Once a UWB-enabled device like a smartphone, smartwatch, smart key or tile is near another UWB device, the devices start ‘ranging’. Ranging refers to calculating the time of flight (ToF) between devices: the roundtrip time of challenge/response packets.

Using a larger channel bandwidth of 500 MHz with short pulses of two nanoseconds each, UWB achieves greater accuracy. The UWB positioning process instantaneously tracks the device’s movements in real-time. Hence, UWB-enabled devices can understand both motion and relative position.

According to NXP, which produced the UWB chipset featured in the Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G smart phone, UWB delivers greater accuracy in line-of-site (LoS) and strong localisation in non-line-of-sight (nLoS) scenarios. It is also capable of managing environments in which numerous walls, people and other obstacles would typically block these signals. Using angle-of-arrival (AoA) technology, the real-time accuracy of UWB measurements provides highly precise device location services down to centimetre level. Not only that, UWB devices can also determine whether an object is stationary, moving closer or moving away.

UWB-enabled systems can, therefore, know if you’re approaching a locked door and can determine if you’re inside or outside the doorway, for example. They can also decide whether the lock should be engaged when you reach a specific position. In a real-world scenario, UWB could open the garage as your car approaches and unlock the door to your house as you near the entryway.

UWB technology is still in its infancy but is poised to make a huge difference to everything that involves positioning, sensing and related automation.

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