Description
Ultra-Wideband (UWB, IEEE 802.15.4z) is a short-range radio with extremely wide instantaneous bandwidth (>500 MHz), which gives it the best ranging accuracy of any consumer wireless — typically 10-30 cm in indoor environments via Two-Way Ranging or TDoA. UWB is the strongest competing modality to BLE for indoor localization: better accuracy, similar power, but more expensive infrastructure. Apple's U1 / U2 chip (iPhone 11+, Watch 6+) and Qorvo's DW3000 are bringing UWB to mass-market scale. For the thesis, UWB is the high-accuracy comparison baseline against which BLE-calibration accuracy is benchmarked, and a candidate for ground-truth trajectory measurement during calibration campaigns.
Specs / capabilities
- 3.1-10.6 GHz band (FCC) / 6-8.5 GHz band (typical channels 5 / 9)
-
500 MHz instantaneous bandwidth → 10-30 cm range resolution
- Two-Way Ranging (TWR), Time-Difference-of-Arrival (TDoA), or AoA
- Range up to ~30 m line-of-sight
- ~$5-10 per chip (DW3000); Apple U1 embedded
- IEEE 802.15.4z HRP / LRP
Tooling
- Qorvo (Decawave) DW3000 / DW1000 SDK
- nRF Connect SDK with UWB support
- Apple Nearby Interaction framework (consumer side)
Used by (papers)
- High-accuracy indoor localization comparison baselines
- BLE + UWB fusion papers
- Recent (2022+) consumer-electronics indoor positioning systems