Infineon Technologies recently announced that it has joined the FiRa™ Consortium as a contributor member to support the expansion of the UWB ecosystem. FiRa is dedicated to developing and widely disseminating ultra-wideband (UWB) technology for secured fine ranging and positioning capabilities in a wide range of applications. This allows UWB devices to accurately and securely determine the position of other devices and easily connect infrastructures in the internet of things (IoT), industrial, consumer and smartphone sectors. On top, UWB based products are also already deployed in car access systems. Infineon will make use of the expertise in security, connectivity as well as in microcontrollers to support these goals.

“As a leader in connected secure systems, Infineon sees a great potential in the UWB capabilities for secured fine ranging and positioning. We will actively participate in the standardization activities and support the adoption within smart and trusted solutions for secured transactions and identities,” said Bjoern Scharfen, VP Digital Security & Identity. “UWB has a great potential to enhance Infineon’s offering in security, connectivity and computing. With this, the technology fully supports our vision of linking the real and digital world.”

“FiRa members and their individual representatives collaborate on a daily basis, with the singular focus of creating a new interoperable ecosystem based on the use of UWB technology,” said Charlie Zhang, Board Chair of the FiRa Consortium and Senior Vice President, Engineering, Samsung Research America. “With Infineon as a new Contributor member, we now have additional expertise that will bring new perspectives and help to move us forward on our journey.”

UWB's momentum across the industry has steadily increased over the past year, and the market is expected to grow significantly, reaching more than one billion devices by 2025, according to ABI Research. The technology is already deployed in many leading smartphone platforms as well as selected automotive car access solutions and is expected to make inroads into the industrial, IoT and consumer sectors. UWB enables real-time positioning of devices within a few centimeters with very low latency, even with multiple devices in a crowded environment. Thanks to the built-in security and high robustness associated with the technology, UWB offers a wide range of potential use cases across the industry.

With the acquisition of Cypress in 2020, Infineon has acquired significant expertise in connectivity (Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®) as well as in the microcontroller area. As a market leader in automotive, payment, identification and embedded security, utilizing UWB secured ranging offers great potential to further empower customers and partner products with Infineon's smart and trusted solutions. However, the adoption of the technology is highly dependent on availability and ease of implementation making standardization key to UWB's success. Therefore, Infineon will actively drive progress within the FiRa consortium for all relevant markets and devices.