SPARK UWB Application Notes

Legacy wireless protocols force you to trade bandwidth for power or latency, and sometimes both. Recent efforts to deliver lower power or low latency with narrowband Bluetooth or WiFi signals inevitably compromise data quality and connectivity.

Demanding applications like wireless VR, gaming, IoT and automotive require high bandwidth wireless requirements at ultra-low power and and ultra-low latency. SPARK UWB transceivers have been designed specifically to meet these needs while operating reliably in noisy RF environments.

Gaming

Wireless gaming has always been hampered by short battery life, insufficient bandwidth and high latency. Solving any one meant compromising the others, until now. SPARK Microsystems enables you to design wireless gaming hardware with no compromises: Low latency, long battery life and up to 20Mbps bandwidth.

Audio

Legacy wireless protocols have never done a great job with wireless audio solutions: Latency creates noticeable lip sync issues, but decreasing latency has always meant compromising audio quality. SPARK Microsystems enables premium audio applications without compromise: Uncompressed audio at low latency audio to multiple destinations, without interference from other wireless applications.

Smart Home

Consumers love smart home devices, but their number one complaint about wireless products is battery life. SPARK Wireless solutions enable motion detectors, door locks, remote controls and other smart home devices to last longer between battery changes, including battery-free operation with energy harvesting.

Home Security

Wireless home security applications require high reliability, and consumers know that batteries are the weak link of most wireless applications. SPARK UWB wireless devices can last 5x-10x longer while transmitting at higher bandwidth. The SPARK radio can also multiplex several users/devices in the same space and provide location accuracy down to 30 cm. This enables entirely new applications for wireless sensors, cameras, motion detectors and locks.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The IoT battery problem gets a lot of attention, but the indoor interference and networking issues on a factory floor also need to be addressed. SPARK UWB wireless solutions last 5X-10X longer on the same battery, and their ultra-low latency enables robust and high performance mesh networks in noisy RF environments. SPARK can multiplex hundreds/thousands of users/devices in the same space, making it ideal for industrial IoT.

Body Area Network

Body area networks require a unique combination of low power, low latency, high reliability and high bandwidth. Narrowband wireless protocols struggle to meet all of these requirements without high battery drain. SPARK SR1000 UWB transceivers can provide 20 Mbps bandwidth at extreme low power and extreme low latency, while providing high interference resistance and remaining essentially undetectable.

Oil & Gas

Remote oil & gas installations demand extreme reliability, performance and interference demands on wireless networks. SPARK UWB solutions enable extreme low latency and low power mesh networks for machine control, with the high reliability that remote locations require.

Retail

Most wireless technologies require too much power to make wireless electronic shelf labels practical. The SPARK SR1000 device family enables thousands of ESL devices to communicate using a low latency network throughout the store with significantly extended battery life.

Medical

Wireless connections in medicine must deliver high bandwidth data that is reliable, immune to RF interference, and ideally low EMI. Narrowband protocols such as WiFi and Bluetooth consume too much power, and are susceptible to interference in the presence of many other nearby radios. SPARK UWB solutions are orders of magnitude lower EMI while being nearly immune to narrowband interference, and can enable battery-free operation, powered by solar cells or thermoelectrics.

Automotive

Cars have so many sensors and electronic systems that wiring harnesses are becoming a dominant cost factor. Wireless communications within the car are limited by extreme interference and power distribution problems. SPARK UWB radio technology requires only 10-20% as much power as other radios, while delivering extreme low latency and high resistance to interference. It can even handle the bandwidth required for uncompressed multi-channel audio.