The chipsets discussed in this paper follow the philosophy that the beauty of impulse radio ultra-wideband lies in its simplicity. They provide fully differential circuit solutions in a low-cost SiGe heterostructure bipolar transistor technology addressing short range radar sensors as well as communication links. At the core, an efficient pulse generator concept allows for spectral tunability as well as biphase modulated pulses. Receiver concepts implement correlation detection for radar and biphase modulation, and energy detection for on-off keying communications and localization. Finally, a successful approach to rapid turn-around transmit/receive modules for monostatic IR UWB radars is presented.