not new, consumer awareness is still lacking. This need for greater awareness is just one of many hurdles the technology still needs to overcome – others include standardisation, interoperability and widespread chipset and device availability. Having said that, UWB is on its way to becoming the next big wireless technology for smart homes. A major milestone was reached in August 2020 with the publication of the next-gen IEEE 802.15.4z UWB standard. The standard saw improvements in ranging integrity and multiple other technical advances with updates to the High Rate PRF (HRP), and Low Rate PRF (LRP) UWB PHY Physical layers, as well as the MAC layer clauses in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. 2021 saw the FiRa Consortium launch the initial phase of its certification programme. The programme is the first to provide baseline testing and certification focused on UWB’s pinpoint location and spacing capabilities, one of the key steps needed to facilitate interoperability of devices. The first products were certified at the end of 2021 and many more are expected to be certified over the coming years. In 2022, SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian fabless semiconductor company specialising in next- generation UWB, and the UWB Alliance, an international non- profit organisation dedicated to the promotion and growth of the
UWB industry, initiated a joint effort to test the coexistence and aggregation capabilities of UWB technology in environments where other UWB or other wireless protocols and radio devices are in use. Preliminary results of phase one with multiple UWB devices indicate generally good coexistence performance, with the tested devices showing no measurable performance impact from other interfering UWB devices.
In summary, it has been noted by Zhang that “UWB is fast becoming a pillar of wireless local connectivity technology alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth” and it has been predicted that UWB’s adoption within smartphones and vehicles will be a catalyst for large scale adoption across a range of IoT applications [1] .
References: 1. Zignani, Andrew; Tomsett, Stephanie. Ultra-Wideband (UWB) For The IoT - A Fine Ranging Revolution ABI Research 2.Iman Khajenasiri; Peng Zhu; Marian Verhelst; Georges Gielen Low- energy UWB transceiver implementation for smart home energy management Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 3.P.S, Sharma; Vijay Sandeep; Shukla, Manoj. Ultra-Wideband Technology: Standards, Characteristics, Applications Research Gate August 2020 4.Zignani, Andrew How UWB Expands Into the IoT - Where We Stand Today NXP Semiconductors
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