed UWB antenna with multiple band-notched characteristics," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 23, No. 13, 1745-1754, 2009.
doi:10.1163/156939309789566842

31. Lin, C. C. and H. R. Chuang, "A 3-12 GHz UWB planar triangular monopole antenna with ridged ground-plane," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 83, 307-321, 2008.
doi:10.2528/PIER08070502

32. Wang, J. J., Y. Z. Yin, and X. W. Dai, "A novel fractal triangular monopole antenna with notched and truncated ground for UWB application," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 23, No. 10, 1313-1321, 2009.
doi:10.1163/156939309789108561

33. Eldek, A. A., "Numerical analysis of a small ultra-wideband microstrip-FED tap monopole antenna," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 65, 59-69, 2006.
doi:10.2528/PIER06082305

34. Bose, R., B. D. Steinberg, and A. Freedman, "Sequence CLEAN: A deconvolution technique for reducing side-lobe artifacts in microwave images of continuous targets," Proc. of the Thirteenth Annual Benjamin Franklin Symposium on Antenna and Microwave Technology in the 1990s, May 1995.

35. Alsehaili, M., S. Noghanian, A. R. Sebak, and D. A. Buchanan, "Angle and time of arrival statistics of a three-dimensional geometrical scattering channel model for indoor and outer propagation environment," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 109, 191-209, 2010.
doi:10.2528/PIER10081106

36. Fuhl, J., J. P. Rossi, and E. Bonek, "High-resolution 3D direction-of-arrival determination for urban mobile radio," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 45, 672-682, Apr. 1997.
doi:10.1109/8.564093

37. Shutin, D. and G. Kubin, "Cluster analysis of wireless channel impulse responses with hidden markov models," Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 949-952, May 2004.

38. Erceg, V., et al., "TGn channel models," IEEE 802.11-03/940r4, May 2004.

39. Proakis, J. G., Digital Communications, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., New York, USA, 2001.

40. Canny, J., "A computational approach to edge detection," IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., Vol. 8, 679-698, 1986.
doi:10.1109/TPAMI.1986.4767851

41. Zhang, L. and P. Bao, "Edge detection by scale multiplication in wavelet domain," Pattern Recogn. Lett., Vol. 23, No. 14, 1771-1784, 2002.
doi:10.1016/S0167-8655(02)00151-4

42. Heric, D. and D. Zazula, "Combined edge detection using wavelet transform and signal registration ," Image Vision Comput., Vol. 25, No. 5, 652-662, May 2007.
doi:10.1016/j.imavis.2006.05.008

43. Lazaro, A., D. Girbau, and R. Villarino, "Wavelet-based breast tumor location technique using a UWB radar," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 98, 75-95, 2009.
doi:10.2528/PIER09100705

44. Gijbels, I., A. Lambert, and P. Qiu, "Edge-preserving image denoising and estimation of discontinuous surfaces," IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. , Vol. 28, No. 7, 1075-1087, Jul. 2006.
doi:10.1109/TPAMI.2006.140

45. Daubechies, I., Ten Lectures on Wavelets, SIAM, 1992.

46. Hernandez, E. and G. Weiss, A first Course on Wavelets, CRC Press, 1996.

47. Coifman, R. and M. V. Wickerhauser, "Wavelets and adapted waveform analysis," Mathematics and Applications, J. Benedetto and M. Frazier (eds.), CRC Press, Wavelets, 1994.

48. Mallat, S. G., "A theory of multi-resolution signal decomposition: the wavelet representation ," IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., Vol. 11, 674-693, 1989.
doi:10.1109/34.192463

49. Walker, J. S., "Fourier analysis and wavelet analysis," Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 44, No. 6, 658-670, 1997.

Dr. Bin Li

Dr. Zheng Zhou

Dr. Dejian Li

Dr. Shijun Zhai