UWB Technology Solutions

What is UWB?

UWB (ultra-wideband) is a radio technology that sends very short pulses across a wide frequency spectrum, in Europe in the range of about 6 to 8.5 GHz. From the travel time of these pulses between a tag and fixed anchors, distance can be determined very precisely. As a result, UWB locates objects and people inside buildings typically to within 10 to 30 centimetres and updates the position several times per second. It is based on the IEEE 802.15.4z standard, and the FiRa Consortium drives interoperability. Many current smartphones also have a built-in UWB chip.

How UWB is used in the IIoT

UWB is the technology of choice when the position must be accurate enough to distinguish a specific workstation, parking space or shelf compartment. Typical applications are tracking workpieces and load carriers through production, automatic booking when placed on a storage location, locating forklifts and tugger trains for material flow analysis, tool-based process control in which a screwdriver is only enabled at the right component, and collision protection between vehicles and people. Search times for tools and fixtures also drop significantly.

How a UWB location system is structured

A UWB system consists of battery-powered tags on the objects, anchors on ceilings and walls spaced typically a few tens of metres apart, and a location engine that calculates the position from the measurements. Two methods are common: with TDoA (time difference of arrival), the tag transmits and synchronised anchors measure the arrival times, which saves energy in the tag. With TWR (two-way ranging), tag and anchors exchange messages. Positions go via MQTT, REST or an omlox hub to MES, warehouse management or visualisation.

UWB or BLE?

BLE is cheaper and more power-efficient, but with the usual signal strength measurement only achieves an accuracy of a few metres. UWB is an order of magnitude more accurate and more robust against reflections from metal, but more expensive in tags and infrastructure. As a rule of thumb: if you want to know which zone something is in, use BLE; if you want to know exactly which spot, use UWB. With omlox, both systems can be combined on one shared map.

What to consider when choosing

The accuracy and update rate you actually need are decisive, because both determine anchor density, battery life and cost. Metal shelving and machines can block the line of sight between tag and anchors, so radio planning with an on-site test is essential. Further factors are mounting and power supply for the anchors, tag robustness in daily production, integration with existing systems, and whether the components are omlox-compatible to keep later vendor changes open.