R&D Stories: Using Ultra-Wideband Technology for Wireless Delivery of Audio and Multimedia

In this exclusive article for audioXpress, Frederic Nabki, Chief Technology Officer, Nicolas Paillusseau, Applications Manager, and Ronald Rinkenbach, Applications Engineer, all from SPARK Microsystems, address the advantages of using Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to achieve high-quality wireless audio streaming and how UWB radios can be deployed effectively as a high speed and low latency data communication method demonstrating compelling advantages.

To better support and strengthen the adoption of Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, the two existing supporting organizations, UWB Alliance and the FiRa Consortium have established a joint liaison agreement to align their ideas and get their act together. This liaison will provide the two organizations with guiding principles to ultimately achieve the common goal of creating a UWB-enabled ecosystem and supporting use of UWB technology, which could be an important enabler in critical health and safety, personal networks or smart home applications.

Munich-based Bragi is known for making truly wireless earphones, which are in fact the first truly smart hearables. Its first product, The Dash, won the CES 2015 Innovation Award Best of Innovation in the Headphones product category. When the idea of truly wireless stereo earbuds was still an idea, Bragi was working hard to enter the space, but their vision was going much further: truly wearables. As Nikolaj Hviid, Founder and CEO, Bragi GmbH puts it, "The purpose of wearables is to increase the data rate from the human to the machine."