Innovations in UWB-Technology for Communication, Positioning and Sensing

Monday 7 November 2022, 12h00-19h00
@ De Krook, Gent

The availability of affordable Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio ICs has triggered a renewed interest in UWB technology, for a rapidly growing number of applications in wireless communication, accurate positioning and advanced sensing.

Today, UWB modules are already integrated in consumer electronics, such as flagship smartphones, wearables, and smart home appliances.

UWB is also one of the fastest-growing technologies adopted in Real-Time Localization Systems (RTLS), leading to improved asset management and operational logistics, thanks to the cm-level accuracy of UWB and the possibility to perform joint distance and angle estimation with one reference device.

We also see a growing interest in UWB-technologies for access control systems where a high level of security is needed, such as in automotive.

In industry 4.0, UWB supports collision avoidance, for safer interaction between humans and automated guided vehicles, drones, robots, etc.

Recent innovations have added advanced sensing capabilities to UWB-technology, including vital sign monitoring of the human body, crowd estimation, activity detection, fall detection, etc

To ensure compatibility and interoperability of UWB-products, different standardization bodies are active (IEEE 802.15.4, FiRa consortium,…).

In this workshop, experts from academia and industry will

  • give a tutorial on the state-of-the art in UWB-technology for communication, localisation and sensing
  • present R&D innovations for improved localisation in challenging conditions, high-throughput communication, and advanced sensing
  • discuss and demonstrate novel applications of UWB-technology in diverse products

PROGRAMME

Participant list: download link

12h00Registration & Sandwich lunch
13h00Introductiondownload presentation (only for members)
Kris Hermus, Coordinator Wireless Community & Innovation Program Manager Flanders, imec
13h15State-of-the-art of UWB technology for communication, localisation and sensingdownload presentation (only for members)
Eli De Poorter, Professor, imec-IDLab-UGent

We give a general introduction to the past, present and future of UWB-technology. Our focus will be on general principles for UWB-based localisation, and on the FiRa and Apple standardisation activities.
13h45UWB: usages and standardsdownload presentation (only for members)
Guillaume Vivier, Senior Manager Standardisation, Qorvo

After an introduction to Qorvo and activity in Flanders, we provide a quick overview of UWB market adoption. Then we present the standardization initiatives related to UWB, their scope and roadmap.
14h05Indoor joint communication and sensingdownload presentation (only for members)
Sofie Pollin, Professor, KU Leuven-ESAT and Principal Scientist, imec

Communication systems and signals are everywhere. The technology is good enough for sensing, under some assumptions. In this presentation, we will focus on the remaining challenges for joint communication and sensing in general and vital signs monitoring specifically. We will also discuss possible architectures to explore, consisting of distributed deployments or deployments with battery-free sensors.
14h25Using UWB in industrial IoT applications: lessons learneddownload presentation (only for members)
Nico Janssens, CTO, Rombit

Working in industry and logistics is often dangerous and less efficient. Rombit therefore offers UWB-based technology to improve safety and productivity. In this presentation, we share the lessons learned throughout Rombit’s product development journey — focusing in particular on UWB challenges.
14h40UWB positioning and precision landing for automated drone-in-a-box solutionsdownload presentation (only for members)
Frederik Winters, Director of Business Development, DroneMatrix

After a short intro to DroneMatrix and our solutions, we discuss our experiences and collaboration with imec in the context of UWB positioning and navigation in indoor environments (imec.icon project InWareDrones). We will share the lessons learned, and discuss the integration of UWB-technology by DroneMatrix in our operations for precision landing in our drone-docking-station.
14h55COFFEE BREAK
15h20GUIDED DEMO TOUR
  • Demo 1 – DroneMatrix: high-precision drone navigation with UWB-positioning
  • Demo 2 – imec-WAVES-UGent: IR-UWB algorithms for (non-)cooperative target localisation
  • Demo 3 – imec-IDLab-UGent: Demonstration of UWB antenna analysis and design framework; multiple antenna prototypes
  • Demo 4 – Rombit: UWB-enabled positioning for industrial applications (wearables, and remote-controlled fork-truck with collision avoidance)
  • Demo 5 – imec / VUB / UGent: robot control with UWB-based positioning
  • Demo 6 – Flanders Make: Flexible system for UWB-based positioning
16h10Positioning for the internet of thingsdownload presentation (only for members)
Chris Marshall, Principal Member of Technical Staff, imec-NL @ Holst Centre

We are all very familiar with positioning using wireless technology, using GPS navigation every day when out and about in our cars. This talk will contrast GPS with the challenges of positioning for Internet of Things applications, in which we have lots of connected devices, often indoors. There are many differences, and the task is not easy, but ways forward will be described using WiFi, Bluetooth and UWB signals for fingerprinting, angle of arrival and ranging, to obtain information about position
16h30UWB and standardisation in RTLSdownload presentation (only for members)
Samuel Van de Velde, Co-Founder & CTO, Pozyx

We discuss the challenges for UWB-based RTLS systems in the industry space from a system-level perspective. We then briefly introduce Omlox, the open location standard for smart factories, and make a comparison with the FiRa Consortium.
16h45UWB antenna system design for unprecedented localization performancedownload presentation (only for members)
Hendrik Rogier, Professor, imec-IDLab-UGent

The need for a novel class of antennas dedicated to ultra-wide localization will be highlighted. Their response is optimized for minimal pulse distortion in the time-domain, while maintaining a compact footprint and keeping radiation characteristics stable after deployment on challenging platforms. A specialized analysis and design framework for such antenna systems will be proposed. The design strategy will be illustrated based on several antenna designs for a wide range of use cases.
17h00Applications in a broad UWB ecosystemdownload presentation (only for members)
Frank Leong, Product Manager, NXP Semiconductors

Due to a high degree of similarity between applications, single silicon designs can fulfill multiple roles. This talk gives an overview of several target applications, associated performance metrics, and common UWB radio concepts to address
17h15Plenary Q&A session
17h30Networking reception
19h00End of the workshop


REGISTRATION

Registration-fees:

  • Imec employees and residents: free of charge
  • Employees of Wireless Community members: free of charge
  • User group members of COLOSENS project: free of charge
  • Others:
    • 80 EUR (excl VAT) early bird until October 27
    • 100 EUR (excl VAT) late registration from October 28

Online registration:

Online registration has been closed on November 3 at 1 PM.
For more information, and last minute requests, please contact us at wireless-community@imec.be