Communication distance of 1 km, 10 times longer than Bluetooth

NXP Semiconductors and Volkswagen showcased Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology and various future applications utilizing UWB.

UWB ultra-wideband wireless communication technology is a wireless communication technology that transmits large amounts of information with low power over a very wide band compared to existing spectrum.

UWB technology, which was used as a military wireless communication technology by the U.S. Department of Defense, is a wireless communication technology that guarantees a transmission distance of 10 m to 1 km while using a frequency band of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, and can transmit at a speed of 100 to 500 M/s.

It is a technology that enables communication up to 1km, which is 10 times longer than the Bluetooth communication distance of 100m, and is widely used in home networking systems.

Volkswagen has built on these UWB advantages to apply them to a concept car for security, safety, and convenience in vehicles, and says it will also see many uses, including automatic trailer hitch activation, indoor occupant detection, automatic valet parking, hands-free parking and parking lot entry, and drive-through payments.

>UWB prevents vehicle theft by attempting to eavesdrop on car key communications

Additionally, the concept of vehicle approach recognition through gait pattern recognition was introduced and applied to Volkswagen vehicles. This is a personalized user gesture learning function that applies high-precision sensing technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to the Volkswagen UWB car key.

Personalized vehicle access through AI-based gesture recognition

Developers in various markets, including mobile, automotive, IoT (Internet of Things), and industrial, have been actively seeking safe and precise detection technologies that can implement accurate indoor and outdoor positioning capabilities.

UWB meets these requirements and is a clear improvement over existing wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

UWB technology is expected to enable exciting new applications because it can process situational information such as the location of a UWB anchor, its movement, and the distance to other devices in real time with a precision of a few centimeters that was previously impossible.

NXP Semiconductors CTO Lars Reger said NXP sees tremendous potential in UWB, particularly its potential to replace key fobs in homes, offices or cars.

Maik Rohde, head of Volkswagen's vehicle access systems division, also said that UWB technology will be used to prevent vehicle theft and that it will be introduced in large quantities in Volkswagen car models starting this year.
/> In particular, UWB can implement more functions when combined with high-precision sensors and AI, some of which are said to be applied to Volkswagen's concept car.