Ultra-wideband has moved from military radar to centimetre-accurate item finding in under a decade.
Six decades from military impulse radar to the centimetre-accurate chip in your pocket.
US armed forces use impulse-radio UWB for radar, ranging and secure communications.
The US Department of Defense coins the term ultra-wideband.
FCC authorises unlicensed UWB, opening 7.5 GHz of spectrum (3.1–10.6 GHz) — UWB becomes commercially viable.
WiMedia Alliance formed; IEEE 802.15.4 defines low-rate PAN PHY/MAC.
First formal IR-UWB amendment enters the standard — impulse radio becomes an official standard.
iPhone 11 brings UWB to consumer phones for the first time.
802.15.4z defines secure two-way ranging; Samsung Galaxy Note 20 ships UWB; FiRa publishes PHY/MAC specs.
AirTag brings centimetre-accurate Precision Finding; CCC standardises UWB digital car keys.
Car Connectivity Consortium and FiRa form a joint UWB working group for secure digital keys.
Google's Find Hub adds UWB Precision Finding with BT Channel Sounding across Android.
First BLE+UWB combo tag for Android Find Hub — one SoC, one CR2032.
UWB trades bandwidth for precision — the wider the pulse, the sharper the distance.
UWB doesn't send a continuous radio wave — it fires billions of sub-nanosecond pulses. That's what makes it a ruler, not just a radio.
Pulse travels at light speed. Measure bounce-back time = distance.
Spreads across GHz spectrum — looks like noise to other radios.
Estimates angle of arrival, distinguishes line-of-sight from reflections.
Sub-1ns pulses separate objects 30cm apart — Bluetooth can't.
UWB digital keys (CCC spec) unlock the car hands-free as you walk up — and defeat relay attacks that plague passive keyless entry.
AirTag and Find Hub trackers use UWB to point straight at a lost tag with centimetre accuracy when you're in range.
Homes, offices and smart locks use UWB for proximity-based, relay-proof door entry.
UWB powers child-presence detection and automatic valet-parking payments inside the vehicle.
Traditional trackers use two separate chips — a BLE SoC and a discrete UWB chip — each with its own power rails, memory, and sleep current. In HHTAG Pro, we integrate UWB and Bluetooth IoT on a single SoC at the silicon level.