Firm Unveils Ultra-Wideband Chip
While these companies are vying to be the first to roll out commercial uses of UWB, Smolek said that both Intel and Cisco have expressed interest in the technology and are well positioned to dominate the market.
story.news.yahoo.com
Mon Jun 24, 1:48 PM ET
Jay Wrolstad, Wireless.NewsFactor.com
A chipset designed to make commercial use of promising ultra-wideband technology has been unveiled by XtremeSpectrum, one of a small number of companies working on the deployment of wireless technology that transmits a low power signal over a wide swath of radio spectrum.
In February, the Federal Communications Commission ( news - web sites) approved unlicensed use of ultra-wideband (UWB), which has applications for public safety, home networking and high-speed data transmission. Until recently, UWB had been used primarily by the government.
On the Pulse
UWB is revolutionary in that it delivers broadband wireless communications without using radio waves on specific spectrum bands. Rather, data is transmitted using time- and amplitude-modulated pulses of energy, less than one nanosecond in duration, across a wide swath of frequencies.
Unlike conventional radio systems that operate within a narrow bandwidth, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (802.11b or 802.11a), UWB operates across a wide range of frequency spectrum by transmitting a series of very narrow and low-power pulses.
UWB can coexist with carrier frequency uses without interference. In granting widespread use of the technology, the FCC ( news - web sites) said that by reusing RF spectrum, UWB ushers in a array of communications options to ease the growing bandwidth crunch. However, it could present a serious challenge to the cellular industry.
Eliminating Boundaries
With UWB, wireless transmission rates of 500 megabits are possible, with an eventual capacity in the gigabit range. The broad spectral nature of UWB pulses enables wireless communications to penetrate walls and obstacles better than existing technologies, and it also delivers positional accuracy on UWB-enabled devices to within one-centimeter resolution.
In complying with the FCC's rules for unlicensed usage, XtremeSpectrum has created a chipset, dubbed Trinity, that the company said offers 100 megabits per second (Mbps) data rates and consumes less than 200 milliwatts of power.
Applications for Trinity (so named for delivering low price, low power and high data rate) include the transmission of multimedia files through consumer electronics products such as digital displays, camcorders, DVD players, digital video recorders and digital cameras.
Power Play
With its low power consumption, UWB is similar to Bluetooth short-range wireless technology, IDC analyst Jason Smolek said. The major difference: It is considerably more powerful.
"It has a lot of possibilities in home networking and commercial electronics uses, in everything from set-top boxes to digital cameras," he told Wireless NewsFactor. "But there are concerns over its intrusive nature and the threats to cellular networks. Carriers and technology providers like Qualcomm ( Nasdaq: QCOM - news) are very wary of ultra-wideband."
The technology also has drawn the attention of military agencies and the airline industry because it involves the sharing of spectrum and could interfere with GPS (global positioning system ( news - web sites)) transmissions.
Still Years Away
As for the rollout of UWB products, Smolek said consumers should not be holding their breath. There may be a smattering of offerings from electronics manufacturers (mostly in Japan) before Christmas, but widespread adoption is not expected until 2005 or 2006. "Approval is required from regulatory agencies worldwide," he pointed out.
The Trinity chipset comprises four chips: a medium-access control (MAC) function, a digital baseband function, a RF (radio frequency) transmit and receive function and a low noise amplifier.
The cost is US$19.95 each in quantities of 100,000, and commercial production is expected in first half 2003, XtremeSpectrum said.
Competition in the Field
Vienna, Virginia-based XtremeSpectrum faces competition from other UWB technology providers, such as Time Domain and PulseLink Technologies.
Their interests in UWB include applications for high-definition digital video networking and local area networks (LANs) linking computers, cell phones, PDAs and other mobile handheld products, entertainment systems, cable and satellite set top boxes, and security systems.
While these companies are vying to be the first to roll out commercial uses of UWB, Smolek said that both Intel ( Nasdaq: INTC - news) and Cisco ( news - web sites) ( Nasdaq: CSCO - news) have expressed interest in the technology and are well positioned to dominate the market.
wbmw |
