NXP Semiconductors N.V. has claimed the industry’s first single-chip solution that integrates on-chip processing capabilities with short-range ultra-wideband (UWB) radar and secure UWB ranging. The new Trimension SR250 will enable a variety of new applications based on location, presence or motion detection in smart home and industrial IoT applications.
Part of the Trimension family of UWB products for automotive, mobile and IoT applications, the Trimension SR250 chip combines low-power short-range UWB radar operating at 6–8.5 GHz, secure ranging, 3D angle-of-arrival (AoA) calculations and time difference of arrival. For use cases that require added security, it can be combined with the NXP EdgeLock SE051W secure element. Together, these features will enable new use cases based on UWB mapping, human or object detection and secure positioning.
The SR250 brings multiple functionalities on the single chip—secure ranging, 3D AoA and UWB radar sensing, said Sunil Jogi, marketing director of UWB at NXP Semiconductors. The previous generation had secure ranging and AoA only, so this is more functionality integrated into the single chip, and the user experience and use cases enabled through this convergence of multiple functionalities are key for the SR250, he said.
The SR250 supports UWB ranging—the distance measurement between two active UWB sensors, which brings spatial awareness to the devices, Jogi said. It provides ±5-cm distance accuracy and ±3° of angular measurement or AoA and real-time measurements in <10 ms, he added.
With secure ranging, AoA and radar sensing with on-chip processing capability, the SR250 is enhancing the user experience with optimized efficiency for appliances and improved security, safety and privacy, Jogi added.
In addition, by integrating the UWB secure ranging, radar sensing and AoA into a single chip, it reduces the overall bill of materials for devices, he said.
Trimension SR250 (Source: NXP Semiconductors)
With low-power radar operating at 6–8.5 GHz, the Trimension SR250 can detect presence, location or even motion, such as breathing or gestures. It can also detect and track one or more people or objects when interfaced with a host processor running AI/ML algorithms, such as the i.MX family of applications processors, RW61x family of wireless microcontrollers (MCUs) or the MCX family of MCUs.
The SR250 is capable of radar processing in two ways, Jogi said: One is on-chip radar processing, with an on-chip presence-detection algorithm, which can act as a wake-up source, and the other is off-chip for more complex radar processing through advanced algorithms.
The integrated on-chip radar processing allows the UWB chip to perform radar processing autonomously and reduce the overall energy consumption of the system for improved efficiency. For example, the host processor can be in a deep-sleep mode, while the Trimension SR250 can use the on-chip presence detection to sense a moving person or object.
Key UWB radar applications
A few examples of smart-home applications include turning lights or TVs on or off based on presence, enabling secure home access capabilities, and monitoring—without cameras, for improved privacy in presence detection—the safety of an elderly person living alone. It also supports safety, security and productivity applications in industrial environments, such as providing the tracking location for workers, goods or assets; access control; collision avoidance; and danger-zone detection.
NXP said the on-chip processing is critical to the autonomous home and industrial IoT capabilities, allowing the system to take actions such as activating or deactivating an HVAC or autonomous robot as a user enters or leaves a defined zone, such as a room in a smart home or a danger zone in a smart factory.
Consumer appliances, such as TVs and other entertainment devices, can also use the on-chip presence detection to save energy by entering and exiting sleep mode in response to changes in presence detection.
For example, a TV with the SR250 can sense the change in environment through UWB signals, Jogi said. If someone enters the room, it can send a signal to the TV’s application processor and act as a wake-up source for the complete system, and if the SR250 detects no one is in the room for five minutes, as an example, it can again send a signal to the application processor to switch off the TV and go into sleep mode, he continued.
Other technologies, such as vision processing or traditional radar, require a complex algorithm, which always keeps the main application processor active to process the signals, while the capability of presence detection is part of the SR250 chip itself, so it provides very good energy efficiency for the system, Jogi said.
The Trimension SR250 brings a new generation of sensing and positioning in autonomous home use cases, he said.
In one example, the radar capability in an SR250-based smart lock will wake up the door dock if somebody is approaching within a given range, which is configurable. If the person’s phone has a valid credential, it will unlock the door hands-free, Jogi explained, and once in the living room, the SR250-based speakers or TVs or other sensors can detect that someone has entered the room and can switch on the lights or open the blinders, he said.
Jogi explained that because your phone is your identity, it can activate different features based on your presence, such as temperature or even calibrating sound and music based on where you are sitting in the room.
Industrial IoT applications include access, asset tracking, factory automation, indoor navigation and danger-zone detection. Examples include tracking people on the factory floor, access control, geofencing, and safety such as detecting and avoiding the collision of forklifts with humans or robots, Jogi said.
To support more advanced algorithms, such as detecting multiple deterministic targets or monitoring vital signs, the Trimension SR250 can capture CIR data and provide those to the host for processing. A fire alarm equipped with a camera, for example, may be able to identify smoke from a fire but may have challenges detecting the presence of people. UWB radar can be used to augment performance by detecting multiple signs of life that are not visible to the camera.
Jogi also noted that the SR250 is very secure, preventing any relay attacks. It can take multiple measurements in a very short time, which is essential for factory and industrial applications, and is very low-power due to UWB’s ultra-short air time.
Trimension SR250 enables autonomous home and industrial IoT applications. (Source: NXP Semiconductors)
NXP also offers a range of firmware, middleware and sample applications for the Trimension SR250. These development tools include support for updates, APIs for the UWB Command Interface, updateable middleware, including C programming language APIs for radar operation, and example radar applications and algorithms.
The Trimension SR250 is currently sampling. General availability is expected in the fourth quarter of 2024, including through NXP’s ecosystem of module partners. The UWB IC complies with the FiRa Consortium 3.0 technical specifications for certification and interoperability.
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