Ultra-Whatband? Ultra-Wideband!

By Brent Dietz, Qorvo

Thanks to Verizon’s 5G marketing campaigns, there’s a boatload of confusion about what ultra-wideband (UWB) is and why it matters. Those of us fortunate enough to work around UWB technology and products would never confuse it for a 5G data plan, but let’s quickly bust a few UWB myths for everyone else.

UWB is not:

• Texas A&M’s 400+ member Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band, which is wide enough to span the entire length of a football field.
• A white belt worn during the 1970s to complement white shoes and a silk shirt — it’s not ultra-whiteband.
• A description of my midriff following a glutenous holiday season.

Now, a little more about what UWB is:

• Extremely accurate at measuring distances: to within a few centimeters.
• Precise over a greater range than Bluetooth or NFC: as much as 200 meters.
• Low latency: uses fast 2 ns pulses to reach 10s of Mbps data rates.
• Coming soon to a smartphone near you.