Location tech called UWB could help you unlock your car with your phone. Here’s how

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Here’s a look at UWB and its uses.

What’s UWB good for?

is useful for finding yourself on a map but struggles with anything much more precise and indoors. UWB doesn’t have those handicaps. But UWB’s potential goes far beyond that practical feature.

UWB could switch your TV from your child’s Netflix profile to yours. Your smart speaker could give calendar alerts only for the people in the room. Your laptop could wake up when you enter the home office.

Imagine this scenario: You leave the office and as you near your car, receivers in its doors recognize your phone and unlock the vehicle for you. When you get out of the car at home, the receivers recognize you’re no longer in the vehicle and lock the doors.

With UWB, your home could recognize that you’re returning at night and illuminate your walkway. It could then automatically unlock your front door. Your music and lights could follow you from room to room.

«I’m walking in a sound and light cocoon in my house,» said Lars Reger, chief technology officer of , a UWB proponent whose chips are widely used in cars.

Bluetooth-based location sensing takes at least two seconds to get an accurate fix on your location, but UWB is a thousand times faster, Reger said.

UWB will add more than convenience, supporters say. Conventional key fobs have problems in regard to remotely unlocking cars: criminals can use that to steal a vehicle. Case in point: security researchers at NCC Group demonstrating in May they could . Tesla told the researchers that such relay attacks are a known limitation.

UWB has cryptographic protections against that sort of problem. And Tesla, for one, is interested. UWB’s precise timing and positioning technology means it’s «immune to relay attacks,» the carmaker said in a  for new wireless key fobs and in-car equipment seen by the Verge.

This same ability to track your movements has downsides, particularly if you don’t like the idea of the government following your movements or coffee shops flooding your phone with coupons as you walk by. But with today’s privacy push, expect phone makers to prohibit anyone from tracking your phone without your permission.

How is Google supporting UWB?

Google’s support for UWB began in 2021 with its Pixel 6 phones. But the company’s influence is greater through its Android phone software.

Google added limited UWB support into Android 12 in 2021, but it should improve with Android 13 in 2022. That’s because the company is opening up the programming interface , not just Google’s software. Google also is to Android’s that could spread UWB support so apps can use it on earlier phones, too.

technology so you will be able to use your phone as a car key on some BMW models.  Android can . Expect broader support among carmakers in coming years.

How is Apple supporting UWB?

The ,  and  smartphones include . It joins a handful of other processors Apple has developed, including the , the , and , and the on Macs.

AirTags really bring the technology alive, though. UWB communicates with an iPhone 11 or 12 so a big arrow leads you to the tag. When UWB isn’t in range, a Bluetooth connection means AirTags tap into Apple’s Find My system, which lets other people’s devices discover your AirTag’s location and share it privately with you.

«The new Apple-designed U1 chip uses ultra wideband technology for spatial awareness — allowing iPhone 11 Pro to precisely locate other U1-equipped Apple devices. It’s like adding another sense to [the] iPhone,» Apple said of the U1 chip when it arrived. Here’s another use: «With U1 and iOS 13, you can point your iPhone toward someone else’s, and AirDrop will prioritize that device so you can share files faster.»

The  and  also have  to make them easier for you to locate.

Apple only promises UWB links between its own devices for now. But UWB standardization should open up a world of other connections, and software tweaks should let Apple adapt as UWB standards mature.

Apple’s years of UWB work are evident in several patents. That includes patents for , using a , so your car can send your phone a request for biometric authentication, and letting to grant you access to your car.

How is Samsung supporting UWB?

Samsung supports UWB in its , , and .

«You’ll be able to unlock your car door with your phone,» said Kevin Chung of Samsung’s direct-to-consumer center during the S21 2021 launch. «The door will unlock when you reach it — no sooner, no later.»

lets you send digital keys to friends or family members, and Samsung’s AR finder app will point the direction to your car in a crowded parking lot. Samsung has digital key partnerships with BMW, Audi, Ford and  Genesis Motor.

 uses UWB.

Who else is interested in UWB?

Other companies involved with UWB include consumer electronics giant ; chipmakers , Qualcomm, NXP and STMicroelectronics; carmakers Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Jaguar Land Rover; and car electronics powerhouse .

Another notable player is Tile, which has sold tracking tags for years to help you find things like keychains and wallets. The UWB-based  was due in early 2022, but Life360 acquired the company and is reviewing product launch timing. It still plans to ship the Tile Ultra «when the time is right for the combined company,» a Tile representative said in a statement.

Confusingly, those companies have banded together into two industry groups, the  that  and the (short for «fine ranging») that . , Apple isn’t listed as a member of either.

On top of that, there’s the technology. The three groups have figured out who’s doing what now to avoid stepping on each other’s toes, Harrington said.

FiRa is working on standards to ensure UWB devices work together properly, while the from the that UWB also uses. For example, there are brief pauses in signals sent in the 6GHz band, and UWB transmissions could sneak into those gaps, said UWB Alliance executive director Tim Harrington. 

How does UWB work?

The idea behind UWB has been around for decades. Indeed, the University of Southern California . Some of the concepts date back to radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, Harrington says.

UWB devices send lots of very short, low-power pulses of energy across an unusually wide spectrum of radio airwaves. UWB’s frequency range spans at least 500MHz, compared with Wi-Fi channels often about a tenth as wide. UWB’s low-power signals cause little interference with other radio transmissions.

UWB sends up to 1 billion pulses per second — that’s 1 per nanosecond. By sending pulses in patterns, UWB encodes information. It takes between 32 and 128 pulses to encode a single bit of data, Harrington said, but given how fast the bits arrive, that enables data rates of 7 to 27 megabits per second. Tesla could be interested in UWB’s data transfer abilities, promising speeds up to 7.8Mbps.

The (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) developed a UWB standard called more than 15 years ago, but it didn’t catch on for its original intended use, sending data fast.

Location sensing made UWB a hot topic again?

Companies like , but most tech giants like it for measuring location precisely. Even though 802.15.4 flopped when first created years ago, UWB’s renaissance is occurring because its super-short radio pulses let computers calculate distances very precisely.

Now UWB development is active again, for example with the that bolsters security for key fobs and payments and improves location accuracy to less than a centimeter. Fixing today’s relay attack problems, where someone with radio technology essentially copies and pastes radio communications of key fobs or smartphone unlocking systems, was a top priority for 802.15.4z. «With the precise timing you get off UWB and the ability to know exactly where you are, you can cut the man in the middle [relay] attack completely,» Harrington said.

Another area of active development is improving how you can use your phone to make payments at a payment terminal.

Radio waves travel about 30 centimeters (1 foot) in a billionth of a second, but with short pulses, devices can calculate distances very exactly by measuring the «time of flight» of a radio signal to another device that responds with its own signal. With multiple antennas positioned in different spots, UWB radios can calculate the direction to another device, not just the distance.

UWB dovetails nicely with the , the networking of doorbells, speakers, lightbulbs and other devices.

It’s already used for location sensing. , part of broadcast technology used for instant replay animations. A football’s location is updated 2,000 times per second, according to Harrington.

to track more than 10,000 tools, carts and other items on its vast factory floors.

UWB uses very little power. A sensor that sends a pulse once every second is expected to work for seven years off a single coin battery.

Verizon has 5G Ultra Wideband. Is that the same thing?

No. , but it’s merely a branding label.

«5G Ultra Wideband is our brand name for our 5G service,» said spokesman Kevin King. «It’s not a technology.»