The ultra-wideband benefits of wireless USB-enabled devices is soon to proliferate, eliminating another nest of interconnect wiring. The Universal Serial Bus is well-known and appreciated among computer users and hardware manufacturers. It’s fast and has all but replaced yesterday’s RS-232 interface and parallel bus for printer/scanner interfacing. Today, it’s the interface of choice for a wide range of computer associated devices, including printers, scanners, DVD/CD drives, PDAs, cameras and keychain memory devices.

Now, ultra-wideband wireless and the wired USB technologies are combining to eliminate the wires, offering instant connectivity for a seemingly endless parade of electronic devices. Wireless USB (WUSB) is now being embedded in all the familiar devices to offer instant proximity association.

Bluetooth technology already is embedded in many consumer electronic devices. It, too, eliminates wires and offers instant connectivity. How is WUSB better? The top data rate for Bluetooth is in the 1 Mbps region, adequate for music streaming, cell phone and PDA sync-up and wireless mouse/keyboard linking. However, you don’t want to use Bluetooth for wireless hard drive, CD drive, DVD drive and video device connectivity to your PC. It’s much too slow. WUSB is nearly 500 times faster, rated at a max data rate of 480 Mbps.

With a 480 Mbps wireless connection, you can carry many streams of both standard- and high-definition video. That’s great for high-end, or low-end, media capture and sharing. So, what’s the catch?

There really isn’t a “catch” when talking about applications for which WUSB is intended. It is intended to replace the wire and provide connectivity for high-bandwidth devices over relatively short distances. “Relatively short distances” is the key. WUSB is rated for up to 480 Mbps at distances up to 3 m and up to 110 Mbps at distances of 10 m.

Can’t Wi-Fi devices cover greater distances? Yes. Currently, however, Wi-Fi is slower and is more useful as a wireless local area network technology (WLAN). WUSB is a wireless personal-area-connectivity (WPAC) technology, meaning, short-range wire replacement for high-bandwidth devices. In addition, Wi-Fi embedded solutions in portable devices consume more power than Bluetooth- or WUSB-embedded solutions.

Consider the following sample list of devices—grouped in logical clusters— that benefit from embedded WUSB and you will begin to see exactly where it fits in.

PC Related

• External drives—hard drives, DVD, CD
• PDAs
• Printer/scanner/fax devices
• Internet modem—xDSL, cable
• Notebook PCs
• Digital Cameras—still and video
• Video cameras
• MP3 players

• Game Platforms
• DVR/PVR boxes
• Set-top boxes
• Video cameras
• Video projectors
• HDTVs

The figure summarizes what has been discussed by comparing wireless technologies by range, data rate and power consumption. The type of portable wireless device determines which wireless technology is chosen. For high-bandwidth handheld devices that are used over ranges less than 10 m, the choice is WUSB.

Stay connected!