Recently, Google's upcoming Pixel Watch 2 smartwatch has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission. It is saddening that this certification list does not mention the UWB chip that was previously rumored, but Google's enthusiasm to enter the UWB application has not decayed. It is reported that Google is testing a variety of UWB scenarios applications, including the connection between Chromebooks, the connection between Chromebooks and cell phones, and the seamless connection between multiple users.
As we all know, UWB technology has three main axes - communication, localization, and radar. As a high-speed wireless communication technology with decades of history, UWB initially lit the first fire with the ability to communicate, but also due to the slow development of the standard unbearable to the dumb fire. After decades of absence, relying on the function of ranging and positioning to occupy the position, UWB lit the second spark, in the continuous big factory into the game, vertical application scenarios under the aid of innovation, in the 22nd year opened the UWB digital key mass production of the first year, and this year ushered in the first year of development of the standardization of UWB.
Throughout the UWB sinking and floating development route, you can find that the functional positioning and application of a high degree of fit is the core of its turnaround against the wind. In today's positioning of UWB technology as the "main business" of the current, there is no lack of manufacturers to strengthen the accuracy advantage. Such as the recent cooperation between NXP and the German Lateration XYZ company, and the UWB accuracy to the millimeter level.
Google's first target UWB communication capabilities, such as Apple's gold UWB positioning in general, so that it releases more potential in the field of communications. The author will analyze based on this.
1. Google's UWB Vision Starting with Communications
From the communication point of view, since the UWB signal occupies at least 500MHz of the communication bandwidth, the ability to transmit data is quite excellent, only that it is not suitable for long-distance transmission due to severe attenuation. And because the UWB operating frequency is far from busy narrowband communication bands such as 2.4GHz, UWB signals have both strong anti-jamming ability and extreme multipath resistance. This would be excellent for individual and local area network layouts with rate requirements.
Then look at the characteristics of Chromebooks. 2022 global Chromebook shipments of 17.9 million units, the market size reached 70.207 billion dollars. Currently, driven by strong demand in the education sector, Chromebooks are growing against the wind in global tablet shipments under a major downturn. According to data released by Canalys, 2023Q2, global tablet shipments fell 29.9% year-on-year to 28.3 million units, while Chromebook shipments rose 1% to 5.9 million units.
Although compared to cell phones, and cars' vast positioning market, UWB in Chromebooks in the connection of the market volume is not large, but UWB for Google to build their hardware ecology, far-reaching significance.
Current Google hardware mainly includes the Pixel series of cell phones, smart watches Pixel Watch, large screen tablet PC Pixel Tablet, smart speakers Nest Hub, and so on. With UWB technology, a shared drive in a room can be accessed by multiple people quickly and seamlessly, completely free of cables. And because the rate and volume of UWB transmission data are not Bluetooth reachable, UWB can be realized without delay application screen casting brings a better interactive experience of large and small screens, for Google in the home scene revival of large-screen devices is of great benefit.
Compared to Apple Samsung and other hardware-level heavy investments in the big manufacturers, Google is more adept at software to optimize the user experience. UWB joins in Google's pursuit of extremely fast and silky smooth user experience in the path of the goal of painting a heavy one.
Previously Google rounds of revelations will be equipped with a UWB chip in the Pixel Watch 2 smartwatch, This idea has not been realized, but Google's recent action in the field of UWB can be speculated, that Google probability will not give up to the smartwatch into the UWB product path, this time the fallout may be for the next time the face of the experience of the pavement, and for the future of how to utilize the Google good UWB realize the construction of hardware ecological moat, we keep looking forward to.
2. Market Overlook: How UWB communications are going to go
According to a report published by Techno Systems Research, the global UWB chip market will ship 316.7 million chips in 2022 and more than 1.2 billion by 2027.
In terms of specific areas of strength, smartphones will be the largest market for UWB shipments, followed by smart home, consumer labeling, automotive, consumer wearable, and RTLS B2B markets.
According to TSR, more than 42 million UWB-enabled smartphones, or 3 percent of smartphones, were shipped in 2019.TSR predicts that by 2027, half of all smartphones will come with UWB. The share of the smart home devices market that will have UWB products will also reach 17 percent. In the automotive market, the penetration of UWB technology will reach 23.3 percent.
For the 2C end of the smartphone, smart home, wearable devices such as consumer electronics products, UWB cost sensitivity will not be too strong, and due to the stable demand for such devices for communication, UWB in the market of communication potential to release more space. Moreover, for consumer electronics, the user experience optimization and personalized innovation brought by UWB function integration can be used as the selling point of the product, based on which the mining of UWB product function integration will be more powerful.
In terms of communication efficacy, UWB can be extended to a variety of convergence functions: such as the use of UWB encryption, identity authentication functions to enhance the security of mobile payments, the use of UWB smart locks locks to create a digital key packages, the use of UWB to realize the VR glasses, smart helmets, car screen multi-screen interaction, and so on. It is also because the C-end consumer electronics market is more imaginative, whether from the current C-end market capacity or the long-term innovation space, UWB is worth investing in, and thus at present, almost all the UWB chip makers will focus mainly on the C-end market, the UWB against the Bluetooth, UWB can be like Bluetooth in the future, not only to become the standard of the cell phone, but also hundreds of millions of smart hardware products adopted. smart hardware products adopted.
3. The future of UWB communications: What are the positives that will empower
Twenty years ago, UWB lost out to WiFi, but 20 years later, UWB has returned to the non-cellular market with its killer skill of precise positioning. So, how can UWB go further in the communication field? In my opinion, sufficiently diverse IoT connectivity needs can provide a stage for UWB.
Currently, there are not many new communication technologies available on the market, and the iteration of communication technologies has also entered a new stage of focusing on the comprehensive experience from seeking speed and quantity, and UWB, as a connectivity technology with many advantages, can meet the needs of more complex and diverse users today. In IoT, this demand is a diversified and fragmented field, each kind of new technology can bring the market new choices, although at present, for cost, application demand, and other factors, UWB in IoT market application is scattered spread, to point with surface form, but still have worth looking forward to the future.
Secondly, as the integration ability of IoT products becomes stronger and stronger, the excavation of the potential of UWB performance will also become more and more comprehensive. Automotive applications, for example, UWB in addition to security keyless entry, also meet the car live object monitoring, and radar kick applications, compared to millimeter wave radar program, the use of UWB in addition to saving components and installation costs, but also due to its lower carrier frequency can be realized lower power consumption. It can be said that a technology to meet a variety of needs.
Nowadays, UWB has gained fame for positioning and ranging. For priority markets such as cell phones, automobiles, and smart hardware, it is easy to develop communication capabilities while loading UWB with positioning needs as a base. The potential of UWB communication is not explored at the moment, the essence is still due to the limited imagination of programmers, As a hexagonal warrior UWB should not be limited to a certain end of the ability.
Post time: Aug-29-2023