How does it work technically?

In addition to Bluetooth, modern smartphones and wearables transmit Ultra Wideband radio signals (often called UWB, or U1 when it comes to Apple devices). They connect to compatible UWB beacons and compute time-of-flight and inch-precise distance.

Intelligent tiny computers

Each UWB beacon is a tiny, battery-powered computer. It has several radio modules such as BLE or UWB. It runs intelligent firmware that periodically transmits low-power BLE signals. It can run on small batteries for years.

Inch-precise ranging with UWB

Nearby devices with a compatible chip, e.g. the latest iPhone with the U1 chip, pick up these BLE signals. Compatible apps on the phone start UWB ranging and estimate precise distance between the devices. Multiple antennas in the phone help to compute the angle of signals.

Building Apps with the SDK

The Estimote iOS SDK allows you to create applications that react to the proximity of many UWB beacons and tags at once. Our API lets you access both distance and angle of the nearby beacons. Telemetry data including battery status or motion is also available.

What are the applications?

UWB beacons provide spatial awareness to the nearby phones. Mobile apps integrated with our SDK detect and range with beacons to provide indoor way-finding or automatically trigger actions when people enter  geofenced areas defined by installed beacons.

UWB Development Kit