In this paper, two frequency domain signal processing techniques for pulse shape modulation (PSM) ultra wideband (UWB) systems are presented. Firstly, orthogonal detection of UWB PSM Hermite pulses in frequency domain is addressed. It is important because time domain detection by correlation-based receivers is severely degraded by many sources of distortion. Pulse-shape, the information conveying signal characteristic, is deformed by AWGN and shape-destructive addition of multiple paths from the propagation channel. Additionally, because of the short nature of UWB pulses, timing mismatches and synchronism degrade the performance of PSM UWB communication systems. In this paper, frequency domain orthogonality of the Hermite pulses is exploited to propose an alternative detection method, which makes possible efficient detection of PSM in dense multipath channel environments. Secondly, a ranging method employing the Cepstrum algorithm is proposed. This method is partly processed in the frequency domain and can be implemented without additional hardware complexity in the terminal. © 2007 KICS.