Tokyo, Japan, and New York, USA, Nov. 13, 2020: Renesas Electronics Corporation, a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and Altran, the global leader in engineering and R&D services, and part of the Capgemini Group, today announced that they had co-developed a wearable solution for social distancing based on Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology.
The social distancing wristwatch, combines the Renesas Synergy S128 MCU featuring HMI capacitive touch with licensed secure ranging UWB technology, according to a press release by Renesas. Unlike other social distancing wearables based on technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Renesas’ UWB chipset with Low Rate Pulse (LRP) can operate on 10X lower power consumption than competing UWB chips and measure distances with an accuracy of 10cm or less – the precision necessary for social distancing applications.
The wristwatch’s safe distance is user-configurable; the wearer is alerted by LEDs and haptic feedback when a second device is detected within this range. Renesas will begin sampling the UWB chipset during the second half of 2021.
Earlier this year, Renesas announced it had licensed UWB technology from 3db Access AG, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in secure UWB low power chips to augment Renesas microcontrollers (MCUs).
As co-developer and system integrator, Altran will leverage the UWB-based platform along with other internal assets to develop additional wearable solutions for social distancing as well as related location-based applications for clients across a broad range of markets. The social distancing wristwatch will be showcased in Altran’s innovation lab.
Image credit: Renesas/FB