Although under development for many years now, ultra-wideband (UWB) has recently gained notoriety as a promising high-speed, low-power wireless technology for home entertainment or personal area network (PAN). While providing wireless distribution for TV programs, movies, games and intensive data, UWB also assures that such distribution will not interfere with other wireless transmissions common at home.

In fact, there are so many wireless standards that it is becoming difficult to keep track. From cordless phones to cellular handsets, consumers are now unwiring their laptops, PDAs and other electronic gadgets with narrowband short-distance solutions such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other IEEE 802.11 standards. Many more are under development. Besides ensuring non-interference with all the other wireless techniques in use, it also offers another critical feature. By transmitting a series of very narrow and low power pulses, it transmits a low power signal over a wide range of frequency spectrum. The aim, of course, is to generate the consumer home entertainment network for television, audio gear, digital cameras and many other consumer electronic products.

Despite all the attributes and performance highlights, it did not gather momentum for sometime as there was no spectrum allocation and a standards effort. But, all that has changed in the last few years. In February 2002, the FCC allocated 7,500 MHz of unlicensed spectrum for UWB devices for communication applications in the 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz frequency band. This step on the part of the FCC triggered another important move in the industry. Knowing that a lack standard could impede its growth and mass adoption, standards organization like the IEEE and industry groups came together to create the IEEE 802.15.3a task group. Thus, resulting in several proposals to define a standard spec that meets the FCC guidelines.

Of the proposals, the battle has come down to two major camps. The XtremeSpectrum/Motorola wideband version is an impulse radio based on direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA). While the multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) alliance's (MBOA) narrowband version is backed by Intel, Staccato Communications Inc., Texas Instruments, and many other major players. Interestingly, the MBOA membership has mushroomed to 50 member companies. And the alliance has also generated a rough draft specification for its members with a final version expected in the second quarter of this year. Although, MBOA proposal is gaining strength, it has not yet received 75% vote to become a standard. Data shows MBOA has garnered about 60% support in the IEEE voting process. Meanwhile, prompted by a growing member list, the MBOA alliance has announced plans to create a special interest group by the end of this quarter. With the new momentum, this group intends to revise its specs and publish a draft 1.0, which is expected to be submitted to the IEEE 802.15.3a before this summer. In fact, some members are so confident that they have promised to ready chips based on the latest proposal, while others plan to deliver PCs equipped with MBOA's multiband solution. According to MBOA, its specs eye a communications rate of 110 Mbps at 11 meters distance, 200 Mbps at six meters and 480 Mbps at three meters, with average power consumption of 250 mW. Likewise, Samsung has leveraged Motorola's XtremeSpectrum UWB solution for consumer electronics.

The rate at which the standards effort is moving forward, market analysts are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. According to market research firm Allied Business Intelligence Inc., UWB electronics and chips will reach 45.1 million units by 2007, with industry revenue of $1.39 billion. Like their Bluetooth and Wi-Fi counterparts, ABI analysts believe UWB backers are eager to see the technology in the mainstream with a variety of solutions offering unmatched performance that consumers have never before seen.

Regardless of which camp wins the race, the real battle is generating a global standard. And the faster it comes, the better it is for the UWB technology in general. For everyone knows that without a standard spec, the widespread acceptance of UWB-enabled products will be even tougher.

Please send your thoughts to abindra@primediabusiness.com.
Ashok Bindra
Editorial Director