Silicon Labs announced its support for Bluetooth® Channel Sounding technology on the xG24 platform. Bluetooth® Channel Sounding is a new protocol stack designed to enable secure and precise distance measurement between two Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) connected devices. By offering true distance awareness, Bluetooth® Channel Sounding enhances the accuracy and security of Bluetooth device-ranging capabilities.
Bluetooth® Channel Sounding uses Phased-Based Ranging (PBR) to deliver precise distance measurements between two devices and a secondary ranging method called Round Trip Time (RTT). The independent distance measurements from RTT can then be used to verify and cross-check the PBR measurements. This cross-verification process helps detect anomalies to ensure applications are secure, which is critical when developing access control solutions for hospitals and industrial buildings that must grant or deny access based on proximity (more info).