Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has received great attention in recent short-range communication systems and been considered one of the potential candidates for upcoming IEEE 802.15.6 body area network (BAN) standard. High penetration capability and high precision ranging with a wide bandwidth of up to 7.5GHz (from 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz) make it easy to image the organs of human body for biomedical applications. In addition, low electromagnetic radiation less than –41.3dBm/MHz is safe for human tissue exposure and makes it suitable for hospital and home applications. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art UWB systems and addresses IC design challenges for WBAN and biomedical applications.