Ultra wideband (UWB) radios, which will begin appearing in
standardised, interoperable USB cable replacement products in Q3
this year, could become the high speed data link of choice in
mobile phones.
The need for broadband wireless links to mobile phones is due to
the fact that handsets are becoming multimedia devices with
multigiga byte storage capacity. Mobile handsets are “starting to
become basically external storage devices,” Jason Ellis, director
of business development at UWB developer Staccato Communications,
told EW.
Although the
international regulatory landscape for UWB
devices is still far from uniform, Ellis is confident
other countries will begin to align with the US in allowing them to
operate freely at the lower end of the specified 3.1-10.6GHz range.
Currently it is only the US that permits their use at the lower
frequencies, with Europe still consulting on whether to mandate
detect-and-avoid technology to counter possible interference.
“Japan will be legal in July. China is on the verge of announcing
its legality, Korea as well, and Taiwan. Europe is on track,” said
Ellis. “It’s not on track for 2006 but that’s okay, because very
limited product is going to be introduced in the US in Q4 this
year, but [Europe] is on track for 2007.”
The brand name for interoperable UWB-based USB devices is Certified
Wireless USB. These products are based on the multiband OFDM
version promoted by Intel, TI and others via the WiMedia Alliance.
WiMedia’s technology has also been chosen as the basis for high
bandwidth Bluetooth.