Smartwatch Breakthrough Brings GPS Accuracy Down to a Few Centimetres

Being in the world of hypotheticals, imagine the implications of wearing a smartwatch that doesn't just know what city you're in, but your precise location to within several centimetres. Tracking algorithms designed by researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand have made that possible. Multiple satellite systems and sophisticated signal processing, once the province of expensive survey instruments, are now being implemented in consumer wearables. This could revolutionise the fitness, health, safety and mapping capabilities in run-of-the-mill smartwatches.

Pushing the Boundaries of GPS Tech

As per a Techxplore report, until now, achieving centimetre-level accuracy involved the use of huge GPS setups and high-end antennas. The concept of replicating such precision in a slim smartwatch was too good to be true. But the challenges were overcome by the Otago team, who worked alongside experts from Google and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The researchers conducted tests in which they left a smartwatch in one location for four hours and estimated that position using “carrier-phase” signals, typically reserved for professional surveying. The results were impressive: the smartwatch read its position to within eight centimetres, roughly its own face width.

Expert Insights and Innovation

Associate Professor Robert Odolinski said while GPS has been included in wearables for many years, its hardware and power limitations have prevented it from reaching this level of detail. He called the breakthrough “just the beginning of how wearable high-precision positioning will change our lives,” and looked forward to a future when accuracy is mobile.

While there are still concerns around power use and cost, the research shows us just how quickly the chasm between scientific equipment and consumer smartwatches is closing, and it's bristling.