29-03-2011, 12:29 PM
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ABSTRACT
Wireless connectivity has enabled a new mobile lifestyle filled with conveniences for mobile computing users. Consumers will soon demand the same conveniences throughout their digital home, connecting their PCs, personal digital recorders, MP3 recorders and players, digital camcorders and digital cameras, high-definition TVs (HDTV’s), set-top boxes (STBs), gaming systems, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones, to connect to each other in a wireless personal area network (WPAN) in the home. But today’s wireless LAN and WPAN technologies cannot meet the needs of tomorrow’s connectivity of such a host of emerging consumer electronic devices that require high bandwidth. A new technology is needed to meet the needs of high-speed WPANs.
Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology offers a solution for the bandwidth,
cost, power consumption, and physical size requirements of next-generation consumer electronic devices. UWB enables wireless connectivity with consistent high data rates across multiple devices and PCs within the digital home and the office. This emerging technology provides the high bandwidth that multiple
digital video and audio streams require throughout the home. With the support of industry workgroups, such as the wireless universal serial bus (USB) workgroup, and technology leaders, like Intel, UWB technology promises to make it easy to create high speed WPANs that can connect devices throughout the home.
This document describes UWB technology and presents potential applications for UWB technology for use in WPANs in the digital home.
INTRODUCTION
The benefits of an increasingly mobile lifestyle introduced by wireless technologies in cell phones and home PCs have resulted in greater demand for the same benefits in other consumer devices. Consumers enjoy the increased convenience of wireless connectivity. They will soon demand it for their video recording and storage devices, for real-time audio and video (AV) streaming, interactive gaming, and AV conferencing services as the need for digital media becomes more predominate in the home.
Many technologies used in the digital home, such as digital video and audio streaming, require high-bandwidth connections to communicate. Considering the number of devices used throughout the digital home, the bandwidth demand for wireless connectivity among these devices becomes very large indeed.
The wireless networking technologies developed for wirelessly connecting PCs, such as Wi-Fi* and Bluetooth* Technology, are not optimized for multiple high-bandwidth usage models of the digital home. Although data rates can reach 54 Mbps for Wi-Fi, for example, the technology has limitations in a consumer electronics environment, including power consumption and bandwidth. When it comes to connecting multiple consumer electronics (CE) devices in a short-range network, or WPAN, a wireless technology needs to support multiple high data rate streams, consume very little power, and maintain low cost, while sometimes fitting into a very small physical package, such as PDA or cell phone. The emerging UWB wireless technology and silicon developed for UWB applications offer a compelling solution.
The Case for UWB
The emerging digital home environment is made up of many different CE devices (e.g., digital video and audio players), mobile devices (e.g., cellular phones and PDAs), and personal computing devices (e.g., mobile notebook PCs) that will support a multitude of applications. These devices fall into three general overlapping categories (Figure 1):
• PC and the Internet
• Consumer electronics and the broadcast system
• Mobile and handheld devices
These devices have traditionally been kept in different rooms and used for different functions. Increasingly, however, owners expect them to interact—MP3 players exchanging files with PCs, digital video recorders communicating with STBs, etc.
This convergence of device segments calls for a common wireless technology and radio that allows them to easily interoperate and delivers high throughput to accommodate multiple, high speed applications. Currently, these segments utilize different interfaces and content formats.
The next generation of PC, consumer electronics, and mobile applications demand connectivity speeds beyond the 1 Mbps peak data rate of Bluetooth Technology, which is used by many devices to create WPANs today. But many CE devices cannot support the cost and power required by the higher speed 802.11a/g radios for Wi-Fi networking. While Wi-Fi is much faster than Bluetooth Technology, it still does not deliver sufficient performance to effectively allow streaming of multiple simultaneous high-quality video streams.
UWB technology provides the throughput required by the next generation of converged devices. Plus, the support of industry initiatives, such as the WiMedia* Alliance, will help ensure interoperability across multiple protocols, including IEEE 1394, USB, and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP*), making UWB a broad technology solution for creating high-speed, low-cost, and low-power WPANs.
ABSTRACT
Wireless connectivity has enabled a new mobile lifestyle filled with conveniences for mobile computing users. Consumers will soon demand the same conveniences throughout their digital home, connecting their PCs, personal digital recorders, MP3 recorders and players, digital camcorders and digital cameras, high-definition TVs (HDTV’s), set-top boxes (STBs), gaming systems, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones, to connect to each other in a wireless personal area network (WPAN) in the home. But today’s wireless LAN and WPAN technologies cannot meet the needs of tomorrow’s connectivity of such a host of emerging consumer electronic devices that require high bandwidth. A new technology is needed to meet the needs of high-speed WPANs.
Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology offers a solution for the bandwidth,
cost, power consumption, and physical size requirements of next-generation consumer electronic devices. UWB enables wireless connectivity with consistent high data rates across multiple devices and PCs within the digital home and the office. This emerging technology provides the high bandwidth that multiple
digital video and audio streams require throughout the home. With the support of industry workgroups, such as the wireless universal serial bus (USB) workgroup, and technology leaders, like Intel, UWB technology promises to make it easy to create high speed WPANs that can connect devices throughout the home.
This document describes UWB technology and presents potential applications for UWB technology for use in WPANs in the digital home.
INTRODUCTION
The benefits of an increasingly mobile lifestyle introduced by wireless technologies in cell phones and home PCs have resulted in greater demand for the same benefits in other consumer devices. Consumers enjoy the increased convenience of wireless connectivity. They will soon demand it for their video recording and storage devices, for real-time audio and video (AV) streaming, interactive gaming, and AV conferencing services as the need for digital media becomes more predominate in the home.
Many technologies used in the digital home, such as digital video and audio streaming, require high-bandwidth connections to communicate. Considering the number of devices used throughout the digital home, the bandwidth demand for wireless connectivity among these devices becomes very large indeed.
The wireless networking technologies developed for wirelessly connecting PCs, such as Wi-Fi* and Bluetooth* Technology, are not optimized for multiple high-bandwidth usage models of the digital home. Although data rates can reach 54 Mbps for Wi-Fi, for example, the technology has limitations in a consumer electronics environment, including power consumption and bandwidth. When it comes to connecting multiple consumer electronics (CE) devices in a short-range network, or WPAN, a wireless technology needs to support multiple high data rate streams, consume very little power, and maintain low cost, while sometimes fitting into a very small physical package, such as PDA or cell phone. The emerging UWB wireless technology and silicon developed for UWB applications offer a compelling solution.
The Case for UWB
The emerging digital home environment is made up of many different CE devices (e.g., digital video and audio players), mobile devices (e.g., cellular phones and PDAs), and personal computing devices (e.g., mobile notebook PCs) that will support a multitude of applications. These devices fall into three general overlapping categories (Figure 1):
• PC and the Internet
• Consumer electronics and the broadcast system
• Mobile and handheld devices
These devices have traditionally been kept in different rooms and used for different functions. Increasingly, however, owners expect them to interact—MP3 players exchanging files with PCs, digital video recorders communicating with STBs, etc.
This convergence of device segments calls for a common wireless technology and radio that allows them to easily interoperate and delivers high throughput to accommodate multiple, high speed applications. Currently, these segments utilize different interfaces and content formats.
The next generation of PC, consumer electronics, and mobile applications demand connectivity speeds beyond the 1 Mbps peak data rate of Bluetooth Technology, which is used by many devices to create WPANs today. But many CE devices cannot support the cost and power required by the higher speed 802.11a/g radios for Wi-Fi networking. While Wi-Fi is much faster than Bluetooth Technology, it still does not deliver sufficient performance to effectively allow streaming of multiple simultaneous high-quality video streams.
UWB technology provides the throughput required by the next generation of converged devices. Plus, the support of industry initiatives, such as the WiMedia* Alliance, will help ensure interoperability across multiple protocols, including IEEE 1394, USB, and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP*), making UWB a broad technology solution for creating high-speed, low-cost, and low-power WPANs.
