difference between sinusoidal wave and pulse

in simple terms, what is the difference between a sinusoidal wave or lumped port (in HFSS) and pulse (as in UWB pulse)?
Is sinusoidal wave narrowband and UWB wideband? Does one UWB pulse represent multiple frequencies? How is UWB signal generated? by an oscillator or other special circuitry? What is a Gaussian pulse?

To your questions: Yes, a sinusoidal wave is very narrow-band as it occupies one frequency. A pulse consists of several sinusoidal harmonics. An UWB signal is a very short "half-wave" pulse which consists of a high number of harmonics.

Read a basic electronics textbook on Fourier analysis. Without such basic knowledge we can talk hours and you would still be lost.

There are many special circuits to generate many types of signals. Again , there are good books on UWB as well as some basics in Wikipedia.

Thanks. I have a very important question: Is the penetration depth for a 6GHz UWB signal the same as the penetration depth for a 6GHz sinusoidal wave? Considering penetration depth (or skin depth) is dependent on frequency and considering the UWB signal is an envelope of harmonics of a wide range of frequencies with 6GHz as center frequency, how would you calculate skin depth of a UWB signal?

I would appreciate a thorough and complete answer to above question please.


Also, When would I use UWB vs just narrowband frequency?

The answer is simple: As material permittivity and permeability is a function of frequency, the skin depth will be not a number but a function of frequency. Rather a tensor.

Using a single frequency for material testing gives you a single result. Using UWB covers many frequency components, so the result is a set of numbers , a function of frequency.

sorry. I am still not clear. How about answering this question with yes or no.

Is the penetration depth for a 6GHz UWB signal the same as the penetration depth for a 6GHz sinusoidal wave?

I am reading that because UWB pulses rise and fall very quickly, their time rate of change is very high, and a significant electric field is
created from the time-varying magnetic field. Could this cause more penetration for a UWB pulse than for sinusoidal wave?

Thanks.

You seem to want one-number answer, and this is not the case. For one frequency you get one number. UWB is a wide spectrum, so your skin depth is not one number but a wide set of numbers I call a function (of frequency). Maybe you heard of spectroscopy; this is a kind of it.

i am really confused and would love if someone could tell me if UWB signals have higher penetration depth because they span wide frequency. The literature is confusing, too. Right now, my conclusion is: a 6GHz UWB pulse would have same penetration depth as a 6GHz narrowband sinusoidal wave.

I am having a hard time grasping how one pulse could include several frequencies, but then they talk about a center of frequency.

Help, please!