In the development of Industry 4.0 and smart factories, micro-positioning technology plays a core role. By tracking key elements such as personnel, tools, and materials, it optimizes processes and ensures safety. Although existing technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth have been applied in industrial scenarios, their positioning accuracy usually cannot meet the requirements, especially in situations that require fine positioning. However, UWB technology, with its centimeter-level accuracy, has significantly improved the level of positioning and communication technologies.
As the core of micro-positioning services, UWB achieves precise positioning of tags through wireless anchors. This makes real-time information transmission possible, enabling the analysis system to measure, analyze, and issue warnings immediately. In the production process, UWB technology optimizes production monitoring and bottleneck prediction by accurately tracking materials and goods. It improves the speed of asset positioning and retrieval and assists workers through map navigation. In terms of material management and control, UWB tags enhance the monitoring of equipment and sensitive items to ensure compliant use. In terms of safety, this technology reduces safety risks through tracking. In case of an emergency, UWB tags can provide support for employee positioning and guide rescue operations. These applications highlight the great potential of UWB technology in enhancing production efficiency, safety, and productivity, and are important driving forces for the further development of industrial automation and lean management.
In industrial and commercial sites, large metal objects and electrical signal noise pose challenges to traditional positioning technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, leading to signal attenuation and multipath problems. However, UWB has overcome the challenges faced by narrowband Wi-Fi and low-power Bluetooth in ranging and positioning. When communicating between anchors and tags, UWB communication components use extremely low signal transmission power, radiate a wider range of bandwidth, and have faster pulse rise and fall times than narrowband signals. This approach helps maintain the integrity of the signal, reduces the impact of reflections and noise spikes, and reduces the number of components required for the infrastructure.
UWB uses the Time of Flight (TOF) technology to measure the distance to tags. Various TOF methods can improve measurement accuracy and reduce infrastructure costs. The Two-Way Ranging (TWR) and Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) ranging methods eliminate the influence of reflections (multipath effects) caused by walls and mechanical equipment on the signal strength. In addition, among UWB ranging methods, Phase Difference of Arrival (PDOA) and Reverse TDOA (RTDOA), etc., also show unique advantages in different deployment scenarios. Through these diverse ranging technologies, UWB can also be used to determine the distance and direction (vector) of objects.
According to different micro-positioning service requirements, UWB can deploy corresponding infrastructure and ranging technologies. For example, Downlink TDOA (DL-TDOA) is used for navigation tags, and for centralized platform tracking, positioning is carried out within the infrastructure. The signal integrity and ranging ability of UWB enable it to have a wider coverage range. By strategically placing anchors, high-precision positioning in two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces can be achieved.
The UWB Ecosystem Supporting Industry and Other Sectors
The UWB ecosystem is supported by the FiRa Consortium, which defines UWB device standards and provides certification, while promoting the interoperability of UWB with other technologies and providing micro-positioning services for industries and consumers. The upcoming FiRa 2.0 standard will expand the application scope of UWB micro-positioning, enhance the interoperability between devices, and lay the foundation for the application of UWB in RTLS, so as to achieve indoor and sub-meter level accuracy positioning in map services. In addition, the DL-TDOA-based solution is expected to make progress in indoor micro-positioning navigation and ensure user privacy, because only the device itself knows its location. These services are expected to be implemented on UWB-enabled smartphones.
The deployment of UWB DL-TDOA depends on infrastructure equipment OEMs. For example, access points that combine UWB anchors with Wi-Fi access points are deployed. In addition, lighting and other fixed power supply devices in public or private facilities can also trigger DL-TDOA and activate when UWB-enabled devices are in the vicinity.
