See also: ARM, Freescale CEOs among semiconductor insiders to watch 2009
As we continue to look ahead to the new year, here is our editor Richard Wilson's suggestion for five technologies to watch in 2009...
1. Picocells
Picocells are the mini indoor basestations which will be used to extend mobile phone coverage to indoor and in this respect they are analogous to WiFi hubs. Although picocells are typically longer range and higher capacity than femtocells, there is a view that the distinction between the two wireless access products will blur and disappear in 2009.
Picocells will adapt to take on femtocell attributes such as self-installation by the end customer - effectively becoming 'super-femtocells' with longer range and higher capacity.
2. Bluetooth/WiFi
It may also be worth watching out for progress in a move by networking firms including Broadcom to create a high speed version of Bluetooth wireless downloads for multimedia products like the iPod by combining it with 100Mbit/s WiFi technology.
"Bluetooth is not going away but may be it will morph into different things," Craig Ochikubo, v-p and general manager of Broadcom's wireless personal area networking business, told Electronics Weekly in October.
Moving multimedia files such as video and audio will require data rates well in excess of the 1-2Mbit/s of Bluetooth 2.0. The original plan for giving Bluetooth a speed boost was to morph it into a version of the UWB, or ultra wideband, standard which offers 400Mbit/s data rates.
But there are issues - regulatory and system complexity - which are slowing the deployment of UWB. Morphing Bluetooth into a version of 802.11n would provide an easy route to 100Mbit/s data rates.
With the Bluetooth SIG looking seriously at Bluetooth-WiFi and with the likes of Broadcom strongly in favour of the idea it seems like a runner.
3. Medical implants/low power RF
CSR last year demonstrated low power Bluetooth running on its BlueCore7 chipset in a mobile phone. It marked the first step in the process of bringing the technology which has become known as Bluetooth low energy to market in medical monitors.
According to CSR, when this low energy version of Bluetooth is used, in a wireless heart rate monitor for example, the monitor simply 'advertises' itself to the control/reader using just three frequencies (could be a mobile phone or watch) that then connects sends its very short burst of data and then switches off again.
The next big step will be the Bluetooth SIG standards group's adoption of Bluetooth low energy technology in Q1, 2009.
Cambridge Consultants is a leading developer antenna technology for medical implants which will operate over a range of many metres range than a few inches.
The aim is to have a transceiver that can communicate with an implant wherever the patient is in the home.
"We have recorded 500kbit/s over in excess of 5m," Cambridge Consultants v-p Ian Mawhinney told Electronics Weekly. "we haven't tested the maximum, but it could be up to 30m."
4. Energy harvesting
EnOcean is one of a number of companies looking at using energy harvesting to create self-powered wireless devices such as sensors and remote controls.
The concept uses various types of weak or strong energy conversion process, such as thermodynamic, vibration and rotation, to power the electronic device.
EnOcean is preparing to introduce wireless sensor and transceiver modules based on the technology in early 2009.
GreenPeak is another European company using energy-harvesting techniques, this time to effectively support "battery-free" operation in TV remote control devices. It specialises in the development of low power RF transceivers based on the IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee wireless networking standard and incorporating energy harvesting.
5. Smart metering
Smart utility meters are becoming a feature in many homes, but a University of Oxford spin-out is taking the concept a stage further with an electricity meter they claim can recognise which domestic appliance is operating at any time.
Intelligent Sustainable Energy's intellectual property covers algorithms that interpret mains voltage and current waveforms.
A prototype smart meter has been tested at the University of Oxford.
ISE plans further trials, to refine the design to industrialise smart metering products, and to offer licenses where appropriate to commercial partners in various parts of the world.
It is anticipated that meters with the technology will be on the market by 2010.
What are your thoughts for the technologies to watch in 2009? Email your comments to webmaster@electronicsweekly.com