Recently ultra-wideband (UWB) communications has emerged as an alternative to narrowband communications used in wireless sensor networks. One of UWB(s) most attractive feature for wireless sensors is that it can produce high data throughput rates at lower transmission power levels compared to narrow band wireless systems. Current UWB communication systems use narrow time pulse sequences to transmit information. This paper presents a wireless sensor node architecture that uses a novel UWB data modulation scheme based on pulse shaping. In this paper, the advantages and hardware requirements of the pulse shaping modulation system are compared against a conventional UWB system. The pulse shaping modulation scheme adds more flexibility for data modulation in UWB communication systems. The modulation scheme encodes data in both the timing and frequency spectrum of the transmitted pulse. This will lower interference between UWB and narrowband systems and allow for robust communications to be used by a large number of sensors in a small area.