UWB -- Next-Generation Wireless at the Doorstep

Posted by Tim Ending on Nov 14, 2005

UWB -- another acronym to add to your list -- stands for Ultra WideBand, a wireless technology much like Bluetooth. It can transfer large amounts of data using wireless signals over short distances using very little power.

This means your audio, video, gaming, computer and mobile equipment can all communicate to and with each other wirelessly, within reasonable distances and at speeds hitherto unknown. Which means devices can get smaller, faster, less power hungry and easier to configure.

The transfer rate is about 480 megabits/second within 13 feet and about 110 megabits/sec up to 30 feet. The push is to go even further in throughput to 1 Gigabyte/sec in transfer rate. Put in perspective, a non-compressed High Definition broadcast stream is about 25 megabits/second over traditional wire. Think about this as a wireless USB (Univesal Serial Bus) solution.

UWB, unlike wireless technology (Wi-Fi) now common everywhere from your local Starbucks, to private homes and hotels, is harder to hack, faster, but also transmits randomly over a wider range of the wireless spectrum and for only nanoseconds, before jumping to another part of the spectrum for yet another nanosecond.

Advantages:

1/ It is extremely hard to eavesdrop. It's like trying to track someone in a very busy street who continually changes clothes to a different color every microsecond while also running at breakneck speed. The security issues that sometimes plague traditional Wi-Fi networks are non-existent with UWB.

2/ Being faster and wireless, it means the wire clutter that now connects your A/V equipment can be got rid of -- as can the expense that goes with it. Your camcorder will be able to transmit video to your TV wirelessly. Your Hi-Def TV can now be placed wherever you desire without the worry of all the wire you have to run or fish through walls. A major cost benefit.

3/ Because the technology is always spectrum hopping, and only for a tiny fraction of a second -- it means that it will cause no interference with other wireless devices in the house.

4/ UWB uses very little power with long battery life, translates into significant energy savings.

Drawback:

Despite the many benefits of UWB, it is currently embroiled in specification and standardization wrangling within the standard issuing bodies of the world and the USA, namely IEEE, ITU and the FCC. So even though Intel, Motorola and others are behind the technology, there are some who are hostile to its implementation. However this is a necessary step for technology to be grounded.

UWB is not seen or designed as a replacement of traditional Wi-Fi, like you use to surf the internet. It is more geared and designed more for the home. WiMax and MobileFi, are seen as that replacement but that is a story for another day.