Attend the UWB feast: Start from here and don’t get lost!

Although UWB has only been a hot topic in the past two years, it has actually been a common technology in radar applications since the 1960s. Unlike other wireless technologies that transmit information using modulated sine waves in a narrow frequency band, UWB modulates a series of nanosecond pulses in a very wide frequency band to transmit information. This feature gives it two inherent advantages over other wireless technologies: one is that it can support high-speed data transmission at hundreds of MHz or even GHz; the other is that the operating frequency is very high and the frequency range is wide, which is conducive to capturing high-precision spatial and directional data. These advantages have also become an important fulcrum for UWB to enter the civilian market.

In 2002, the FCC announced that the 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz frequency band would be opened to UWB, and UWB ushered in its first peak of development. At that time, the focus was on how to use the high-speed data transmission characteristics of UWB to create a short-range (no more than ten meters) high-speed personal area network, and successively developed DS-UWB (direct sequence code division multiple access) and MB-UWB (multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) technologies (IEEE802.15.3a communication standard), but because the UWB circle did not reach a consensus on the technical path, and at the same time, the competitor Wi-Fi technology developed rapidly, UWB eventually withdrew from the stage of high-speed personal area network transmission.

However, more than ten years later, ultra-wideband narrow pulse UWB (IR-UWB) has "made a comeback" from another market entry point with its centimeter-level ranging and positioning capabilities, setting off a new round of UWB craze.

The "return" of UWB this time is closely related to the growing demand for real-time positioning services (RTLS). Today, people have long been accustomed to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and the A-GNSS assisted positioning provided by the land-based mobile communication network is supplemented to provide users with a high-speed, high-precision positioning experience. However, this satellite positioning service has an obvious weakness, that is, once you enter the room, the satellite signal is blocked by buildings and it does not work. And this demand for providing precise positioning indoors or in local spaces is real, from the prevention of loss of small items, to the monitoring of sensitive personnel and materials, from parking navigation in parking lots, to the control of social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic... We can list a long list of rigid needs.

According to the market forecast of Markets and Markets, the global indoor positioning market will grow from US$7.11 billion in 2017 to US$40.99 billion in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 42%. Such a huge market space must be filled by a suitable wireless ranging and positioning technology.

An ideal wireless ranging positioning technology needs to meet the following requirements:

If measured by the above standards, the familiar Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other narrowband radio systems can play a certain role, but they are "not good enough", either the accuracy is not up to standard, or more computing resources and power consumption are required to obtain more accurate measurement and positioning. When people turn their attention to UWB, they suddenly find that it is the "Mr. Right".

The reason for this is that UWB's own strength is indeed strong:

Since UWB is considered to be so "naturally beautiful", there are naturally more and more people behind it in terms of large-scale commercial use, and all parties are very enthusiastic.

In the field of mobile phones, ever since Apple added the UWB function to the iPhone 11, manufacturers in the Android camp have also been flocking to it - Samsung has built-in UWB in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, and proposed application scenarios such as digital keys, indoor navigation, hands-free payment, and anti-loss positioning; Xiaomi also launched the UWB-based "one-finger connection" smart home remote control function last year; other mobile phone manufacturers are also catching up... It can be said that it is only a matter of time before UWB becomes a standard feature in mobile phones in the future.

Similar trends are also happening in the automotive industry. Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Bosch, Continental and other leading players in the automotive industry are already exploring the feasibility of using UWB to improve the intelligence of cars. Keyless entry and start system (PEPS) will be the first focus of UWB in automotive applications. After that, in-vehicle applications such as automatic parking, child seat/airbag control will gradually follow. Data shows that the penetration rate of UWB in the automotive market will reach 15% in 2025 and will climb to 23.3% in 2027.

Similar to the active actions of various manufacturers, UWB-related industry organizations are also becoming increasingly active. The UWB Alliance, FiRa Alliance, CCC Alliance, etc. are all carrying out fruitful work in promoting the standardization and application of UWB.

The combined efforts of various parties are providing sufficient impetus for the growth of the UWB application market. According to Techno Systems Research's "2021 Ultra-Wideband Market Analysis" research report, global UWB device shipments are expected to reach more than 200 million in 2021 and exceed 1.2 billion by 2027.

The UWB market has a promising future, but everyone knows that if you really want to "make your dream come true", you still need an important prerequisite, that is, mature and commercially available chip products. This was once an important reason that restricted the development of UWB.

In solving the problem of UWB commercialization lack of "chips", there is a company that has made outstanding contributions and must be mentioned, that is Decawave. This chip company was founded in Ireland in 2007. In 2013, it took the lead in developing the first UWB positioning chip DW1000, becoming a pioneer in promoting the large-scale commercialization of UWB.

In 2020, Qorvo, a world-leading RF technology company, completed its acquisition of Decawave. Since then, Decawave's powerful UWB product and IP portfolio has been combined with Qorvo's comprehensive RF solutions (including RF, front-end and modules), providing better "equipment" for everyone to expand in the field of UWB applications! After that, Qorvo further strengthened its strength in UWB-related software development by acquiring Sevenhugs.

Among the many UWB design resources currently provided by Qorvo, the classic DW1000 UWB transceiver must be in the C position. This is a low-power UWB transceiver IC that complies with the IEEE 802.15.4-2011 standard, supports 6 RF bands from 3.5GHz to 6.5GHz, has programmable transmitter output power, and is used for TWR two-way ranging or TDoA positioning systems with an accuracy of 10cm.

In a 6mm x 6mm 48-pin QFN package, the DW1000 also integrates an analog front end with a receiver and transmitter, a digital back end connected to an off-chip host processor, and on-chip temperature and voltage monitors, etc., requiring fewer external components to complete the UWB system design. The device also has low power consumption, with a sleep current of 1μA and a deep sleep current of only 50nA. In addition, the DW1000 also supports data transmission at rates up to 6.8Mbps. In a word: As a highly integrated commercial solution that has been proven in the market for many years, the DW1000 transceiver IC will make your design easy.

If you think it is still troublesome to build a UWB system starting from IC, don't worry. Qorvo also provides a series of UWB modules based on DW1000. These modules integrate antennas, RF circuits, power management and clock circuits. Some modules also integrate MCU, motion sensors and Bluetooth functions according to some typical application scenarios, which greatly simplifies the user's development work. Users only need to choose the appropriate UWB module according to the actual application needs.

Table 1: UWB modules based on DW1000

If you want to explore more possibilities of UWB applications, Qorvo also has relevant evaluation development kits available. For example, EVK1000 is a two-way ranging kit consisting of two EVB1000 evaluation boards, which integrate DW1000 wireless transceiver IC and STM32F105 MCU based on Arm Cortex M3, and come with two-way ranging software source code. Developers can use it to run pre-programmed two-way ranging demonstration applications, control DW1000 IC to exchange messages, calculate flight time, estimate the distance between the two boards, and display the results on the onboard display.

There is no doubt that UWB will become the next outlet in the field of wireless interconnection. Whether in mobile phones, automotive applications, smart homes, wearable devices, or industrial and commercial fields, UWB has huge development potential. If you want to enter the market as early as possible and occupy a favorable position in this emerging market, it is necessary to choose a partner that has been tested by the market and can keep up with the pulse of technology and constantly innovate. If you screen according to this standard, Qorvo should definitely be at the top of your candidate list.

According to data provided by Qorvo, Decawave has shipped more than four million UWB chips since launching its first one, with applications in factory and building automation, healthcare, ePOS and retail, robotics, warehousing, automotive and consumer applications. The company has sent samples to five thousand customers, which is undoubtedly the best endorsement! It is worth mentioning that Qorvo's UWB car key solution is currently at the industry's top level in terms of security and encryption features, and can meet mature commercial requirements.

Source: Mouser Electronics