By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Ultra-wideband (UWB) for short-range wireless connectivity is the technology nearly nobody has heard of – yet UWB performance and cost may well be hitting the sweet spot for a wide range applications including gaming, wearables, headset cameras, lossless audio, and more. Canada-based SPARK Microsystems is leading the charge and says its low energy LE-UWB is poised for a breakthrough in multiple device segments.
UWB is mostly known for location services for phones and assets (tracking) but the technology is multi-faceted and is now poised to forcefully enter the market for short-range wireless connectivity. The technical specifications for LE-UWB (low energy UWB) are excellent – also compared to more established short-range options – and the cost is virtually the same, says Dhiraj Sogani, Chief Commercial Officer at SPARK Microsystems. LE-UWB delivers impressive performance in pretty much every category, he says.
“LE-UWB runs at about 20 Mbps payload data rate over a range of 20 meters line-of-sight – which is fast for short-range wireless. But more important is that we’re more than an order of magnitude lower in power consumption compared to other options. UWB is also highly responsive when it comes to latency, which means it is perfect for real-time applications such as gaming, or in a pair of AR glasses. Add to that extreme interference robustness as UWB basically operates below the noise floor of other connectivity technologies. This is why we call it deterministic,” says Dhiraj Sogani.
In particular gaming peripherals will benefit from 8k polling (8 times the current rate for most mice) but the list of applications is nearly never-ending and spans pretty much any device that needs short range wireless connectivity. This includes mice & keyboards, microphones, smart watches, health monitors, IoT devices, you name it. Other applications include sensors, access control, cable-free data links, and body-area networks. SPARK Microsystems says one current proof of concept project with a major client even involves Edge AI for warehousing and logistics. Add to this loads of new, creative use cases.
“Our UWB solutions are tremendously versatile. For example: We’re working on an entirely new category of immersive experiences, where users will be able to interact with their environment in new and creative ways. Another application involves tagging your pet’s collar to allow the opening of pet doors. The creativity and applications are endless – but they are quite real and many of them are very much in the pipeline. Low cost and versatility drives a lot of innovation,” Dhiraj Sogani says.
For the time being interoperability is not available for UWB systems of this kind but is part of the new IEEE 802.15.4ab standard as an optional feature. Meanwhile applications will require UWB transceivers at both ends from the same vendor, SPARK says.
SPARK Microsystems this month closed a Series-B funding round to the tune of US$12 million co-led by Idealist Capital and Real Ventureswith participation from Cycle Capital, ND Capital and EDC. SPARK chips are already powering connectivity for a gaming mice from Waizowl and ELECOM while Focal uses SPARK’s UWB to connect premium wireless audio speakers. SPARK says there are lots more products in the pipeline in short order.
/Claus.
Don’t miss Spark’s webinar on June 9th (see below). To register and participate click here.
