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As industries develop, more companies are searching for better solutions for tracking precision and efficiency enhancement. Among various options for RTLS (real-time location system), UWB (Ultra-Wideband) stands out due to its accuracy and reliability on real-time tracking. Its outstanding ability including delivering precise and anti-interference data makes it evolve diverse industries.

UWB, a wireless carrier communication technology, uses a frequency bandwidth of more than 1GHz to achieve short-range and high-bandwidth communications. UWB realizes positioning in three main ways: ToF (Time of flight), TDoA (Time Difference of Arrival) and AoA (Angle of Arrival). These methods use travel time or the angle between mobile terminals and the fixed base station to map targets.

The history of UWB can be traced back to the early age of radio, one experimental spark-gap transmitter was generated by Heinrich Hertz in 1887, which marked the first UWB signal. Initial use cases of UWB can be seen in military field like radar systems, while in the early 21 century, UWB began to enter the business market. The important turning point was the FCC permission to operate UWB devices without a license in 2002. Since then, the UWB technology has been seen a period of rapid development and become widely known gradually, especially its adoption into smart phones for lost prevent in 2019. Today, UWB technology stands out in the wireless communications mainly due to the following great advantages.

High Precision

The key to achieve high precision lies in its unique way of transmitting pulses. Instead of splitting the bandwidth into smaller portions, UWB dedicates the entire available bandwidth to transmitting extremely short pulses of radio waves. The pulse duration of UWB is only 2 nanoseconds. By measuring the travel time of these pulses, UWB can calculate the distance between the signal source and the receiver, thus offering centimeter-level indoor positioning accuracy.

Strong Anti-interference Ability

The low power spectral density of UWB signal minimizes the interference to other wireless communication systems, and also displays strong anti-interference abilities. These features make UWB technology work stably in complex electromagnetic environments. In addition, the strong penetration ability of UWB signals can penetrate walls and other obstacles, which makes it more advantageous in indoor environment use, like basements.

Low Power Consumption

UWB devices have significant advantages over traditional wireless communication devices in terms of battery life and electromagnetic radiation. The UWB system uses intermittent pulses to send data, with the pulse duration generally ranging between 0.20~1.5ns. This contributes in low power consumption. During high-speed communications, the power consumption of the system is only a few hundred milliwatts.

High Data Transfer Speed

UWB technology uses an extremely wide frequency band to transmit data, capable of achieving data transfer rates up to 54Mbps in the frequency band from 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz. This makes it suitable for high-speed data transmission.

These great advantages enable UWB technology suitable for various application scenarios catering for end-use customers and also industries. For instance, UWB tags can be attached to private belongings to avoid theft to a great extent. These items can be precisely positioned by UWB tags, and be got location by using a smartphone built-in a UWB module.

Due to the high precision, UWB is usually used to indoor RTLS positioning. With centimeter-level accuracy it achieved, UWB could be a great choice for various applications, especially those need to pinpoint location tracking. Such scenarios include monitoring patients or medical equipment in hospitals, managing inventory within warehouses, and also tracking valuable equipment or personnel in industrial settings, etc. By fixing UWB gateways in these settings appropriately, assets or personnel equipped with UWB devices can be tracked with great precision, usually within 10-30 centimeters.

Moreover, the applications of UWB technologies extend beyond RTLS, presenting its great potential across various industries. In the realm of automotives, UWB technology is improving the driving experience through its fusion in keyless entry, start systems, and also communications among vehicles. Also, enabling precise control of various devices, UWB makes a great difference in high-level positioning and safety authentication in smart homes. Other industries including sports are embracing UWB technologies as well to achieve high-precision positioning.

According to the Global UWB Market Insights, the whole UWB market was valued at $1.83 Billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $4.78 Billion by 2030. During the forecast period from 2024 to 2030, the CAGR will reach 17.39%. This rapid growth is attributed to the increasing demand for real-time tracking and location-based services across various industries. UWB technology is a powerful tool offering numerous benefits for real-time tracking and efficiency enhancement. As technologies advance and costs drop, UWB is expected to become more widespread, therefore brings more convenience and security to our daily life in the coming years.

MOKO SMART, the pioneering manufacturer of IoT hardware solutions known for its innovative technologies and robust products, inserts the advanced Qorvo chip into M2 Asset Tag. This enables M2 to be part of UWB solution and achieve unprecedented centimeter-level indoor location accuracy. In this way, M2 is able to significantly enhances the efficiency and precision of asset tracking and management systems.