The IEEE 802.15.3a task group (FAQ), is trying to prepare a draft proposal for ultrawideband (UWB) communications. Texas Instruments’ hometown of Dallas recently hosted a meeting of the project that saw 23 different proposals presented on how to standardize the operation of UWB as a short-range wireless communications network.
The goal of the task group is to produce a standard that can operate at about 110-Mbit/s at 10-meters range.
Texas Instruments engineers say they want the IEEE committee to move swiftly, but they want their own proposal, based on orthogonal frequency domain modulation (OFDM) and quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), to be adopted.
Different consortia have formed including those around Intel and XtremeSpectrum.
An informal coalition, comprised of Intel, Discrete Time, Time Domain, Wisair and General Atomics is pushing for a UWB standard based on multiband technology. It would divide the available broadcast spectrum (3.1 to 10.6 GHz) into many narrow subbands roughly 700 MHz wide. That process, supporters said, allows greater spectral agility (permits coexistence), favors a CMOS implementation (lowers cost) and speeds time-to-market.
XtremeSpectrum, which already has a UWB chipset, instead backs a wideband approach that covers the frequencies from 3.1 to about 5 GHz, and then from 6 to 10.6 GHz. With last year’s Trinity chip set, XtremeSpectrum is the only one with an FCC-compliant indoor communications solution on the market.
“What Intel is trying to do is drive this technology in the direction of Wireless USB [480 Mbits/second], which is predominantly a PC-centric wired tech,” said Fisher, “and [consumer electronics] guys don’t want to be dominated by Intel.”
Ben Manny, Intel’s director of residential communications, called Fisher’s “PC-centric” charge wrong, saying, “There is no ‘PC vs. CE’ ” element within Intel.
Manny’s position won support with the addition to the coalition of Focus Enhancements and Philips, both of which have a consumer electronics focus.
Current FCC regulations allow UWB devices to operate within a 7.5GHz-wide transmission spectrum. Multiband technology divides that spectrum into 500-700 MHz bands that can be added and dropped based on interference from other systems.
Multiband systems can coexist with other systems, operating in its range, said Ben Manny, co-director of wireless technology development at Intel Research and Development. Manny said that since UWB will likely be used in conjunction with wireless local area networks (WLAN), it’s important that it can coexist with 802.11a, which works at 5GHz.
Also working for the multiband approach: scalable data rates. “We predict that five to 10 years down the road, you’ll be able to build much faster radios,” said Manny. “[The technology] needs to be backwards compatible.”
TI is proposing the standard only use three sub-bands, between 3.1-GHz and 4.8-GHz thereby avoiding interfering with the 5-GHz band where the 802.11a wireless LAN sits. Batra and his team are claiming speeds of 55-Mbit/s, 110-Mbit/s, 200-Mbit/s and even 480-Mbit/s in a more custom-tuned implementation.
“Ultra-wideband offers the high data rate, low power consumption and low cost that consumer electronics OEMs have been waiting for,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies. “While 802.11b and 802.11a will continue to play a strong role in the enterprise and public access market, ultra-wideband is the first wireless technology that is capable of streaming digital video and audio at price points the average consumer can afford.
Scientific American explains how it works. Ultra Wideband Planet has the latest news.
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