Notice of Ofcom’s proposal to make (Ultra-Wideband Equipment) (Exemption) Regulations | Ofcom

Notice of Ofcom’s proposal to make (Ultra-Wideband Equipment) (Exemption) Regulations | Ofcom

In line with EU direction, Ofcom is planning on allowing UWB (Ultra-Wideband) Equipment license excempt (as are other bands such as 2.4GHz used for WiFi).

UWB works by spreading data across a very wide section of spectrum, the data is error corrected by duplication and other means. This allows very high data rates to be achieved. As UWB is very low power, it doesn't really cause interference and if another (non UWB) devices "hears" the UWB transmission it can generally be thought of as background noise.

As UWB operators across a large range, if other devices interfere with it, the data can be retrieved from another part of the transmission.

Unfortunately the EU's variant of UWB has slightly different characteristics from the US's already working version so US equipment can not be used in Europe. It will be a while for silicon to become available that meets the EU specification.

Ofcom are consulting on the proposal to make UWB use license excempt.