Samsung unveils new ultra-wideband chipset Exynos Connect U100 for digital car keys and smart tags

Samsung on Tuesday unveiled its first ultra-wideband (UWB) chipset Exynos Connect U100 aimed at short-range communications.

The South Korean tech giant said the chipset has single-digit centimeters and under five-degree accuracy for sharing precise distance and location information in mobile, automotive, and IoT devices.

The Exynos Connect brand is also new and Samsung said it will use it for its short-range wireless chips that use UWB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi technologies.

UWB, as its name suggests, operates over a broad frequency spectrum that allows for fast data transfers at low power over short distances.

On top of this, Samsung said it used time of arrival and 3D angle of arrival measurements to make Exynos Connect U100 as accurate as possible.

This means the chipset is optimal for tracking location in indoor environments where GPS is unavailable, the tech giant said.

It is also useful for AR and VR devices that require precise, real-time tracking of people on the move, Samsung said. Exynos Connect U100 also comes with RF, baseband, eFlash memory, and power management IP.

The chipset’s power-saving mode also makes it ideal for compact devices such as smart tracking tags that run on batteries, Samsung said, while it has hardware encryption and scrambled timestamp sequence to prevent hacking.

Exynos Connect U100 is also certified by UWB standard organization FiRa Consortium and digital key standard Car Connectivity Consortium Digital Key Release 3.0.

Samsung’s Exynos Connect U100 has been certified by the FiRa Consortium, an industry-led non-profit organization that certifies UWB products for conformity to interoperability standards.