SPARK’s SR1120 LE-UWB Wins Canada’s Product Innovation Award

SPARK Microsystems’ SR1120 LE-UWB wireless transceiver received the Product Innovation Award from Canada’s Semiconductor Council at the CHIPS NORTH Executive Summit. The SR1120 is cited for enabling AI-era short-range wireless with substantially higher throughput, much lower power and greatly reduced latency, addressing connectivity gaps in consumer, industrial and medical devices.

Award and event

SPARK Microsystems was honored with the Product Innovation Award by the Canada Semiconductor Council (CSC) on May 6, 2026. The award was presented at the CHIPS NORTH Executive Summit in Ottawa and recognizes commercialization of new technologies and products that meet strong market demand.

The CSC is a national industry association representing Canadian microelectronics companies, manufacturers, R&D organizations, government labs, agencies and universities. SPARK joined the CSC in 2023.

Technology and product details

The award specifically recognizes SPARK’s SR1120 LE-UWB wireless transceiver. According to SPARK, the SR1120 delivers 40 times higher data throughput than Bluetooth, while operating at approximately 25 times lower power consumption and with 60 times lower latency.

The SR1120 is also compliant with the upcoming IEEE 802.15.4ab low-energy UWB PHY standard, strengthening its relevance for future standardized ultra-wideband applications with low-power requirements.

Compared with Wi-Fi, SPARK reports that the SR1120 supports high data rates with about 5 times lower latency and up to 100 times lower power consumption. In relation to UWB solutions primarily designed for ranging and positioning, the SR1120 is said to offer comparable ranging capability at roughly 100 times lower power consumption.

SPARK positions the SR1120 as a short-range, ultra-low-power, high-speed solution with robustness to interference and very low latency, intended for wearables, peripherals, tags, sensors and other IoT-connected devices.

Industry context and significance

Paul Slaby, managing director of the CSC, commented that SPARK’s short-range wireless products overcome longstanding limitations in connected devices and can help meet connectivity demands driven by AI. Frederic Nabki, co-founder and CTO of SPARK Microsystems, emphasized the need for deterministic wireless performance for AI-era devices and said the award affirms a connectivity shift that is underway.

The recognition highlights a national effort to strengthen Canada’s positioning as a developer and supplier of embedded semiconductor products, and it draws attention to short-range wireless innovations beyond established Bluetooth and Wi-Fi approaches.

Relevance for Integrators and Solution Providers

For system integrators and solution providers, the SR1120 is relevant wherever product designs require low power consumption, low latency, and high data throughput within compact or resource-constrained devices. Its reported performance profile makes it particularly interesting for battery-powered wearables, medical sensors, peripherals, and edge devices where conventional Wi-Fi or Bluetooth architectures may involve compromises in power, responsiveness, or data rate.

About SPARK Microsystems

SPARK Microsystems is a Canadian fabless semiconductor company focused on next-generation short-range wireless communications. Leveraging its LE-UWB technology, SPARK develops devices for consumer, industrial and medical applications aimed at enabling ultra-low-power, high-speed connectivity with low latency and robust interference performance.

Read more about SPARK Microsystems’ Product Innovation Award and the SR1120 LE-UWB wireless transceiver at SPARK Microsystems.