Galaxy S21 Ultra has UWB. Here’s how ultra wideband technology will make your life easier

You’ve heard of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 5G. It is now time to learn another term for wireless communication: ultra wideband, or UWB. Smartphone leaders Apple and Samsung have built it into their top models, including the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and now the Galaxy S21 Plus and S21 Ultra. The Apple Watch Series 6 also has a built-in UWB. With the technology, you can determine the exact location of phones, keys and trackers, to find lost dogs or to unlock your car automatically.

UWB calculates locations up to less than half an inch by measuring how long it takes super-short radio pulses to move between devices. It’s well suited for Samsung’s new SmartTags, which use Bluetooth to get started but will get UWB support in the future, and Apple’s long-awaited AirTag trackers. Car manufacturers, including Audi, BMW and Ford, are also very good for UWB.

At the moment, the use of UWB is limited, but as it expands and spreads on more devices, UWB could lead to a world where you only carry your phone or watch, you can log on to your laptop when you approach it or you house can close when you leave.

‘Being able to determine exactly where you are in an environment is becoming increasingly important,’ said Andrew Zignani, an analyst at ABI Research. 1 billion in 2025 will increase. ’embedded in a smartphone, which offers very important opportunities for wireless technology. ‘

Here’s a look at UWB and its uses.

What is UWB good for?

Satellite-based GPS is useful to find yourself on a map, but struggling with something much more precise and indoors. UWB does not have those shortcomings.

UWB can switch your TV from Netflix’s profile to your child. Your smart speaker can only give calendar alerts to the people in the room. Your laptop may wake up as you enter the home office.

Imagine this scenario: you leave the office and while you are near your car, recipients in its doors recognize your phone and unlock the vehicle for you. When you get out of the car at home, the receivers recognize that you are no longer in the vehicle and lock the doors.

With UWB, your home can realize that you are returning at night and illuminating your walkway. The technology can then automatically unlock your front door and turn on your home audio system, which you follow from room to room. “I walk in a sound and light cocoon in my house,” said Lars Reger, chief technology officer at NXP Semiconductors, a supporter of the UWB, whose chips are widely used in cars.

Bluetooth-based location detection takes at least two seconds to find an accurate solution for your location, but UWB is a thousand times faster, Reger said.

UWB will offer more than convenience, supporters say. Conventional key boxes have security issues related to car unlocking: criminals can use relay attacks that mimic the car and key communications to steal a vehicle. UWB has cryptographic protection against these kinds of problems.

The same ability to track your movements has disadvantages, especially if you do not like the idea of ​​the government flooding your phone or coupons with your coupons after your movements or coffee shops. But with today’s privacy pressure, it’s likely that phone manufacturers will not allow devices to detect your phone without your permission.

How does Samsung support UWB?

At the Galaxy S21 launch event on Thursday, Samsung unveiled UWB as a wireless technology that will offer new convenience in your life. This includes unlocking your home or car as you walk there.

“With Digital Key, you will be able to open the door of your home with your mobile device,” said Kevin Chung of Samsung’s direct-to-consumer center during the launch event. “You will be able to unlock your car door with your phone. The door can be unlocked when you reach it – not soon, not even later.”

You will be able to send digital keys to friends or family members, and Samsung’s AR finder app will point your car in a busy parking lot. Samsung has announced key digital partnerships with BMW, Audi, Ford and Hyundai’s Genesis Motor.

Samsung will later also offer UWB SmartTags.

How does Apple support UWB?

iPhones since the iPhone 11 family have Apple’s new UWB chip, the U1. It joins a handful of other processors Apple has developed, including the A-Series that power iPhones and iPads, the M1 at the core of new Macs, and the T-Series that handles Touch ID and other security duties on Macs.

“The new Apple-designed U1 chip uses ultra-wide-band spatial awareness technology – allowing iPhone 11 Pro to track other U1-equipped Apple devices precisely. It’s like adding another sentence [the] iPhone, “Apple said of the U1 chip when it arrived.” With U1 and iOS 13, you can point your iPhone at someone else’s, and AirDrop will prioritize that device, allowing you to share files faster. And this is just the beginning. ‘

For the time being, Apple only promises UWB links between its own devices. But UWB standardization needs to open up a world of other connections, and software customizations need to allow Apple to adapt as UWB standards mature.

Apple’s years of UWB work are evident from several patents. These include patents for the formation of UWB pulses for more accuracy in distance measurements, using a telephone, clock or key box to enter and start a car, calculate your path to a car, so that you car can send a biometric authentication request to your phone, and to have Bluetooth and UWB work together to give you access to your car.

Who else is interested in UWB?

Other companies involved in UWB include consumer electronics giants Samsung and Sony; chipmakers Decawave, Qualcomm, NXP and STMicroelectronics; car manufacturers Volkswagen, Hyundai and Jaguar Land Rover; and Bosch motor electronic power station. Another notable player is Tile, who has been selling shell records for years to help you find things like keychains and wallets.

It is confusing that these companies merged into two industry groups: the UWB Alliance which was established in December 2018 and the FiRa Consortium (short for ‘fine change’) which was formed in August 2019. Samsung has joined FiRa, Apple is not listed as a member of either.

In addition, there is the Car Connectivity Consortium working on digital key technology. The three groups have now determined who is doing what to prevent them from stepping on each other’s toes, Harrington said.

FiRa is working on standards to ensure that UWB devices work properly together, while the UWB Alliance seeks to minimize UWB problems by extending Wi-Fi to the 6 GHz radio band that UWB also uses. For example, there are short interruptions in Wi-Fi signals sent in the 6 GHz band, and UWB broadcasts can sneak into the gaps, said Tim Harrington, executive director of UWB Alliance.

How does UWB work?

The idea behind UWB has been around for decades. The University of Southern California established an ultra-broadband laboratory called UltRa in 1996. Some of the concepts date from radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, says Harrington.

UWB devices transmit very very short, low power pulses over an exceptionally wide range of radio waves. UWB’s frequency range is at least 500 MHz, compared to Wi-Fi channels which are about a tenth as wide. UWB’s low power signals cause little interference with other radio broadcasts.

UWB sends up to 1 billion pulses per second – that is 1 per nanosecond. By sending pulses in patterns, UWB encodes information. It takes between 32 and 128 pulses to encode a single piece of data, Harrington said, but given how fast the bits arrive, it can enable data rates of 7 to 27 megabits per second.

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) developed a UWB standard called 802.15.4 more than 15 years ago, but it could not fetch it for its original intended use, and quickly sends data.

But has location observation made UWB a popular topic again?

Businesses like Spark Microsystems use UWB for data transfer, but most tech giants like to accurately measure location. Although 802.15.4 flops when it was first created years ago, UWB’s renaissance is taking place because its super-short radio pulse computers allow distances to be calculated very precisely.

Now UWB development is active again, for example with the 802.15.4z standard which enhances the security for key fees and payments and improves the accuracy of the location to less than a centimeter. Solving today’s relay problems, where someone with radio technology mainly copies and pastes radio communications from key fobs or smartphone unlocking systems, was a top priority for 802.15.4z. “With the exact timing you get from UWB and the ability to know exactly where you are, you can cut the man in the middle [relay] completely attack, ”Harrington said.

Another area of ​​active development is improving the way you can use your phone to make payments at a payment terminal.

Radio waves travel about 30 centimeters (1 foot) in a billionth of a second, but with short pulses, devices can calculate distances very accurately by measuring the ‘flight time’ of a radio signal to another device that responds with its own signal. With multiple antennas placed in different locations, UWB radios can calculate the direction to another device, not just the distance.

UWB adapts nicely to the internet of things, the network of doorbells, speakers, light bulbs and other devices.

It is already used for location observation. NFL players have UWB transmitters in each shoulder pad, part of the broadcast technology used for live replay animations. According to Harrington, a football’s location is updated 2000 times per second.

Boeing uses UWB labels to locate more than 10,000 tools, cars and other items on its expansive factory floors.

UWB uses very little power. A sensor that sends a pulse once per second is expected to operate for seven years on a single coin-cell battery.

Verizon has something called 5G Ultra Wideband. Is it the same thing?

No. Verizon uses the same words, but it’s just a trademark label.

“5G Ultra Wideband is our brand for our 5G service,” said Kevin King. “It’s not a technology.”