3.17 UWB Operating Mode

The ATA8352 secure distance-bounding layer can operate with any microcontroller that can provide cryptographically-secure random number generation and authentication routines.

The ATA8352 device supports different operating modes:
  • VR/PR: For distance-bounding and localization applications, switch the device into multiple operating modes handling receive and transmit operations during the measurement period.
  • Receive/Transmit: For data communication, the device supports Transmit and Receive modes to establish a bidirectional communication between the ATA8352 UWB devices.
  • Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA): The TDoA mode defined in the ATA8352 UWB device does not exist in the ATA8350 UWB device. The TDoA mode uses an additional register A29, and two additional register modes of register A20, which can be used for debugging. The TDoA mode uses the data communication with RX and TX modes together with the capability of the device to capture timestamps during transmission and reception. Use these timestamps for ranging measurements in the TDoA and TWS applications. The TDoA ranging differs from the verifier and prover operation of the device, as mentioned below:
    • TDoA and TWS communication does not use scramble operation, and it does not cover the Security mode in the same way as the VR/PR or RX/TX mode.
    • TDoA and TWS communication is controlled and triggered by the application running on the host controller; while in Verifier and Prover mode, the device is controlling the ranging operation.
  • Double-Sided Two-Way Ranging (DS-TWR): To measure the distance between two nodes, exchange a sequence of data telegrams between the nodes and capture the timestamps of these data telegrams at the tag and the anchor nodes. This data telegram sequence is necessary to compare the timestamps at each node, and also to compensate for the timestamp clock differences between the nodes.