UWB Radar
Radar Sensing
Conventional UWB applications usually involve two devices communicating, computing distance from the signal's time of flight and optionally determining direction with multiple antennas. UWB radar works differently: the device actively transmits ultra-wideband pulses and simultaneously receives the reflections from people, vehicles, furniture and walls. By analysing how the continuous reflected signal changes, it works out what is happening in the space.
Four characteristics of UWB radar
Non-imaging sensing, privacy-friendly
It does not capture faces, images or sound directly — it only analyses changes in the reflected radio signal (whether someone is there, whether they are moving, which zone they are in). Ideal for privacy-sensitive spaces such as bedrooms, elderly care, hotel rooms, meeting rooms and TV interaction.
From "someone is here" to "where they are"
Unlike conventional PIR, which only detects obvious thermal motion, UWB radar combines distance, direction and zone information to tell whether a person is approaching, has entered a defined area, is still there, is moving closer / away / stationary, and which zone has changed — moving towards finer-grained spatial understanding.
Sensing micro-movements
A person who is standing still still has chest and abdominal micro-motion from breathing. With time-series analysis, filtering and tracking algorithms, breathing-related trends can be extracted — suitable for static presence confirmation, sleep assistance, elderly and infant care, and contactless interaction.
Converged with ranging, pointing and interaction
The same UWB platform can be combined as needed to deliver precise ranging, pointing determination, presence sensing, zone detection, trajectory tracking, micro-motion and breathing trend sensing, secure interaction and digital keys — rather than a set of independent modules.
Industry progress: from positioning to converged sensing and interaction
FiRa released the Core 4.0 specification and certification program in 2025, continuing to advance interoperability and ecosystem adoption among UWB devices. The industry is also exploring UWB for presence detection, child presence detection (CPD) in vehicles, micro-motion sensing such as breathing, and contactless interaction in smart homes and consumer electronics. UWB is evolving from a technology that "finds devices" into a capability that lets devices understand a user's position, behaviour and spatial state.
Chipsbank's UWB radar progress
Around the deployment of UWB radar in consumer electronics and smart spaces, Chipsbank has completed multiple solution validations and continues to advance the optimisation of algorithms, antennas, mechanical design and overall user experience:
- Outdoor two-wheeler sentinel radar: senses whether someone is approaching the vehicle, whether a target has entered a defined area and how it is moving, assisting with parking, charging, parked-vehicle watch and anti-theft alerts; it can trigger alarms, lights and cameras without depending on a camera.
- TV pointing and radar working simultaneously: lets a TV maintain spatial awareness while supporting remote-control pointing interaction, better understanding the user's intent, so that positioning, pointing and radar sensing cooperate rather than working independently.