The application of new technologies in terminals often brings new application areas and even new ecological opportunities to terminals. For example, the addition of Bluetooth in terminals has led to applications such as wireless headsets, smart homes, and indoor positioning. And rich product forms. When the time comes to the second half of 2020, more terminals start or plan to support UWB technology, which also opens up new application possibilities for these terminals.
UWB equipment ushered in a small outbreak
UWB stands for ultra-wideband technology. It is a wireless personal area network communication technology with low power consumption and high-speed transmission. It uses nanosecond to picosecond non-sine wave narrow pulses to transmit data. In 2019, Apple took the lead in applying this technology to the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max models. Apple also introduced the technology on the official website at the time, with “Can it be more precise? The copywriting of “nice” means that users of iPhone 11 series models can sense other nearby Apple devices equipped with U1 chips and accurately determine their positional relationship.
In August 2020, Samsung’s Galaxy Note20 Ultra also adopted UWB technology, becoming the first Android device to support UWB. At that time, Samsung Electronics’ vice president and head of the IT and mobile communications department’s technology strategy group, Inkang Song, said: The Galaxy Note20 Ultra mobile phone integrates NXP’s UWB technology, which makes sharing photos, videos and files easier. This is the first time we have adopted this technology in the Galaxy series of devices. I am excited about the future UWB function. It will use augmented reality technology to help users locate objects more accurately and act as a digital key to open their homes, making consumers’ lives easier.”
A month later, Apple also embedded the U1 chip on Apple Watch Series 6, which means that the new Apple Watch products also support UWB technology. According to outside speculation, Apple Watch Series 6 can use UWB technology to make the Find My function have better sensing capabilities, and users can find watches more accurately through iPhone.
And a month later, Xiaomi released the UWB “One Finger Connect” technology. Xiaomi added UWB technology to the Xiaomi Mi 10 series mobile phones and a series of smart home devices to give mobile phones and smart devices the ability to sense space. Can be directional control. The release of Xiaomi’s “Yizhilian” technology also means that in the future UWB technology will be applied in smartphones and homes sold by Xiaomi in the future.
UWB use cases are no longer single
Looking closely at Xiaomi’s “One Finger Link” technology, it is not difficult to find that the current use cases of UWB technology are confirming Apple’s statement that “and this is just a starting point” when it was first equipped with this technology. Xiaomi uses UWB technology to achieve a pointing interaction mode, and the mobile phone can be pointed at the smart device to control with one finger and send with one finger. Even Xiaomi said that with the implementation of this technology, insensible opening of the door and automatic unlocking will be realized one after another.
Apple also announced at the WWDC in June that the Apple U1 chip will be called the digital key of future BMW cars. The first model to use Apple’s digital car key will be the BMW 5 series that will be launched in July 2021. With the addition of the U1 chip in the subsequent Apple Watch Series 6, it is clear that next year Apple Watch can also be called the digital key of BMW cars.
As the benchmark in the Android camp, Samsung also provided a wealth of application scenarios for UWB technology when it released the Galaxy Note20 Ultra. Samsung introduced in the demo video that it can enhance the transmission experience of Android’s new Nearby Share feature, support UWB sharing, and also support the use of mobile phones as digital keys to the car, home or office. And will add the SmartThings Find function, using UWB technology to identify the location of objects. Samsung also said that the introduction of UWB technology in the future will bring unlimited possibilities for mobile phone use innovations in mobile payment, home appliance synchronization and the Internet of Things.
UWB use cases still have potential to be tapped
Indeed, UWB has more potential to be tapped, and maybe even a few days later, UWB will bring new surprises to consumers. According to the news, Apple will also hold an online special event on November 6. In addition to releasing MacBook products equipped with its own chips, it will also release a new product AirTags, which is expected to be sold within 30 days after release. It is already certain that AirTags is also equipped with a U1 chip that supports UWB technology, at least with Find My function, Apple will use this to subvert the experience of using Bluetooth anti-lost products. Even AirTags has a huge imagination space in the application of smart home and indoor positioning.
In addition, Qorvo, an Apple supplier, also acquired UWB chip maker Decawave for US$400 million. The company is expected to provide UWB chips for smart watches and other IoT devices.
NXP, which has previously provided UWB solutions for Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra, also announced at the developer conference in October that a new UWB IC has been added to its UWB product portfolio. Trimension SR040 and SR150 ICs are optimized for new IoT use cases. , Suitable for smart locks and real-time positioning system (RTLS) tags, and can provide “relative position” with extremely high precision. In actual use, multiple SR150 IC devices can be placed in a room as UWB anchor points for positioning when people and objects move.
In fact, UWB technology still has huge application space in wearable devices, smart home, and enterprise-level markets. For example, after being applied to children’s watches, even in an indoor environment, parents can accurately locate the child’s specific location. Applied to VR and smart home devices, when users are playing VR games, they can remind the safety distance according to the location. In the field of smart retail, it can be applied to indoor navigation, interactive marketing, asset tracking, and payment without hands-on operations.
Perhaps just next week, UWB technology will show the outside world its new application results.
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