TELESCOPE

Eureka: Ultra Wide Band Technology is the Latest

Blast in Wireless Communications. Ultra What??
By Anand Phene and Mario A. Sánchez

H
ere’s a simple quiz for
all you technology
geeks… … name a
technology that can transmit sev-
eral times the data possible over
current wireless technologies,
using power level of milli-
electromagnetics by Dr. Gerald F.
Ross in 1962 (currently President
of ANRO Engineering, Inc.) His
work demonstrated the feasibility
of utilizing UWB waveforms for
radar and communications appli-
cations. Within the United States,
sification restrictions, and the
development of UWB technology
has greatly accelerated.
In many ways, UWB is the suc-
cessor to spread spectrum radio
technology that most of the mobile
phones operate on today. But where

watts???? Stumped… . here’s a
clue… this technology does not
require allocation of precious or
‘paid for’ narrow band spectrum,
in use now. What??? It should
cost a trillion then??? Here’s the
much of the early work in the
UWB field (prior to 1994) was
performed under classified U.S.
Government programs. Since
1994, however, much of the work
has been carried out without clas-
spread spectrum used just a few
dozen frequencies and used them
one at a time, UWB uses every fre-
quency there is, and uses them all at
the same time, which means
continues on page 7

best part… .. it costs a fraction of

current technologies like Blue-
tooth, WLANs and Wi-Fi.… . Dear ENTS Fellow Students, Alumni, Faculty and Staff,

a newsletter from TSAN

sounds too good to be true?
well… Ultra Wide Band Technol-
ogy… .. achieves not only that, but
much much more. Ultra- What??
Ultra Wide band devices can
transmit data up to 100 Mbps,
compared to the 770 Kbps of
Bluetooth and the 11 Mbps of
802.11b and is expected to reach
around 500 Mbps by 2004. Plus
supporters of UWB say that its
electro-magnetic noise is only as
much as that of a hair dryer or
electric fan, and it doesn’t inter-
fere with or hamper other RFs. So
What this UWB all about? Where
did it come from?? and why is not
setting the entire industry
ablaze???… .. hold on to your seat
belts… … here’s the entire catch
on the technology that may or
may not revolutionize the fu-
ture… ..
Ultra wideband (UWB) tech-
nology is a relatively new term
used to describe a technology
known since the 1960s. The ori-
gin of ultra wideband technology
stems from work in time-domain
I LakshmiNarasimhan Molaga, President of the Telecommunication
Students and Alumni Network (TSAN) welcome you to the very first
edition of Telescope –our very own newsletter. Since its inception,
TSAN has been committed to strengthening the bond among Telecom
students and alumni and this newsletter is intended for this very purpose
of reaching to potential students and alumni in a more effective manner.
TSAN has been actively involved in resolving issues plaguing most
telecom students, pursuing goals as diverse as upgrading the pc lab to the
higher differential tuition paid by the students in spite of holding an
assistantship position. We have also successfully organized resume cri-
tique workshops and seminars in the past and would like to continue
doing so with the same enthusiasm in future.
I would like to thank the ENTS program staff and faculty especially
Dr. Tretter and Mr.Asante Shakuur for their encouragement and active
support for all our ventures. On behalf of the entire TSAN Board I
would like to congratulate the newsletter editorial committee for their
bold initiative and commitment, shown during the course of starting a
venture of such a magnitude.
I have always believed that active participation is a tell-tale parameter
of the success of an organization and I take this newsletter as an oppor-
tunity to invite greater participation on the part of students and alumni
to help TSAN serve the ENTS community in a more productive man-
TSAN
ner.
Warm Regards,
SPRING 2003
Laks Molaga
President, TSAN
EDITOR’S CORNER
Editor’s Corner: The Public Switched Telephone Network PSTN
By Niketu Parekh
T his editorial aims at acquaint-
ing the reader with the funda-
mentals of telecommunica-
tions in general. Since this is the very
first edition, an ideal beginning for
this would be to familiarize ourselves
with the Public Switched Telephone
Network, its history, and the govern-
ment regulations. In the subsequent
issues, we will focus on the evolution
and advancements in telecom indus-
try.
TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SWITCHED
TELEPHONE NETWORK - PSTN
The oldest and hitherto largest
telecommunication network in exis-
tence is the PSTN with subscribers in
excess of 700 million. PSTN refers to a
common carrier network that provides
circuit-switched services to subscrib-
ers anywhere in the world. As shown
in figure 1, in North America, PSTN
follows a hierarchy that comprises of
an end office or a Class 5 switch (at the
bottom), toll or Class 4 switch, pri-
mary center or Class 3 switch, sec-
tional center or Class 2 switch, and
regional center (or Class 1) switch (at
the top), which connects to an interna-
tional gateway. A Class 5 switch
serves customers through the local
loop (also know as the access loop). It
supports direct lines to individual
telephones. It relies on Class 4
switches to complete calls outside the
local area. A Class 4 switch connects
central offices (which contain Class 5
switches) with long-distance or toll
networks.
After the divestiture of AT & T (in
1983), PSTN in the USA was divided
into about 165 units called local access
& transport areas (LATAs). Each
LATA was served by a Regional Bell
Operating Company (RBOC) and
sometimes a number of independent
carriers such as the former GTE.
RBOCs were the component units of
AT & T prior to the divestiture. Any
company that provides telephone ser-
vice within a LATA is called a Local
Exchange Carrier (LEC) also referred
2
to as “Telco”. A connection between shows a pictorial view of PSTN in
two local exchanges within the LATA USA after AT&T divestiture.
is referred to as intraLATA. A connec- HISTORY
tion between a carrier in one LATA to The market for telecommunication
a carrier in another LATA is referred services and for telecommunications
to as interLATA. Inter-LATA is long equipment went through various
distance service. An inter-exchange stages of competitiveness since the
carrier – IXC is a telephone company invention of the telephone by Alexan-
that provides long-distance service. der Graham Bell. After a period of
An IntereXchange Carrier – IXC is a expansion and consolidation, by the
telephone company that carries traffic 1920, AT&T had an overwhelming
between local exchanges in different majority of telephony exchanges and
geographic areas (that is interLATA). submitted to State regulation. Federal
More commonly referred to as long- regulation was instituted by the 1934
distance carriers, companies such as Telecommunication Act, which estab-
AT&T, MCI, Verizon & Sprint are lished the Federal Communications
competing with each other for LEC as Commission.
well as long-distance services. Figure 2 Regulation of the U.S. telecommu-
nications market was marked by two
From the Editorial Board… .
It is a source of immense joy and satisfaction for us to present you with the very
first edition of TeleScope – a newsletter from TSAN. This newsletter is an ear-
nest effort on our part to bring to your attention the latest technological trends, and
at the same time enhance your knowledge of technical and market concepts through
basic descriptions and simple analyses. We also intent to keep you abreast of events
you might want to be a part of, like training seminars and conferences, or events you
might want to be aware of, like new software releases or product updates. Lastly, this
newsletter will also serve as a valuable source of information about people involved
in directing and molding our ENTS department.
A dictionary definition for a TeleScope doesn’t give too much of an insight as of
why such a name for the newsletter. While thinking for a suitable title we encoun-
tered a plethora of names which further compounded our cause of finding an apt
title for the same. The motivation for starting such a venture was to outline the
scope that we as Telecommunication engineers foresee for ourselves. It was for this
very reason that we decided to come out with this newsletter as it could help us
telecom students to narrow down our focus or rather magnify pertinent things in a
field which has wide ranging applications; hence the name Telescope.
TeleScope belongs to the entire ENTS students’fraternity and we invite you to
participate actively in this newsletter through your questions, suggestions, articles
and criticisms. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Dr.Dellomo, Dr.
Mehrotra, Dr.Tretter and Dr. Boromaund for providing us with valuable guidance in
the course of compilation of this newsletter.
We sincerely hope that you enjoy reading this newsletter, as much as we enjoyed
compiling it.
TeleScope SPRING 2003
against AT&T. In the first one, United
States v. Western Electric, filed in 1949,
the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ")
claimed that the Bell Operating Com-
panies practiced illegal exclusion by
buying only from Western Electric, a
part of the Bell System. The govern-
ment sought a divestiture of Western
Electric. The case was settled in 1956
with AT&T agreeing not to enter the
computer market, but retaining own-
ership of Western Electric.
The second major antitrust suit,
United States v. AT&T, was started in
1974. The government alleged that (i)
AT&T’s relationship with Western
Electric was illegal, and (ii) that AT&T
monopolized the long distance mar-
ket. The DOJ sought divestiture of
both manufacturing and long distance
from local service. The case was set-
tled by the Modified Final Judgement
("MFJ"). This decree broke away from
AT&T seven regional operating com-
panies RBOCs. Each RBOC was com-
prised of a collection of local tele-
phone companies that were part of
International
Regional
Class 1
Sectional Class
Class 2
Primary Class 3
Toll Center
Class 4
End Office
Class 5
Figure 1 – North American PSTN
hierarchy.
AT&T before the breakup. RBOCs
remained regulated monopolies, each
with an exclusive franchise in its re-
gion.
Microwave transmission was a
major breakthrough in long distance
transmission that created the possibil-
ity of competition in long distance.
The breakup of AT&T crystallized the
belief that competition was possible in
long distance, while the local market
remained a natural monopoly. The
TeleScope SPRING 2003
biggest benefits to consumers during
the last twenty years have come from
the long distance market, which, dur-
ing this period was transformed from
a monopoly to an effectively competi-
tive market.
Competition in long distance has
been a great success. The market share
(in minutes of use) of AT&T fell from
85% to 53% at the end of 1996. Since
LEC
C moting the development and wide-
IX C
LEC
C reau-wide management and adminis-
Figure 2 – PSTN after AT&T divestiture.
the MFJ, the number of competitors in
the long distance market has increased
dramatically. There are five large fa-
cilities-based competitors, AT&T,
MCI, Sprint, LDDS-WorldCom, and
Frontier. There is also a large number
of "resellers" that buy wholesale ser-
vice from the facilities-based long dis-
tance carriers and sell to consumers.
For example, currently, there are
about 500 resellers competing in the
California interexchange market, pro-
viding very strong evidence for the
ease of entry into this market. At least
20 new firms entered the California
market in each year since 1984. At
present, there are at least 5 "out of
region" RBOCs providing service in
California through affiliates. In Cali-
fornia, a typical consumer can choose
from at least 150 long distance compa-
nies.
US GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS
IN THE TELECOMMUNICATION INDUS-
TRY
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has a tremendous
role to play in creating fair rules for
the new era of competition in the tele-
communication industry. The Wireline
Competition Bureau, a bureau of FCC,
EDITOR’S CORNER
develops and recommends policy
goals, objectives, programs and plans
on matters concerning wireline tele-
communications. The Wireline Com-
petition Bureau’s overall objectives
include: ensuring choice, opportunity,
and fairness in the development of
wireline telecommunications services
and markets; developing deregulatory
initiatives; promoting economically
efficient investment in wireline tele-
communications infrastructure; pro-
spread availability of wireline tele-
communications services; and foster-
ing economic growth. The Bureau is
organized into four divisions and an
Administrative and Management Of-
fice.
The Administrative and Management
Office oversees the direction of all Bu-
trative programs.
The Competition Policy Division’s
primary mission is to foster competi-
tion in the provision of telecommuni-
cations services through market-
opening rulemaking and adjudicatory
proceedings affecting wireline tele-
communications service providers.
The Pricing Policy Division admin-
isters the provisions of the Communi-
cations Act requiring that the charges,
practices, classifications, and regula-
tions of communications common
carriers providing interstate and for-
eign services are just and reasonable.
The Telecommunications Access Pol-
icy Division’s primary mission is to
advance the goals of universal service
that all consumers in the Nation have
access to quality telecommunications
and information services at affordable
rates, and to administer numbering
resources.
The Industry Analysis and Technol-
ogy Division provides economic, finan-
cial, and technical analyses of telecom-
munications markets to the Bureau,
and the Commission.
The next few articles in this editorial feature
will address evolution of telecommunication market
and how the technology evolved from analog te-
lephony to state of the art intelligent networks in
vogue today.
3
INDUSTRY WATCH

Industry Watch: The Economic Nightmare of WorldCom Inc.

By Iyer Sweta and Priya Wasnikar

P erhaps the most famous rags
to riches to dust story in the
telecom history is that of the
WorldCom Inc. We chronicle some of
the turning points of its incredible
journey of the telecom behemoth.
The Origins: In the year 1983
businessmen Bernard J. Ebbers, Bill
Fields, David Singleton, and Murray
Waldron established a long distance
reseller company called “Long Dis-
tance Discount Service” (LDDS) in
Mississippi. It initiated buying capac-
ity on AT&T’s newly deregulated net-
work and using it to cell cheap phones
services under its own name.
The Meteoric Rise to Success: The
late 80s and early 90s saw the com-
pany grow in size through a series of
mergers and acquisitions. By 1992,
LDDS had become the nation's fourth-
largest long distance provider with
widespread presence almost through-
out the country. The sales figures shot
up to $800.7mn. The 1995 $2.5bn pur-
chase of WilTel Network Services gave
LDDS Communications increased
international capacity, a nationwide
fiber optic network, and the financial
resources to compete with the world's
largest telecommunications compa-
nies. In the same year the company
changed its name to WorldCom Inc.
and was ranked on the fortune 500 for
the first time. WorldCom founded
Grid Net International to expand their
domain offering upgraded data ser-
vices for Internet Service Providers
(ISP). The company also started offer-
ing frame relay services at interna-
tional level. The Sales reached $3.64bn
and operating cost totaled $249.5mn.
The accolades started pouring in;
Wall Street Journal ranked WorldCom
as the leading performer in terms of
shareholder value over the past ten
years. Standard & Poor's added
WorldCom to its S&P 500 index. 1996
saw WorldCom and MFS Communi-
cations merge. The combined business
communications company now of-
fered local, long distance, interna-
tional, and Internet communication
services. Bernard J. Ebbers was ap-
pointed president and CEO while
James Q. Crowe was named chairman.
The acquisition of UUNET by World-
Com in 1996 proved to be another
feather in the cap and WorldCom,
now, was not just a conventional tele-
com company, but also a key Internet
backbone provider being the first one
to provide commercial DSL services
and introduce global IP-based VPN
services. The late 90s saw the telecom
giant garner some of its largest clients
including America Online and the US
government and increase its local net-
works and switching facilities in the
country. At the same time came the
turbulent merger of WorldCom and
MCI Corp. The combined company,
MCI WorldCom, provided connec-
tivity in over 100 countries with more
than 70 data centers throughout the
world and the reported sales $30bn.
WorldCom Bankruptcy – Making
it a history in the US Corporate
World: With its stocks rising up, profit
margins consistently increasing every
quarter, mergers and acquisitions be-
ing announced regularly, WorldCom
appeared to be one of the biggest suc-
cesses in the telecom industry. In an
increasingly competitive telecom mar-
ket it was difficult to sustain high
profit margins quarter after quarter.
With the stock prices reaching ridicu-
lous heights, it was not long before the
bubble finally burst and how!
It was in July 2000 that some of
the senior financial officers realized
that the company was experiencing

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4
TeleScope SPRING 2003
huge losses and that the business was
actually eroding. The glut of network
capacity prompted the charges for
telephone and Internet services to
plummet; the competition was fierce
and the number of customers was
growing scarce. There was a noted
increase in the unused line capacity
though it was already paid for. Also,
by this time WorldCom had already
developed into a conglomerate con-
sisting of more than 60 telecom com-
panies, which it had acquired over a
span of about 15 years. The company’s
internal documents, industry analysts
and the current and former employees
cite that though it had gained the reve-
nues of the companies acquired,
WorldCom did not integrate these
companies operationally to eliminate
the overlapping costs. A major blow to
the company’s growth came in the
form of denial by the US and Euro-
pean regulators of the proposed
$128bn merger with Sprint; it blocked
the company’s “growth by acquisi-
tion” policy which it had practiced for
long.
Finally WorldCom filed for bank-
ruptcy protection under chapter 11 of
the US bankruptcy code in July 2002, a
month after it admitted in June 2002
that it had shown inflated profits of up
to $4bn. In filing its bankruptcy the
company has stated an amount of
$107bn in assets and debts of $32bn in
debts. Its list of creditors includes J P
Morgan Trust, which is owed $17.2bn,
Mellon Bank, with a claim of $6.6bn
and Citi Bank, with a claim of nearly
$3.3bn.
Blunders Uncovered: Investiga-
tions in June 2002 revealed that the
WorldCom officials attributed a sum
of about $4 bn as capital expenses,
which in reality were the operating
costs of leasing networks. Operating
costs typically cover the general ex-
penses of running a network or a busi-
ness while the capital costs include
one-time purchases of real estate and
equipment, which can be spread over
longer periods of time; the idea here
was to show inflated profits. Accord-
ing to the reports of Wall Street Jour-
nal, Security and Exchanges Commis-
TeleScope SPRING 2003
UP, CLOSE & PERSONNEL
Dr. Steven A. Tretter
Director of M.S. in Telecommunications program.
Dr. Steven Tretter graduated from Princeton University
with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. He is an Associ-
ate Professor in the ECE department and the graduate
advisor for the Professional Master of Engineering Pro-
gram at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr.
Tretter's research interests are in the areas of Commu-
nication systems & theory, Digital signal processing and Error correct-
ing codes. More specifically he has been working on developing DSP
algorithms for use in wireline modems; these include techniques for
adaptive echo cancellation, adaptive equalization, carrier recovery and
tracking methods, nonlinear precoding techniques, and trellis coding
methods combined with shell mapping. He is also currently supervis-
ing the use of the DSP equipment and software donated to the Univer-
sity of MD by Texas Instruments. Dr. Tretter is a member of various
university’s committees such as: Human Relations & Welfare Commit-
tee; Promotions and Tenure Committee ECE Representative for Profes-
sional Master of Engineering Program. He is also the author of numer-
ous text books, like:
1. Introduction to Discrete-Time Signal Processing.
2. Communication System Design Using DSP Algorithms: With Labo-
ratory Experiments for the Tms320C30 (Applications of Communi-
cations Theory).
3. Constellation Shaping Nonlinear Precoding and Trellis Coding for
Voiceband Telephone Channel Modems: With Emphasis on ITU-T
Recommendation V 34.
4. Communication System Design Using DSP Algorithms: With Labo-
ratory Experiments for the Tms320C6701 and Tms320C6711
(Information Technology: Transmission, Processing, and Storage).
This last publication released in January 2003.
sion (SEC) has filed new civil fraud After pleading not guilty earlier on,
charges against the company stating Mr. Sullivan’s decision to cooperate
that the company had misled its inves- with the ongoing investigations comes
tors for more years than previously as a direct indication of his hope, of
disclosed. WorldCom has acknowl- being treated with leniency.
edged the fact that the company’s false Trouble brewing ahead: With the
profits could go up to a whooping telecom sector itself on the downslide
$9bn. due to overcapacity, and major tele-
The Fall Guys: Two of World- com companies including the baby
Com’s officials, former Chief Financial bells out on a price-cutting spree, it is
Officer Mr. Scott Sullivan and the one doubtful as to whether the telecom
time Chief Controller of WorldCom, giant would even survive the harsh
Mr. David Myers, have been indicted economic conditions. Liquidation
with charges of security fraud, con- seems to be the only way out; in fact
spiracy and making false filings with some of the baby bells and other rival
the SEC. While Mr. Myers has pleaded companies have argued with the FCC
guilty, Mr. Sullivan is considering a that the company be liquidated and its
guilty plea in the fraud investigation. licenses be revoked. A debt-shorn
5
 will be an uphill task; prolonged in-
UP, CLOSE & PERSONNEL

vestigations and long drawn court

Asante Shakuur settlements only add to the company’s
woes. It will take quite some time be-
Associate Director of M.S. in Telecommunications program.
fore the company’s accounts exhibit
Asante graduated from Indiana University in Bloom- profits even if most of its debts are
ington Indiana in 1990 with a B.S. in Public Affairs. forgiven under chapter 11 laws.
Upon graduation Asante took an internship position Is it all over for WorldCom?
While WorldCom was stuck up with
with the Miami Valley, Ohio Regional Planning Com-
its accounting scandal last year, rival
mission in Dayton, Ohio. After completing the intern-
companies Sprint and AT&T have
ship Asante moved to Washington DC and began his both reported profits as compared to a
career with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) as a Flood year earlier. Telecom analysts believe
Insurance Underwriter. Staying with EDS Mr. Shakuur moved to the that both these companies should
Customer Marketing Group located in EDS's Herndon, Virginia Cam- benefit from WorldCom’s accounting
pus. There Asante marketed telecommunications products and services problems.
to state and federal government customers as well as to other busi- However, facts reveal otherwise;
the real game has only just begun.
nesses. After spending 2 years with EDS's Customer Marketing Group,
WorldCom could take solace that
Asante took a position with Digicon, a medium sized IT/Consulting
many of its debts would either be re-
firm in Bethesda, Maryland. While with Digicon, Asante worked in a duced or forgiven under the state
small group again marketing IT and telecom products and services off bankruptcy laws. Most of the big cus-
of Digicon's state and federal government contracts. In August 1998, tomers are still wedged in long-term
Asante left Digicon and took the position of Associate Director of the contracts. It still has a large part of its
Master's in Telecommunications Program (ENTS) at the University of client base intact and is pulling in
Maryland, College Park. Since the commencement of Mr. Shakuur's revenue close to $29 billion annually.
One of its recent successes include the
tenure in the capacity of Associate Director, the ENTS program has
extension of the annual $1.7 billion
seen steady enrollment growth, the founding of the Telecommunica-
contract with the General Services
tions Students & Alumni Network (TSAN), the establishment of a dedi- Administration, thus remaining a ma-
cated lab and an appointment of a full time program assistant. Under jor government contractor.
Mr. Shakuur's direction the ENTS program has also been involved in Hence, it should not come as a
programs to expose local talent to different types of technology. surprise if the investors are snapping
up the debt-ridden shares. Most
prominent among them being David
WorldCom emerging out of the pro- ing clear of bankruptcy and start Matlin, one of the most successful
tection of chapter 11 has translated afresh. Chairman and Chief Executive investors in distressed debts who has
into an unfair competition in the in- Michael Capellas has proposed garnered a huge stake in the company.
dustry. Some of them even accuse the changes that would get the telecom Analysts predict that tighter financial
government and the FCC of sheltering giant out of red; these include revamp- controls, steady incomes and quick
the telecom giant, partly, to restore ing the board, implementing stringent settlements could spell magic for the
some credibility to the disastrous 1996 accounting and auditing procedures telecom giant.
telecom deregulations act. Many of the by giving the company’s latest credi- Predictions aside, it will be inter-
rivals including AT&T and Sprint Inc. tors KPMG a free hand, laying off, esting to see what the future holds for
claim to have some of WorldCom’s causing nearly 17,000 job cuts, and the company that once had the poten-
former clients among their new cus- selling off subsidiaries like Skytel, a tial to connect the entire world.
tomers. With no new contracts coming paging unit that WorldCom had
in due to bankruptcy, erosion in the bought in 1999. There is always scope to explore more.
client base has spelt disaster in the Although these plans may sound Do visit the following sites to find out the
highly competitive industry. Some ambitious there is a long and arduous latest on WorldCom.
public interest litigations too have road ahead for the company. The close
been filed urging the government to $9bn accounting fraud has griev- http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldcom/
amongst others not to sign any further ously harmed the company’s financial http://news.com/
contracts with the company so that health and its reputation. With the http://www.fortune.com/
justice be done to the shareholders. share prices hitting dust and many of
The Company Plans: WorldCom its former clients deserting World-
has made its intentions clear of emerg- Com, to break even every month itself

6
TeleScope SPRING 2003
ULTRA WIDE BAND ...from page 1
the data-carrying capacity of UWB is
enormous.
Today UWB is known as an RF
(radio frequency) technology that
transmits binary data. It uses low-
energy and extremely short duration
(in the order of pico seconds, thus the
BW = 1/(10-12) = 1000 GHz) impulses
(or bursts) of RF energy over a wide
spectrum of frequencies, to transmit
data over short to medium distances.
Since it does not need a dedicated
radio frequency, it is also known as
“carrier-free”, “impulse” or “base-
band” technology.
Ultra wideband broadcasts digital
pulses that are timed very precisely on
a carrier signal across a very wide
spectrum (number of frequency chan-
nels) at the same time. Transmitter
and receiver must be coordinated to
send and receive pulses with an accu-
racy of trillionths of a second. On any
given frequency band that may al-
ready be in use, the ultra wideband
signal has less power than the normal
and anticipated background noise so
theoretically no interference is possi-
ble. Since it is just a blast of electrical
noise, the key to turning that noise
into communication used easily in
buildings and even underground. And
because of the random nature of UWB
timing schemes, there appears to be
virtually no limit to the number of
UWB signals that can share the same
airwaves.
UWB has shown promise for
many commercial applications; but its
two main types of application include:
1) Applications involving radar, in
which the signal penetrates nearby
surfaces but reflects surfaces that are
farther away, allowing objects to be
detected behind walls or other cover-
ings.
2) Voice and data transmission
using digital pulses, allowing a very
low powered and relatively low cost
signal to carry information at very
high rates within a restricted range.
Undoubtedly UWB is going to
have a huge impact on the maket and
will cause a lot of trouble for existing
communication businesses because it
TeleScope SPRING 2003
comes to offer a better (and cheaper)
alternative for almost every way of
getting in touch. Local phone compa-
nies, cable TV companies, mobile
phone companies, and Internet Service
Providers all look vulnerable. Even if
they adopt UWB in order to compete,
the value of their old infrastructure
will drop to zero, which can't be good
for business. And because UWB is
unlicensed, there can suddenly be a
hundred cable companies in town, not
just one, with all the new cable compa-
nies having a distinct cost advantage.
The biggest losers, though, would
appear to be the radio astronomers,
Just as the light pollution from street
lamps made work harder for astrono-
mers with optical telescopes, UWB
will raise the noise threshold for the
radio astronomers. Regulated commu-
nication companies who have exclu-
sive license for some parts of the radio
spectrum will also lose (having given
billions to the FCC for those licenses,
are they now going to be worth noth-
ing?).
The winners in this new market
will be those companies best adapted
to UWB, like PCS vendor Sprint Com-
munications, if they are willing to add
new UWB radios to its thousands of
short range cell sites. Optical backbone
providers will also win, because UWB
will increase the demand for long-haul
bandwidth, yet can't compete in that
sector because of UWB range limita-
tions. And content providers like TV
networks and movie studios will win
because there will be an even broader
market for their programs.
In these days, the FCC (Federal
Communications Commission) is con-
sidering changing its regulations to
permit the use of a radical and contro-
versial communications technology
that has the potential to make vastly
more efficient use of the increasingly
precious radio spectrum. Despite its
potential, however, the technology is
not in widespread commercial use
today because it would run afoul of
FCC restrictions that prohibit radio
transmissions in certain frequencies
set aside for civilian aviation and mili-
tary agencies.
So, where does this leave UWB? It
is undoubtedly a niche technology
EUREKA
that holds promise in a wide area. But,
its success depends on scoring against
a handful of rival technologies in
which companies have invested bil-
lions. We are still optimistic that fu-
ture technological developments will
provide the FCC with more opportu-
nities to insist on more efficient use of
current spectrum. But we need to
keep in mind that whatever be the
technology tomorrow… ”Friends” will
still be “Friends” even over UWB.
References
http://www.uwb.org/
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pul
pit20020124.html
http://cs.smith.edu/~ftoor/uwb.htm
Cool Factors:
This technology has the ability to carry
signals through doors and other obsta-
cles that tend to reflect signals at more
limited bandwidths and a higher
power.
Simplicity: it’s essentially a base-band
system (Carrier free), for which the
analog front-end complexity is far less
than that for a traditional sinusoidal
radio.
Low power. Transmitting at micro-
watts (one tenth thousandth power of
cell phone) results in very low harmful
interference to other radio systems.
Usually below the noise floor and
undetectable.
Resilient to distortions and fading
(Great for indoor usage). Spread spec-
trum property overcomes frequency
selective fading. More importantly it’s
high information redundancy and
frequency diversity provides protec-
tion against multi-path distortion.
Simplicity translate to lower hardware
cost.
UWB is inherently secure: Only a re-
ceiver that knows the schedule of the
transmitter can assemble the appar-
ently random pulses into a coherent
message.
7
 T
he first ENTS classes were

Inside This Issue held in the fall of 1993 with

about twelve students en-
rolled. The Cross-Disciplinary MS in
Telecommunications program at the
i. Editor’s Corner: The Public Switched Telephone Network PSTN University of Maryland was conceived
Public Switched Telephone Network, its history, and the government regulations. when several companies including
Bell Atlantic (now Verizon), Sprint,
ii. Eureka: Ultra Wide Band Technology is the Latest Blast in Wireless MCI, and Digital Equipment Corp.
Communications. Ultra What?? (absorbed by Compaq and gone)
asked the University if it had a gradu-
Learn about Ultra Wide Band technology.
ate program to enhance the technical
iii. Industry Watch: The Economic Nightmare of WorldCom Inc. and management skills of their man-
agers. The University at that time did
Want to know what really happened with WorldCom?
not have such a program, but Dr.
iv. Up, Close & Personnel. Wlliam Destler, then chairman of Elec-
trical Engineering (who later became
Dr. Steven A. Tretter : Director of M.S. in Telecommunications program. Dean of Engineering and is currently
Asante Shakuur : Associate Director of M.S. in Telecommunications program. the Senior Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs and Provost), agreed to
v. Events you might want to know about. develop one with the companies con-
tributing the initial funds and sending
their employees to the program.
The idea was to have a program
with a sound technical base, blended
with courses covering management,
marketing, policy, and regulations.
The initial vision was that the majority
of students would come from local
government and industry. The pro-
gram has grown steadily since 1993
and have reached a steady-state goal
TSAN Board – tsan@umail.umd.edu of over a 100 students. Admission to
the program has become quite selec-
LakshmiNarasimhan Molaga, President
Sachin Rajgire, Vice President tive with only about one third of the
Chialing Tsui (Kelly), Director Finance applicants being accepted last year.
Quoc Huynh, Director Web and E-Media Also the majority of students are inter-
Rupa Ravindran, Secretary national students rather than ones
James J.R. Reeves, Director Industry Affairs
from the local area as initially envi-
Sujat Syed, Director Student Affairs
sioned. We strive to provide faculty
that are experts in their fields as well
as excellent teachers, and we are al-
TSAN Editorial Committee - tsan-editor@umail.umd.edu
ways looking for new state-of-the art
Mario A. Sánchez, Executive Editor / Design & Layout elective courses.
Anand Phene, Technical Editor My door is always open for aca-
Priya Wasnikar, Assistant Editor
demic and career advising and any
Iyer Sweta, Editor, Business News
Niketu Parekh, Technical Editor other questions you may have. Please
feel free to drop by and see me. I hope
you enjoy your courses this semester
Telescope is the Telecommunication Newsletter for ENTS Students, Alumni at university of Maryland, and wish you the best of luck.
collge park, published by the TSAN –Telecommunications students and alumni network. Letters to the
editor and story suggestions are welcome. Please send correspondence to tsan-editor@umail.umd.edu
© 2003 Telecommunications students and alumni network - http://www.ents.umd.edu/tsan

T HE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE ARTICLES HAS BEEN COMPILED FROM THE I NTERNET AND OTHER MEDIA
Steven A. Tretter
SOURCES. THE COMMITTEE DOES NOT WARRANT OR ASSUME ANY LEGAL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCU- Director ENTS Program
RACY, COMPLETENESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY INFORMATION .