- Rohde & Schwarz becomes a member of the FiRa consortium, the organization dedicated to the development of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radio transmission technology, the establishment of a certification program for UWB solutions and the promotion of applications using UWB technology.
Rohde & Schwarz is now an associate member of the FiRa (Fine Ranging) Consortium, which is dedicated to the development of the UWB ecosystem by ensuring the interoperability of devices through compliance testing and certification programs.
UWB is a radio modulation technique based on the transmission of very short pulses at a short range. The FiRa consortium is focusing on three services: hands-free access control, location services and direct communication between two devices (device-to-device) based on the UWB secure telemetry technology specified by the IEEE 802.15.4z standard.
The UWB technology offers in particular the possibility to carry out positioning measurements with centimetric precision. This allows, for example, to activate the door opening system when a UWB device approaches or to provide positioning information inside buildings.
UWB technology also enables secure communications between devices with very low energy consumption. UWB signals, thanks to their very high bandwidth and very low power density, can share the frequency spectrum with other narrowband and wideband communication systems without causing interference.
Rohde & Schwarz develops UWB test solutions for use in R&D as well as in the certification and production phases. Its solutions are used for time-of-flight (ToF) and angle-of-arrival (AoA) measurements as well as the calibration of UWB devices.
For example, the R&S CMP200 radio communication tester from Rohde & Schwarz, which integrates an analyzer and a signal generator, is a suitable instrument for solving UWB-specific problems in both R&D and production. In combination with Rohde & Schwarz’s WMT software service for the implementation of automatic wireless communication test applications in production and one of its shielded chambers, the R&S CMP200 can perform measurements of transmission, reception, time of flight (ToF) and angle of arrival (AoA) in both the conducted and radiated modes, in accordance with IEEE 802.15.4a/z specifications.
The R&S SMM100A series mid-range vector signal generator covers a frequency band up to 44 GHz. Its RF modulation bandwidth of up to 1 GHz meets the requirements for broadband signal generation implemented by UWB devices.
