The integration of GPS/BeiDou+UWB+ Bluetooth: The future trend of indoor and outdoor integrated positioning watches

2025-06-19/ By Admin

The smartwatch market has been continuously expanding in recent years. In 2024, the scale of the smartwatch market in China reached 37.47 billion yuan, and it is expected to increase to 41.38 billion yuan by 2025. With the popularization of functions such as health monitoring, exercise tracking and independent communication, smartwatches have become an important tool in consumers' daily lives.

The positioning function in smartwatches (especially seamless switching between indoor and outdoor environments) has become one of the core competencies of high-end smartwatches. Traditional GPS has weak signals in indoor environments and cannot provide precise positioning. Therefore, smartwatch manufacturers have begun to integrate multiple technologies.

The VDU1533 indoor and outdoor positioning smartwatch launched by Skylab features automatic switching between indoor and outdoor positioning modes. It adopts dual GPS/ Beidou modes (cold start <35 seconds, accuracy 5-10 meters), ultra-wideband TOF (accuracy <1 meter /400 meters), and Bluetooth (accuracy ≤5 meters) for triple positioning technologies. When Bluetooth malfunctions
Automatically activate satellite positioning and retain the last position information when there is no signal,Realize multi-source collaboration and seamless switching.

The gap between traditional GPS watches and indoor and outdoor comprehensive positioning watches

Traditional GPS watches mainly rely on satellite signals (such as GPS, Beidou, GLONASS) for positioning, while indoor and outdoor integrated positioning watches integrate multiple technologies (such as UWB, Bluetooth beacons, Wi-Fi, inertial navigation, etc.) to achieve seamless positioning in all scenarios. The gap between the two is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1、Positioning coverage range

Traditional GPS watches are almost ineffective indoors, underground, and in areas with dense high-rise buildings. Comprehensive positioning watches, through the integration of multiple technologies, achieve full-scenario coverage of "outdoor accuracy + indoor usability".

2、Positioning accuracy

Traditional GPS has large errors in complex urban environments. Integrated positioning watches, through technologies such as UWB (Ultra-Wideband), can achieve sub-meter accuracy even indoors.

3、Functional application scenarios

Traditional GPS watches are only suitable for basic outdoor activities, while comprehensive positioning watches can meet the needs of all scenarios, such as indoor navigation, anti-wandering, and smart home integration.

4、Battery life and power consumption

Traditional GPS watches have better battery life in pure GPS mode, but their functions are limited. Integrated positioning watches balance accuracy and power consumption by intelligently switching positioning modes (such as GNSS for outdoor use and Bluetooth for indoor use).