Ultra-wideband is already capable of remarkably precise indoor positioning. The bigger challenge is turning that precision into an industrial-scale system that is robust, scalable, and economical to deploy. Ciholas President & Founder Mike Ciholas explains how the company’s CUWB platform approaches that problem.

IEEE 802.15.4ab is the next major evolution of Ultra-Wideband technology. The emerging standard expands UWB beyond the precise ranging applications for which it is best known today, introducing substantially more feature-rich radio technology designed for a much wider selection of use cases.

SPARK calls its approach Low Energy Ultra-Wideband (LE-UWB) and positions the technology as a foundation for what it calls Deterministic Wireless™: Short-range wireless connectivity designed to approach wired performance in latency, synchronisation, robustness, and predictability while consuming very little power.

A second commercial market is now beginning to emerge – one that could significantly broaden UWB’s role in the wireless landscape. A new generation of UWB implementations is demonstrating that the same technology used for centimetre-level ranging can also deliver ultra-low-power, ultra-low-latency wireless communications.

In the previous four parts of this series, we’ve explored how UWB delivers centimetre-level indoor positioning, enables intelligent spaces, and is emerging as a compelling communications technology. In this final part, we step back and examine the broader ecosystem: who is building it, how the pieces fit together, and why the convergence of these technologies matters.

The first generation of industrial location systems answered a simple question: Where is my equipment? Today’s enterprises require much more. Modern factories, warehouses, hospitals, airports, and logistics centres increasingly rely on automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and digital twins.

Today, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is emerging as perhaps the strongest candidate yet for bringing GPS-like positioning indoors. More importantly, it may do so while preserving something that traditional indoor positioning systems often compromise: User privacy.

Every wireless technology solves a different problem. Wi-Fi moves large amounts of data over medium and long distances. Bluetooth mostly connects nearby devices using very little power, while GPS tells us where we are – usually outdoors. Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is something entirely different.

Ultra-Wideband has entered a new phase of maturity. The discussion has shifted away from whether UWB works and towards how rapidly it will become embedded into enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure, smartphones, industrial automation, and intelligent AI systems.

In a recent WiFi NOW Tech Watch interview, Thomas Graichen outlines how Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology is finally making precise indoor navigation practical – and potentially as transformative as GPS was for outdoor navigation.