Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is a radio technology that uses short, low energy pulses to provide short-range communications over large swaths of radio frequency spectrum. Increasingly, UWB capabilities are being built into a variety of mobile devices and other communications equipment, which permits a significant range of new applications. These include authentication for entry to buildings and vehicles, transportation safety sensors, and low-power object tracking systems. UWB devices were a major focus of the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2026, where demonstrations focused on smart home security, high-precision tracking, and low-latency wireless communication. UWB is regulated by the FCC, so it is important to understand current regulatory activity at the FCC and how it may change the ground rules for this rapidly growing technology.
When the original UWB regulations were adopted nearly twenty-five years ago, the FCC proceeded with caution to avoid the potential for interference to other users in the broad spectrum bands over which the technology operates. In addition to setting power and transmit duration limitations, the rules prohibit installation of UWB devices on fixed outdoor infrastructure, restricting outdoor use to low-power, hand-held devices. The intent of this prohibition was to prevent the technology from being deployed to provide networks of antennas that could transmit over wide geographic areas, substantially increasing the risk of harmful interference to co-frequency spectrum users.
The latest UWB equipment follows the low-power, low-duration, ground-based model on which the rules were established. For example, new applications intended for permanent installation at outdoor locations are not deployed as wide area communications networks but instead function much more like handheld devices currently allowed. But because they are intended to be installed in static locations (for example, an apartment doorframe), deployment requires a waiver of the FCC rule requiring outside devices to be handheld only.
Limitations imposed by rules established more than two decades ago have led to a substantial increase in waiver requests to the FCC for a variety of applications. Processing these individual requests for products with very similar characteristics is time consuming, repetitive, and places a significant strain on the resources of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, which is responsible for processing the requests.
The FCC is currently considering a request filed by several entities representing producers or users of UWB equipment seeking modification of the rules most often the subject of waiver requests to allow more flexible UWB device operations. Among other changes, these proposals would modify the UWB regulations to allow: (1) devices that operate with modulations that are not pulse based, (2) fixed uses not limited to indoor environments or hand-held devices, and (3) a duty cycle approach as an alternative to the existing 10-second transmission cessation requirement. The public comment period on this petition (RM No. 12014) concluded at the end of February 2026, but the record remains open to ex parte submissions from other parties interested in these or other reforms to the UWB rules.
