Bluetooth 6.0 Adds Channel Sounding to Challenge UWB

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has officially announced Bluetooth version 6.0. The new version of the specification adds several features, but the most notable by far is Channel Sounding, which brings "distance awareness". It is a way for two Bluetooth devices to measure their distance from each other with greatly improved precision. It will improve the performance and utility of Bluetooth-based "Find My" services. But it also offers similar functionality compared with current UWB (Ultra-WideBand) implementations in today's flagship phones. This will potentially enable precision finding and digital key functions using just the Bluetooth radio, instead of requiring extra hardware for UWB. Bluetooth 6.0 is finalized and being released to device developers this week; it will take some time for it to be supported in new devices.