Don’t forget to turn off the light

NOVELDA
NOVELDA NEWS
Published in
5 min readSep 29, 2021

Turning off the lights when you leave your home is the simplest most cost-effective way to reduce your wasted energy.

How many of you have to remind your family members to do this? How many of you get reminded often?

What is UWB sensing, and what do we sense?

When we say “Ultra-Wideband sensing”, we are basically talking about a radar that transmits electromagnetic pulses and listens for reflected echoes in much the same way as a traditional radar does. We can sense all objects inside a defined coverage area, but we are particularly good at detecting objects that move, even if the movement is very small. Imagine the slightest movement your heartbeat makes on the surface of your skin, or how your body expands slightly at every breath — these are the movements our UWB technology can sense.

How do we do it?

You can think of our radar as an air traffic control radar where everything has been miniaturized. And that means everything. Size has been reduced from a tower with an antenna dome to a 12 mm by 12 mm module suitable for surface mount assembly on a PCB. Cost is down by a similar factor. Power consumption is slated to pass below 1 mW total system power while actively scanning for approaching targets. But there is a less obvious miniaturization that justifies the name “Ultra-Wideband”. The length of the transmitted pulse in an air traffic control radar can be several microseconds, meaning that it extends hundreds of meters in flight while travelling towards its target. Our transmit-pulses are around 1 ns long, spanning roughly 0.3 meters.

The NOVELDA UWB radar

This is what enables us to see what’s going on right next to the sensor. And since impulse response and bandwidth are inversely proportional to each other, it’s these ultra-short pulses that lead to our ultra-wide bandwidth, and hence, the name. NOVELDA’s UWB IP developed for modern semiconductor process nodes is what enables this very high speed and high precision pulse generation and detection. And the high instantaneous bandwidth gives some unique advantages.

What are the advantages of UWB sensing vs. competing technologies?

Small size and low power consumption are obvious advantages, but these can be achieved using other technologies as well. The real advantage of true UWB sensing is the absolute range limitation we achieve by limiting the time given for the surrounding environment to respond.

This means that large targets outside the range of interest can be completely rejected without sacrificing sensitivity inside the desired range.
Let’s see some examples:

UX lab demonstration of range limitations.

The frequency range used in NOVELDA’s UWB sensors, around 8 GHz, can easily penetrate any garments and clothing worn by humans, such as blankets and thick winter coats. This means that detection will not depend on the color, thickness, or texture of garments worn by a user.

Since the sensor does not depend on electromagnetic radiation or sound from other sources, it is not sensitive to lighting conditions or audible noise.

Absolute range limitation and user detection regardless of conditions.

Our UWB impulse radar, the NOVELDA Human Presence Sensor, is fully coherent across pulses, and this gives us one big final advantage; we can bi-phase code the pulses, so that each radar sends a unique sequence. These sequences are chosen so that they have good cross correlation and auto correlation properties. With these coded sequences, each radar only sees its own pulses. Pulse sequences from other sensors nearby are seen as a small increase in the noise floor, and do not have any significant impact on sensor performance.

The advantage here is that we can place dozens of sensors in a small room without any coexistence issues. This is very important for many consumer products, such as laptops and tablets.

We can place dozens of sensors in a small room.

Where is UWB sensing being deployed today, and where will it go in the future?

Our sensors are used in products such as laptops and occupancy sensors for hotel rooms. In these products, they enable features like auto lock and auto log-in to increase security and extend battery life, and lighting and HVAC control to save energy. Other customers are using our sensors to detect vital signs for baby monitors or sleep monitoring. Improving lifestyle and wellbeing through technology.

Focus on power consumption in buildings, infrastructure, appliances, and consumer electronics has led to more stringent regulation, and we believe this focus will only increase in the future. The best way to reduce power consumption is to switch devices off when no one is present. This will be one of the driving forces behind wider deployment of sensors for Human Presence Detection. Security and safety are two others. In addition, most users appreciate a certain level of responsiveness in the equipment they use. All of this can be achieved when devices become more aware of their surroundings. In the coming years, we will see HPD sensors deployed in door locks, appliances, vending machines, public information screens and more. Everywhere we go, sensors will provide benefits such as energy conservation, security, safety, convenience, and better user experience.

Merging sensing with UWB communications and RTLS?

The best-known use of UWB today is not sensing. Those of you who own an iPhone11 or later have a UWB module in your phone that can communicate with other UWB radios through a standard protocol known as IEEE 802.15.4z.

The ability to communicate is not what sets this radio apart from the other half-a-dozen radios present in your phone. It’s the ability to accurately measure the distance to another UWB radio that justifies adding another standard to your phone. More precisely, the ability to determine a maximum distance accurately and securely between two radios (often called “secure range bounding” or “secure distance bounding”). This ability is crucial for applications such as keyless entry systems for cars or buildings, and for contactless payment terminals where customers can pay without entering PINs or other credentials. But it requires active radios on both sides, often known as “Anchors” (fixed reference devices) and “Tags” (objects to be located).

Work is now under way to combine UWB sensing and UWB communications to enable use cases where both active and passive targets can be located by the same UWB sensor. This will open new opportunities to create seamless interaction between people and things. Passive sensing creates situational awareness while saving power and spectrum access. This awareness can then enable systems to trigger more power consuming active transactions for secure authentication at just the right moment.

So, the next time you walk out of the room, not only do your lights turn off, but your laptop is locked and powers down, and the room thermostat can regulate the temperature at the most energy efficient mode.

Our vision:

Making life easier by creating seamless interaction between people and things.

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