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.
Due to its high resolution capacities using lower frequencies, UWB SAR was heavily researched for its object-penetration ability.
[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.
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.