Term of the day: UWB

[Keefe]

Short for Ultra Wide Band, a wireless communications technology that can currently transmit data at speeds between 40 to 60 megabits per second and eventually up to 1 gigabit per second.

UWB transmits ultra-low power radio signals with very short electrical pulses, often in the picosecond (1/1000th of a nanosecond) range, across all frequencies at once. UWB receivers must translate these short bursts of noise into data by listening for a familiar pulse sequence sent by the transmitter.

Because of its low power requirements, UWB is very difficult to detect and therefore difficult to regulate. Because it spans the entire frequency spectrum (licensed and unlicensed), it can be used indoors and underground, unlike GPS.