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Ultrawideband predicted to thrive despite lack of global standard – regulatory approval and frequency allocations needed
May 23, 2006 11:34 AM  By Mark E. Hazen, EWT Editor

In a recent report, ABI Research forecasted that ultrawideband (UWB) shipments would reach 300 million in 2011, just five years away. Its assessment of the UWB landscape is that the lack of a ratified IEEE 802.15 standard will have little effect on growth.

For more than three years, IEEE Task Group 3a had worked on the IEEE 802.15 ultrawideband standard, striving to arrive at consensus between two leading industry groups, the UWB Forum and the WiMedia Alliance. Finally, to no avail, the task group voted to recommend disbanding on Jan. 17 at the IEEE 802 meeting held in Hawaii. A nearly 95% majority voted in favor of disbanding.

According to principal analyst Stuart Carlaw, some observers have pointed to the lack of standardization as a major barrier to growth in the UWB market. "The collapse of the UWB standards process was widely seen as a major faux pas," he notes, "but those inside the industry viewed it as the shackles being removed."

ABI cautions that this is not to say that no factors threaten UWB's success. Issues around global spectrum and regulatory approval, along with the need to drive down cost, power consumption and silicon package sizes, are all legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. There is a need to find global regulatory approval and common frequency allocations.

In ABI Research's analysis, this is the real key to the UWB question. All signs are that the band between 7 GHz and 8.5 GHz will be common across all regions. The European Communications Commission (ECC) has recently announced support for the 6 GHz to 8.5 GHz band, while Japan looks set to ratify the 7 GHz to 10 GHz band.

ABI points out that the recent announcement of the Bluetooth SIG's support for the WiMedia Alliance will also assist the drive for global regulatory approval, since the SIG has had significant success in doing this for its 2.4 GHz solutions. It's worth noting that global regulatory endorsement is not a precursor to success, and that Bluetooth gained a lot of ground before receiving general regulatory approval.

The new study, "Ultrawideband: WiMedia, DS-UWB, or C-Wave?" provides comprehensive analysis of the opportunities for each of the UWB solutions and the protocols they support.

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