The accelerated development and commercialization of UWB technology presents a massive market opportunity for low-latency, low-power wireless sensing and communications. In hopes of accelerating the development and adoption of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, SPARK Microsystems has joined the UWB Alliance and the FiRa Consortium and will work with both organizations to influence regulatory matters and develop international UWB technology standards.
The UWB Alliance and the FiRa Consortium work in collaboration to achieve the common goal of creating a UWB-enabled ecosystem. As a part of their joint liaison, the UWB Alliance focuses on matters arising from the promotion and safeguarding of UWB technology and advancing updates of the UWB rules in the United States and internationally. For its part, the FiRa Consortium focuses on UWB use cases for fine ranging and positioning and aims to certify UWB products for conformity and interoperability based on approved FiRa and IEEE 802.15.4z standards.
As UWB continues its rapid uptake in the consumer electronics space, the technology is fueling more diverse and innovative use cases, as well as establishing a vibrant eco-system,” commented Tim Harrington, Chairman of the UWB Alliance. “The much-valued technical contributions from SPARK and our other members are helping us to define how the UWB rulesets can evolve to enable these multi-radio consumer eco-systems to continue to flourish in the future.”
The SPARK Microsystems series of low-power UWB wireless transceiver ICs enable a new class of short-range wireless connectivity applications that, due to power and latency requirements, would have previously needed to be wired. These applications include gaming peripherals and AR/VR headsets, smart home devices, and battery-less IoT sensors. The UWB wireless transceiver series achieves an order of magnitude better energy efficiency, latency and ranging than Bluetooth Low Energy or ZigBee at faster data rates, supporting uninterrupted data streaming as well as accurate ranging and positioning. When paired with energy-harvesting technologies, SPARK’s UWB technology significantly extends the battery life of electronics and enables the battery-less operation of wireless devices such as sensors.