Decawave shipping UWB ICs for less than $15 at scale

ABI Research predicts that ultra-wideband is going to be significantly used as an indoor location technology in industrial and IoT markets, with total RTLS/asset tracking revenues to reach $15 billion by 2021. “High-precision UWB technologies are nothing new, with companies like Time Domain, Ubisense and Zebra Technologies being long-established vendors in the RTLS/asset tracking market, says Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. “Though no one ever doubted UWB’s accuracy or ability to perform in challenging RF environments, the cost/accuracy trade-off previously limited this technology to very niche applications. But big change is now happening as startups invent ways to cost effectively implement the technology without compromising on performance.” ABI Research says Decawave remains the biggest influencer, now shipping UWB ICs for less than $15 at scale. This opened the doors to a bundle of startups working with the technology for the first time to compete in the market. The other findings shared by ABI research in this interesting market includes: Partners Decawave and Quantitec are making significant progress with the likes of Bosch; while Nanotron is a “20-year-old startup” that offers a well-thought-out embedded location platform. UWINLOC is another new startup that created a semi-passive UWB solution that can ultimately compete on price with pass...