Samsung Electronics, the division of the Korean manufacturer that deals with the manufacture of semiconductors, has just announced a new chip. It is a processor entirely dedicated to ultra-wideband (UWB) which joins the Exynos family under the name Connect U100.
A chip for more precise geolocation
The new Exynos will come to equip smartphones, but also cars and all the terminals constituting what is called the Internet of Things (IoT, Internet of objects in French), that is to say products capable of communicating with others. At Samsung, they can take the form of various and varied devices, such as televisions, speakers, overhead projectors, and even remote controls.
Samsung says the Exynos Connect U100 has centimeter accuracy as well as 5 degree accuracy. An almost diabolical level of accuracy, which will be useful for finding your lost objects when the GPS connection is unavailable. The brand also specifies that it will be used for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications, which require real-time tracking of people in motion.
Regarding data protection, Samsung Electronics assures that its chip is equipped with a “scrambled timestamp sequence” (STS) which, as the UWB Alliance explains, employs random number generation coupled with cryptography to protect end-to-end data transmission. This timestamp is also used to measure the precise distance between the two objects. The Connect U100 processor has been certified by the FiRa Consortium as well as the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) Digital Key Realease 3.0. This is the security standard for electronic car keys. In fact, future smartphones equipped with the U100 will be able to easily share their digital key with third parties.
It only remains for Samsung to specify the next products – and especially the next smartphones – which will benefit from this new chip. If it is likely to equip the high end of the summer – Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 in particular – the Exynos Connect U100 could land a little earlier on other product lines.
