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3 Reasons Why UWB Is the Future

3 Reasons Why UWB Is the Future Image Credit: jamesteoh/Bigstockphoto.com

Before the pandemic, there was a lot of talk about various technologies that were possible and how they'd make our lives more convenient. Now that many of us are working remotely and most of us want more contactless controls when we're out, we should put more emphasis on technologies necessary for delivering those experiences. Ultra-Wideband, or “UWB,” is a wireless connectivity technology that will be key to realizing that future.

UWB enables precision sensing of device and object locations, both indoors and outside. Its spatial awareness capabilities are a unique feature that can’t be delivered by any other wireless technology today, so it will enable devices to pinpoint users’ identities as well as the positions of digital things, often without the need to launch an app or push a button. For mobile payments or access control to vehicles or buildings, for example, UWB will authenticate the owner and prompt the desired action, such as making a payment or opening a door. This ability to sense such precise locations will advance the capabilities of smart technologies, allowing them to anticipate actions and instantly react.

While consumers have - with regional differences - taken years to adopt mobile payments and the general habit of tapping to pay or accomplish other tasks, UWB will make things so much easier by simply removing the need for gestures like this or other control mechanics to be learned by end users.

How does it work?

UWB is a wireless technology that uses radio waves to determine location accuracy.  By operating at a very high frequency and using a wide spectrum, it outperforms other wireless technologies in terms of accuracy and security. ComputerWorld recently wrote that “One way to think of it is as a radar that can continuously scan an entire room and precisely lock on to an object like a laser beam to discover its location and communicate data.”   

UWB’s unique pulse signal is what makes it so accurate and precise. Even in multipath environments (busy environments with lots of walls, people and obstacles), it is easier to identify with a high degree of certainty exactly when pulses depart and arrive. UWB can accurately track pulses at an exceptionally high rate of repetition - sending a large number of pulses in short bursts - so it is possible to make fine-grained Time-of-Flight (ToF) calculations even at very close range, within ±10 cm.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards also attempt to measure distance, but so far results limit the accuracy of ToF calculations to about ±1 m to ±5 m. Another factor that reduces the accuracy of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth readings is their performance in multipath environments. The multipath components of the modulated waves, which create inaccurate timing events when measuring ToF, can only be separated in a complex manner, and this makes it very difficult to deliver accurate measurements below ±1 meter.

It is important to note that ToF calculations by themselves determine distance, and not direction. Adding Angle-of-Arrival measurements and multiple antennas, the angle of the received signal can be accurately determined.

In addition to ease-of-use and unprecedented location capabilities, here are three compelling reasons to believe UWB is a game-changing connectivity technology:

1. Big brands recognize the technology’s potential: flagship smartphones and vehicles showcase UWB

Smartphones are playing a significant role in driving the adoption of UWB as they make the technology accessible to a broad consumer market. Samsung and Apple together dominate the global smartphone market, and the impact of their brand power on this adoption can’t be underestimated. Both companies have announced full support for UWB in their latest flagship phone releases, including the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2, and iPhone 11 and 12.

In the automotive space, BMW, Continental and Volkswagen have already demonstrated how UWB will enhance smart secure car access (in fact, NXP partnered with Volkswagen on its launch demo), initially to debut in select new vehicle models. It’s likely we’ll see expanding breadth and depth of UWB use cases in additional verticals, led in part by the technology being showcased in two of the most popular consumer segments: mobile phones and automobiles.

2. Standardization is underway

Most new technologies which have widespread applicability like UWB strongly benefit from a cross-vertical industry consortium that creates an ecosystem of interoperable technologies and standards rather than individual companies launching products that utilize the technology in differing and sometimes confusing ways.

UWB is no exception to that rule: The FiRa Consortium, which NXP helped form, is committed to defining standards and certification programs to ensure full interoperability within the UWB ecosystem.  After just one year, it has more than 45 members, among them industry leaders across mobile, industrial, IoT and auto markets such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Bosch, Cisco, Sony, Hyundai, and many more.

Agreed-upon standards are also of the utmost importance for security, which is a top requirement for any smart technology that is enabled to anticipate and automate functions. Having agreed upon standards reduces exploits that can be leveraged by cybercriminals and assures FiRa certified solutions from different companies can be paired with each other. 

The consortium most recently issued PHY and MAC layer specifications to show progress on the standardization effort.

3. It comes with built-in trustworthiness

Trust in technology is important for achieving adoption and long-term use and, due to the unique way it functions, UWB provides robust security features that make it especially trustworthy.

The distinctive Time of Flight measurements of UWB are particularly quick and able to reliably determine very precise distances, so access points like cars, doors or gates don’t have to wait for or operate with imperfect or incomplete data. Any attempt to intercept or redirect an UWB signal through a relay attack will slightly delay the arrival of the responding device’s acknowledgement signals, making it clear to the UWB-based lock or ignition that the responding device is farther away, not closer. This makes it significantly harder to spoof or hack.

Further, UWB can fit into a broader security-by-design approach that embeds it in a secure element that protects data stored on users' devices and comes with added levels of security on the PHY level.

When all combined, UWB attributes suggest a technology that offers significant benefits to how we experience smart technology and enable it to better anticipate and automate our world.

We need UWB to help enable the IoT in all aspects of our lives.

Author

Charles Dachs is the GM and VP of Secure Embedded Transactions at NXP Semiconductors. Previously, he has worked with organizations such as Phillips Semiconductors, Phillips Research, and CERN.

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