Ultra-wideband was formerly known as pulse radio, but the FCC and the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) currently define UWB as an antenna transmission for which emitted signal bandwidth exceeds the lesser of 500 MHz or 20% of the arithmetic center frequency.
UWB's centimeter-level accuracy is valuable in applications in which using traditional methods may be unsuitable, such as in indoor environments, where GPS precision may be hindered.
[16] The Xiaomi MIX 4 released in August 2021 supports UWB, and offers the capability of connecting to select AIoT devices.
[23][24][25] Starting in the early 1990s, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) developed various stationary and mobile ground-, foliage-, and wall-penetrating radar platforms that served to detect and identify buried IEDs and hidden adversaries at a safe distance.
[26][27] ARL has also investigated the feasibility of whether UWB radar technology can incorporate Doppler processing to estimate the velocity of a moving target when the platform is stationary.
[36] UWB radar has been proposed as the active sensor component in an Automatic Target Recognition application, designed to detect humans or objects that have fallen onto subway tracks.
[41] UWB's precise positioning and ranging capabilities enable collision avoidance and centimeter-level localization accuracy, surpassing traditional GPS systems.
Moreover, its high data rate and low latency facilitate seamless vehicle-to-vehicle communication, promoting real-time information exchange and coordinated actions.
UWB also enables effective vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, integrating with infrastructure elements for optimized behavior based on precise timing and synchronized data.
[42] In the U.S., ultra-wideband refers to radio technology with a bandwidth exceeding the lesser of 500 MHz or 20% of the arithmetic center frequency, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Deliberations in the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) resulted in a Report and Recommendation on UWB[citation needed] in November 2005.
Earlier, the only radio technology that used pulses was spark-gap transmitters, which international treaties banned because they interfere with medium-wave receivers.
The subject was extensively covered in the proceedings that led to the adoption of the FCC rules in the US, and in the meetings of the ITU-R leading to its Report and Recommendations on UWB technology.
[61] In February 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an amendment (Part 15) that specifies the rules of UWB transmission and reception.