A mysterious “wireless device” from Google recently appeared in the documents of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It indicates that Soli radar technology will usher in new application opportunities. The device equips short-range 60GHz Soli radar technology, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity, and also comes with a base plate.
A mysterious device with 60GHz Soli radar technology
According to IT Home, Soli radar is a 60GHz mm-wave radar technology developed by Google and Infineon specifically for close-range perception tasks. Google is reportedly responsible for developing the signal processing and software parts, while Infineon Technologies owns the intellectual property rights of chip hardware technology. Notably a similar product was first released in 2016. The second generation of the technology was released in 2018, which was used in the gesture recognition module of the Pixel 4 and the sleep monitoring function of the Nest Hub.
Google, with the help of its developer program, has been able to launch a series of innovative applications around the world.
According to ITHome, the mysterious product could be a new Nest Thermostat. FCC documents reveal that the device has no other radio modules except the 2.4GHz and 60GHz bands.
The Nest Thermostat released in 2020 also only supports these two frequency bands and uses Soli radar to automatically light up the display when the user approaches the device. The device will likely require a constant power supply to operate since there is no mention of a battery. It only supports 802.11n Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz band, which is unlikely for a smart speaker. Even Google’s more affordable Nest Mini supports the 5GHz band.
It can be a smartwatch from Google, as they don’t use a 5GHz band in the product category. For the Wi-Fi-only version of the watch, 2.4GHz, Bluetooth, and the new radar technology should be sufficient. However, the device will keep a distance of at least 20 cm from the human body under normal use. So it’s unlikely to be a smartwatch and seems to be similar to the Nest Thermostat released in 2020.
(Via)
