Original: Ulink Media
Author: 旸谷
Recently, the Dutch semiconductor company NXP, in collaboration with the German company Lateration XYZ, has gained the ability to achieve millimeter-level precision positioning of other UWB items and devices using ultra-wideband technology. This new solution brings new possibilities for various application scenarios that require precise positioning and tracking, marking an essential advancement in the history of UWB technology development.
In fact, the current UWB centimetre-level accuracy, in the field of positioning has been done quickly, and the higher cost of hardware also gives users and solution providers headaches on how to solve the cost and deployment difficulties. At this time "roll" to the millimeter level, is it necessary? And millimetre-level UWB will bring what market opportunities?
Why is millimetre-scale UWB hard to reach?
As a high-precision, high-accuracy, high-security positioning, and ranging method, UWB indoor positioning can theoretically reach millimeter or even micrometer accuracy, but in actual deployment, it has stayed at centimeter-level for a long time, mainly due to the following factors that affect the actual accuracy of UWB positioning:
1. The impact of sensor deployment mode on positioning accuracy
In the actual positioning accuracy-solving process, the increase in the number of sensors means the increase of redundant information, and the rich redundant information can further reduce the positioning error. However, the positioning accuracy does not increase with the best sensors, and when the number of sensors is increased to a certain number, the contribution to the positioning accuracy is not large with the increase of sensors. And the increase in the number of sensors means the cost of the equipment increases. Therefore, how to find a balance between the number of sensors and positioning accuracy, and thus reasonable deployment of UWB sensors is the focus of research on the impact of sensor deployment on positioning accuracy.
2. Influence of multipath effect
UWB ultra-wideband positioning signals are reflected and refracted by the surrounding environment such as walls, glass, and indoor objects such as desktops during the propagation process, resulting in multipath effects. The signal changes in delay, amplitude, and phase, which results in energy attenuation and a decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio, leading to the fact that the first reached signal is not direct, causing ranging errors and a decrease in positioning accuracy. Therefore, effective suppression of the multipath effect can improve positioning accuracy, and the current methods for suppressing multipath mainly include MUSIC, ESPRIT, and edge detection techniques.
3. NLOS impact
Line-of-sight propagation (LOS) is the first, and prerequisite to ensure the accuracy of the signal measurement results, when the conditions between the mobile positioning target and the base station can not be met, the propagation of the signal can only be completed under non-line-of-sight conditions such as refraction and diffraction. At this time, the time of the first arriving pulse does not represent the real value of TOA, and the direction of the first arriving pulse is not the real value of AOA, which will cause a certain positioning error. At present, the main methods to eliminate the non-line-of-sight error are the Wylie method and the correlation elimination method.
4. The impact of the human body on positioning accuracy
The main component of the human body is water, water on the UWB wireless pulse signal has a strong absorption effect, resulting in signal strength attenuation, ranging information deviation, and affecting the final positioning effect
5. Impact of signal penetration weakening
Any signal penetration through walls and other entities will be weakened, UWB is no exception. When UWB positioning penetrates an ordinary brick wall, the signal will be weakened by about half. Changes in signal transmission time due to wall penetration will also affect positioning accuracy.
Due to the human body, signal penetration brought about by the accuracy of the impact is difficult to circumvent, The NXP and the German LaterationXYZ company will be through innovative sensor layout solutions to enhance UWB technology, there has not been a specific display of innovative results, I can only be released from the official website of the NXP past technical articles to make the relevant speculation.
As for the motivation to improve the accuracy of UWB, I believe that this is first of all NXP as the world's leading UWB player to deal with the current domestic manufacturers of large-scale innovation in the breakout situation and technical defense. After all, the current UWB technology is still in the booming stage of development, and the corresponding cost, application, and scale have not yet been stabilized, at this time, domestic manufacturers are more concerned about the UWB products as soon as possible to land and spread, to seize the market, have no time to care about the UWB accuracy to improve the innovation. NXP, as one of the top players in the field of UWB, has a complete product ecosystem as well as many years of deep plowing of the accumulated technical strength, more comfortable to carry out the UWB innovation.
Secondly, NXP this time towards millimeter-level UWB, also sees the infinite potential of the future development of UWB and is convinced that the improvement of precision will bring new applications to market.
In my opinion, the upside of UWB will continue to improve with the advancement of 5G "new infrastructure", and further expand its value coordinates in the process of industrial upgrading of the 5G smart empowerment.
Previously, in the 2G/3G/4G network, mobile positioning scenarios were mainly focused on emergency calls, legal location access, and other applications, the positioning accuracy requirements are not high, based on Cell ID coarse positioning accuracy from tens of meters to hundreds of meters. While 5G uses new coding methods, beam fusion, large-scale antenna arrays, millimeter wave spectrum, and other technologies, its large bandwidth and antenna array technology, provide the basis for high-precision distance measurement and high-precision angle measurement. Therefore, another round of UWB sprint in the field of accuracy is supported by the corresponding era background, technology foundation, and sufficient application prospects, and this UWB accuracy sprint can be regarded as a pre-layout to meet the upgrade of digital intelligence.
What markets will Millimetre UW open up?
Currently, the market distribution of UWB is mainly characterized by B-end dispersion and C-end concentration. In the application, the B-end has more use cases, and the C-end has more imaginative space for performance mining. In my opinion, this innovation focusing on positioning performance consolidates the advantages of UWB in precise positioning, which not only brings performance breakthroughs for existing applications but also creates opportunities for UWB to open up new application space.
In the B-end market, for parks, factories, enterprises, and other scenarios, the wireless environment of its specific area is relatively certain, and positioning accuracy can be consistently guaranteed, while such scenes also maintain a stable demand for accurate positioning perception, or will become a millimeter-level UWB will soon be aimed at the advantage of the market.
In the mining scenario, with the advancement of intelligent mine construction, the fusion solution of "5G+UWB positioning" can make the intelligent mining system complete positioning in a very short time, achieve the perfect combination of precise positioning and low power consumption, and realize the characteristics of high precision, large capacity and long standby time, etc. At the same time, based on the safety management of the mine, it can be used to ensure the safety of the mine and the safety management of the mine. At the same time, based on the hard demand for mine safety management, UWB will also be used in the daily management of personnel, and car track. At present, the country has a certain scale of coal mines about 4000 or so, and the average demand for each coal mine's base station is about 100 or so, from which it can be estimated that the total demand for coal mine base station is about 400,000, the number of coal miners overall about 4 million people or so, according to 1 person 1 label, the demand for UWB tags about 4 million or so. According to the current end-user to buy a single market price, the coal market in the UWB "base station + tag" hardware market is about 4 billion in output value.
Mining and mining similar high-risk scenarios and oil extraction, power plants, chemical plants, etc., safety management needs for positioning accuracy requirements are higher, UWB positioning accuracy to millimeter-level enhancement will help consolidate its advantages in such areas.
In industrial manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics scenarios, UWB has become a tool for cost reduction and efficiency. Workers using handheld devices with UWB technology can more accurately locate and place various parts; the construction of a management system integrating UWB technology in warehouse management can accurately monitor all kinds of materials and personnel in warehouses in real-time, and achieve inventory control, personnel management, and at the same time also achieve efficient and error-free unmanned material turnover through AGV equipment, which can greatly enhance production efficiency.
In addition, the millimeter leap of UWB can also open up new applications in the field of rail transport. Currently, the train's active control system mainly relies on satellite positioning to complete, for the underground tunnel environment as well as urban high-rise buildings, canyons, and other scenes, satellite positioning is prone to failure. UWB technology in the train CBTC positioning and navigation, column into collision avoidance and collision early warning, train precision stopping, etc., can provide more reliable technical support for the safety and control of rail transport. At present, this kind of application in Europe and the United States has scattered application cases.
In the C-terminal market, UWB precision to millimeter-level enhancement will open up new application scenarios other than digital keys for the vehicle scene. For example, automatic valet parking, automatic payment, and so on. At the same time, based on artificial intelligence technology, can also come to "learn" the user's movement patterns and habits, and improve the performance of automatic driving technology.
In the field of consumer electronics, UWB may become the standard technology for smartphones under the wave of car-machine interaction of digital car keys. In addition to opening up a broader application space for positioning and searching products, UWB's accuracy improvement can also open up new application space for equipment interaction scenarios. For example, UWB's accurate range can accurately control the distance between devices, to adjust the augmented reality scene construction, for the game, audio, and video to bring a better sensory experience.
Post time: Sep-04-2023