In December 2024, FiRa Consortium announced launching of Release 3.0 Core Certification Program and Release 3.0 of Core Specifications of ultra-wideband (UWB) MAC, PHY and Link Layer subsystems in devices. This is a major milestone for FiRa after the successful release of 2.0 Certification Program, which supports UWB features for localization and device-to-device service in, October 2023.

While FiRa Core 1.0 Release focused on UWB technology for use cases such as hands- free access control service, FiRa 2.0 Release extended FiRa UWB technology to location based service and device-to-device service, this FiRa 3.0 Release adds support for public transport service, tap-free payment and car access digital key.

Figure 1. Usecases Examples of FiRa 3.0 Core Spec

FiRa is introducing three major UWB features in its Core 3.0 Specifications:

The FiRa Public Transport usecase consists of three main phases, illustrated in Figure. 2 and described below:

Figure 2. Visualization of the three phases of the UWB based fare transaction system. One of the anchors is colored in red, to indicate its primary role. The anchor in this role is responsible for ensuring that all anchors operate in a synchronized manner.

With the extended feature set available in FiRa Certification Program 3.0, it enables devices to support an even wider and richer set of use cases and applications, in an interoperable fashion. Devices can select the specific features for the certification with all the features of Certification Release 2.0 also fully available in Release 3.0. Launch of FiRa Certification Program 3.0, will help in improving the adoption of UWB technology into more industry verticals.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus models were adopted as Reference Devices for FiRa 3.0 Certification Program to test the device’s interoperability. This would lead all the FiRa Certified Devices to become interoperable with Samsung Galaxy mobile phones featured with the UWB chipset. Those models will become the world’s first FiRa 3.0 certified devices in the upcoming month.

FiRa Core 3.0 Core Specifications and Certification Program are exclusively available to FiRa Consortium members. For more information, visit www.firaconsortium.org

Conclusion and Next Steps

FiRa evolves its technology and certification program to develop more market attractive use-cases. Beyond customer centric use cases of FiRa 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 releases, FiRa sees another opportunity at industrial area such as factory, warehouse and hospital where FiRa use cases such as asset tracking, foot traffic and shopping behavior analytics will be crucially important for the business. Enhancing FiRa UWB ranging technology for the upcoming release will enable this promising scenario successful in the market.

Moreover, FiRa keeps trying to co-work with other consortiums to extend FiRa UWB ecosystem. Working with CCC (Car Connectivity Consortium®) is one such remarkable collaboration for the successful adoption of FiRa 3.0 in the market. FiRa also plans to provide conformance certification to Connectivity Standards Alliance® Aliro for the next release. By harmonizing standards and certification processes, FiRa seeks to create a more cohesive UWB ecosystem. Also this partnership will pave the way forward with reduced development and certification costs for industry stakeholders while promoting interoperability across various applications and strengthening the broader UWB ecosystem as a whole.

About FiRa Consortium

The FiRa Consortium is a member-driven organization dedicated to transforming the way we interact with our environment by enabling precise location awareness for people and devices using the secured fine-ranging and positioning capabilities of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology. FiRa does this by driving the development of technical specifications and certification, advocating for effective regulations, and by defining a broad set of use cases for UWB.

To learn more about UWB and the FiRa Consortium, visit www.firaconsortium.org.

About Connectivity Standards Alliance^®

The Connectivity Standards Alliance^® (CSA) is the foundation and future of the Internet of Things (IoT). Established in 2002, its wide-ranging global membership collaborates to create and evolve universal open standards for the products transforming the way we live, work, and play. With its members’ deep and diverse expertise, robust certification programs, and a full suite of open IoT solutions CSA is leading the movement toward a more intuitive, imaginative, and useful world.

About Car Connectivity Consortium^®(CCC)

The Car Connectivity Consortium^® (CCC) is a cross-industry organization advancing technologies for smartphone-to-car connectivity solutions. CCC represents the vast majority of the global automotive and smartphone industries, with over 170 member companies. The CCC member companies include smartphone and vehicle manufacturers, automotive tier-1 suppliers, silicon/chip vendors, and security product suppliers representing a comprehensive ecosystem for secure access. Digital Key allows consumers to use their mobile devices, regardless of manufacturer or operating system type, to easily and securely access their vehicles. Based on the IEEE 802.15.4z standard, UWB secure ranging is a core technology that enables Digital Key 3.0 by preventing car theft while preserving full user convenience.