Bluetooth Seattle is the code name for the merging of Bluetooth technology with WiMedia UWB technology. Through the efforts of the BT-SIG, these technologies will merge elegantly under the Bluetooth umbrella to offer the ‘next-level’ user experience — ultrahigh-speed connectivity for portable devices.

Table 1 provides a side-by-side comparison of the existing and developing Bluetooth technologies. The leap from 3 Mbps to 480 Mbps that this merger delivers will enable lightning-fast sync-up, sharing and streaming.

The BT v2.1+EDR specification was ratified and released in August 2007 and will deploy throughout the globe in 2008. Meanwhile, the BT-SIG is hammering out the Bluetooth Seattle specification with product deployment in the 2008/2009 time frame.

Currently, Bluetooth-enabled devices use BT technology to stream low-bandwidth audio — music and voice.

“Bluetooth core technology has become more user-friendly and capable with the addition of secure simple pairing along with low-power modes that extend battery life,” said Gillian Ewers, vice president, UWB marketing at CSR. “The Bluetooth SIG is in the process of expanding the scope of Bluetooth by merging WiMedia UWB technology that will add a new dimension to the user experience — fast high-volume content transfer.”

Cell phones, PDAs and personal media players must be loaded with music content using some type of transfer technology before the music can be enjoyed ‘on the go.’ How music content gets into the device requires a multistep process of connecting a sync cable to a host PC or manually loading a memory card in a PC-connected reader/writer bay. What the Bluetooth camp wants to do is make this process quick and convenient — enter UWB.

Using the high-speed capability of UWB, embedded in the user device and content source, a library of music, photos, videos or other data stored on a network-attached server can be transferred from source to portable device quickly. UWB offers the speed of USB v2.0 and the convenience of not having to connect a cable or run software.

In the data transfer use case, the user experience is enhanced and enabled in rapid device-to-device content sharing, video projector/display/TV connectivity for streaming video, kiosk connectivity for advertising and information.

The BT-SIG is working to achieve full Bluetooth backward compatibility while adding UWB in a hybrid radio design. In a typical use case, Bluetooth functionality is working in a discovery mode that determines application need. If the need is voice or music connectivity, the device remains in a BR mode (1 Mbps) or moves to an EDR mode (3 Mbps). If it is established that high volumes of data are to be transferred (music library, video(s), photo(s)), the UWB radios in source and receiver are engaged for the task followed by an immediate return to a low-power BT mode. This entire scenario is transparent to the user.

To preserve the Bluetooth legacy, low-power operation is essential and battery life must be preserved. This is accomplished by using a low-power standby mode or a low-power BR or EDR mode and using UWB for short burst periods, just long enough for data transfer to take place.

The WiMedia UWB radio has an extremely low power output, on the order of 0.11 mW, and has the highest Mbps/ma ratio of all radio technologies. That means WiMedia UWB is fast and power efficient. The power consumed by the UWB radio is greater than an active BT radio, but the duration of use is short and infrequent.

Bluetooth devices use well-defined application profiles. These profiles ensure that a Bluetooth device will interoperate with any other device designed for that, or those, profiled applications regardless of who or where the device was manufactured. The same will be true for Bluetooth Seattle because the profiles will continue to be used and possibly expanded to add new ones in the future.

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