Google Working On UWB-Enabled Chromebooks

Chromebooks could come with UWB capabilities in the future. Google is currently testing the technology in connection with the notebooks. Ultra Wide Band could help Chromebooks pinpoint their location more accurately and communicate with other devices.

Ultra Wide Band (UWB) is a communication technology that exchanges information at a higher frequency than protocols such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. With transfer speeds of one gigabit per second, files can be sent faster than with other technologies. In addition, UWB has better energy efficiency and higher precision.

With the appropriate chips, it is possible to determine the location of the respective device more precisely. GPS is quite inaccurate, especially inside buildings, and is not suitable for capturing the surroundings in detail. It is possible that UWB will replace WLAN and Bluetooth as well as NFC and RFID in the future.

Currently, UWB chips are only installed in a few Android and iOS devices. According to Chrome Unboxed, however, the technology should also be found in Chromebooks in the future.

Hints in Chromium Gerrit

Google is preparing for UWB to be integrated into laptops and support for it in the ChromeOS operating system. In Chromium Gerrit there are indications that the search engine company is investigating certain use cases.

This includes connections between Chromebooks, smartphones and communication between multiple devices. In the future, UWB could be used to connect the notebooks of different users to each other at the same time. When the first Chromebooks with UWB support will come onto the market remains to be seen at this point in time.