Addressing body blocking issues in the UWB market

Antennaware Ltd has launched a new addition to its Bodywave antenna range specifically aimed at the UWB radio market.

Ideal for IoT, Wearable, Sports, Professional and Consumer Electronics markets, its robust UWB Bodywave elevates wearable performance by expanding the range and drastically lowering dropout. This produces more coverage, excellent wireless reliability, and the best signal performance for effective data capture, even in demanding outdoor environments.

The company's expertise has already been deployed in the 2.4GHz for Bluetooth arena, where its antenna produced improvements of between 10dB and 20dB. This new UWB version records over 25dB improvement in link budget compared to printed or ceramic chip antennas. This improvement is so dramatic that it is enabling UWB radios to successfully address market sectors where Body Blocking was formerly very difficult to overcome.

"A major problem with wireless wearables is the issue of body shadowing," says Dr Gareth Conway, CEO of Antennaware. "This is when the human body blocks the wireless transmission path, meaning the signal can drop out because the radio waves created by existing antennas are reflected or absorbed by the human body. BodyWave™ solves this by generating waves that flow efficiently around the body, supporting a communication link even when the body is blocking the signal."

The new version, supporting 6.5GHz (Ch 5) and 8GHz (Ch 9), deals with the issues surrounding UWB that had historically caused data dropouts, particularly when devices were employed 'cross body' (back pocket to headset) or in auto and asset tracking applications.

"Our novel and patented approach addresses the debilitating effects of body blocking in general, and UWB in particular," adds Dr Matt Magill, CTO of Antennaware. "This makes our Bodyware UWB antenna a fundamental enabler for the IoT, wearable and audio wireless markets."