Infineon Technologies has joined the board of directors of FiRa (fine-ranging) Consortium. This represents a significant step in the company’s commitment to further shaping the future of Ultra-wideband (UWB) across a wide field of use cases and verticals.
Having been an active contributor to FiRa since 2021, Infineon is now taking a step further by expanding its activities at the board level to further drive the evolution of UWB through standardisation. UWB is the key technology for secured ranging, enabling numerous use cases while working hand in hand with other connectivity technologies and security solutions, thus driving digitalisation. Additionally, Ultra-wideband can address several sensing use cases, such as presence detection.
“UWB technology in mobile phones, IoT devices, and vehicles enhances security in distance measurement, offers greater convenience across various use cases, and delivers significant socio-economic benefits for society, industry and consumers. This technology enables spatial awareness in the smart home environment, helps you to find ‘something’, allows untracked navigation in public spaces, it may open gates and doors or helps you to pay touchless,” said Björn Scharfen, Ecosystem and Partner Manager Digital Security and Identity, Infineon, and appointed Member of the Board at FiRa. “In addition, the growth potential in major verticals is large and the targeted use cases at FiRa fit very well with Infineon’s core business along with our strategy of combining connectivity, security and computing technology. By using UWB, we create a seamless and secured user experience.”
UWB technology has been around for more than 25 years, originally focused on data communication. Over a decade ago, its focus shifted towards secured distance measurement, such as helping to prevent relay attacks – like known from early passive keyless entry systems for car access – and improving convenience across various applications. Particularly in challenging environments, UWB technology is able to far surpass other technologies in terms of accuracy, power consumption, radio frequency (RF) link robustness, or security.
The FiRa Consortium focuses its standardisation efforts exclusively on UWB. It provides the UWB core and subsystem functionality and certification as well as the related profile and framework specifications used across numerous use cases and verticals. The name FiRa, an acronym for ‘Fine Ranging’, underlines the unique ability of UWB technology to deliver centimetre-level accuracy while measuring the distance, or determining the relative position of a target.
Infineon has been a contributing member of FiRa since 2021 and with the acquisition of the Zurich-based UWB pioneer 3db Access in 2023, the company has expedited its market entry and strengthened its interaction as well as the interaction with the UWB ecosystem. By joining FiRa’s Board of Directors, Infineon emphasises its commitment to play an active role in shaping the future of UWB technology.
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