Challenges to Ultrawideband

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1033-984388.html?tag=fd_top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1033-98438...html?tag=fd_top</a><br /><br /></div>UWB, considered by some to be a medium- to long-term successor to Bluetooth, is being assailed precisely because of its wide bandwidth spectrum usage.<br /><br />"The satellite industry and its TV and cable customers say a short-range wireless standard called ultrawideband threatens to interfere with many of their broadcasts.<br /><br />Ultrawideband, better known as UWB, is something the wireless industry has never dealt with before. Wireless devices almost always operate in a narrow band of spectrum. Interference from signals crossing paths is avoided by assigning each wireless broadcast a certain area of the airwaves.<br /><br />But UWB operates across a wide range of these so-called frequencies all at once. The "flooding" of the airwaves creates a short but powerful signal--about 100 times faster than Bluetooth, another short-range wireless standard."

[gfunkmagic]

I really think UWB is a sleeper technology of the future. We need something that has Wifi's strength and even less battery drain than Bluetooth. UWB could l be that standard in PDA's in years to come from now, IMHO. UWB has a faster transmission speed (more than 100 Mbps, or almost 10 times as fast as 802.11b), while using less power than either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. UWB transmitts tiny bursts of information for extremely short periods of time over a large swath of frequencies and hence is called "ultra-wideband". UWB pulses are so short (half a billionth of a second)–receivers listening for transmissions at specific frequencies perceive them as mere background noise–as the low-level signals that exist almost everywhere and that are almost universally ignored as long as they don’t interfere with reception. The main obstacle to adaptation has been interference, but the FCC cleared this technology in February of 2002 for development. Here'a link to an article in Business2 that explains it all!!

http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,45003,FF.html

P.S. Here is a simple camparison of the various wireless technologies:

802.11b: 2.4 GHz, 11 Mbps, range of 30-100 m
802.11a: 5-6 Ghz, 54 Mbps, range 30-100 m
802.11g: 2.4 Ghz, 54 Mbps, range &lt;30 m
BT: 2.4 GHz, 721Kbps, range approx. 30 feet, lower power consumption
UWB: wide spectrum, >100 Mbps, 150 feet lowest power consumption

[mattp]

Janak Parekh
"The satellite industry and its TV and cable customers say a short-range wireless standard called ultrawideband threatens to interfere with many of their broadcasts.


I read yesterday that Verizon had purchased Cablevision networks in several large cities. I thought, Why would Verizon be interested in cable networks? . . .

[Estaban]

As soon as the first UWB laptop is developed, the Airline industry will likely shutdown the practice of allowing people to use all personal electronics onboard during a flight (there not going to check individual devices). They have a mortal fear of their avionics being jammed by signals from such devices. This threat may cause laptop manufacturers to rethink UWB laptop development (the travelling executive always gets the nicest equipment first). It will likely only take the existance of one model to get all laptops banned from flights. Representatives for the pilots have already started to go on TV spreading FUD, invoking the ghosts of those who died in crashes and the precarious position of the airline industry.

Estaban

[Stik]

Intel answers UWB questions...

How is UWB different from 802.11?
802.11 defines a local area network with a range of up to 100m. Ultra Wideband is suitable for short-range connectivity (less than 10 meters). Under current FCC regulations, UWB signals used for commercial communications are capable of delivering very high data rates but only over short ranges. Intel believes, we can achieve greater than 500Mbps, with very low power consumption, but limited to a range of around 3meters. In contrast, the 802.11a PHY layer operates at ranges up to 100m but requires more power and has a lower data rate. UWB is suitable for high data rate communications over short distances but lacks the power required to support local area networking.

Can UWB replace Bluetooth?
No. Bluetooth is a complete, end-to-end communication standard. UWB can be used as a piece of a communication standard. Bluetooth defines how data is managed, formatted and physically carried over a wireless personal area network (WPA). Ultra Wideband is a specific type of RF signal that can be used to carry data between devices. It's not a complete communication standard. Current FCC regulations enable UWB signals capable of carrying very high data rates over a short range. This makes it attractive as a carrier or PHY layer for a WPAN.
http://www.intel.com/technology/ultrawideband/faq.htm

The UWB door has just cracked open a little farther. UWB does have great benefits in crucial circumstances. Source- CTIA Daily News...

FCC Modifies Ultra-Wideband Wireless Rules

The FCC on Thursday ( Feb. 13th ) announced what it called minor changes to the rules authorizing the unlicensed operations of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices. The commission amended the rules to facilitate the operation of through-wall imaging systems by law enforcement, emergency rescue and firefighter personnel in emergency situations; eliminated the requirement that ground penetrating radar (GPR) and wall imaging systems operate with their -10 dB bandwidths below 960 MHz or above 3.1 GHz; specified the limitations on who may operate GPR systems and wall imaging systems and for what purposes; eliminated the requirement for non-hand held GPRs to employ a dead man switch (a system that, if not reset by a given time, will automatically carry out a series of tasks); clarified the coordination requirements for imaging devices; and clarified the rules regarding emissions produced by digital circuitry used by UWB transmitters. (Source: AP)

[Stik]

One of the greatest benefits of UWB, IMO, is humanitarian. Land Mines.

Children in at least 68 countries are today threatened by what may be the most toxic pollution facing mankind — the contamination by mines of the land they live on. Over 110 million land-mines of various types — plus millions more unexploded bombs, shells and grenades — remain hidden around the world, waiting to be triggered by the innocent and unsuspecting, the report says. So common are mines in Cambodia that they are now used for fishing, to protect private property and even to settle private disputes.
http://www.unicef.org/graca/mines.htm

3D visualization of data acquired by laboratory UWB GPR in the scope of mine detection

Abstract
In this paper, we present a laboratory version of ultrawideband (UWB) ground penetrating radar (GPR) system that we developed, as well as data acquired by this system and our 3D visualization method performed on this data. This is a part of work done for the moment at the Royal Military Academy (RMA) in the scope of the Belgian HUDEM1 project. The main purpose of this on-going work on UWB GPR is to analyze possibilities to detect and visualize buried landmines and other buried objects (false alarms) and therefore to test the ability to distinguish (identify) them.

http://demining.jrc.it/aris/events/mine99/program/P149-154/RMAMINE9.htm