Ultrawideband radio or UWB was an obscure concept in the last century, but will become part of everyday life in the current century. Just as the automobile and electricity were important innovative forces in the early part of the 20th century, wireless digital communications is the next big thing.
We’ll examine this phenomenon from both a historical and technical perspective. UWB is a technology based on physics and requires some mathematics and computer science to understand, but technology can be considered in a broader context.
It should be noted that this article is from the perspective of the WiMedia implementation of UWB. WiMedia® is the de-facto standard radio platform for ultrawideband (UWB) wireless networking. With efficient power consumption and high data rates, WiMedia UWB has been selected by the Bluetooth SIG and the USB Implementers Forum as the foundation radio of their high-speed wireless specifications for use in next generation consumer electronics, mobile and computer applications. Over 200 international member corporations and research institutions support the nonprofit WiMedia Alliance, developing specifications, certification tests, and educational programs.
The WiMedia form of USB is now an ECMA (formerly the European Computer Manufacturer’s Association) standard, and there’s a strong movement afoot to also make it an ISO standard.
Products based on UWB will enhance personal computers, consumer electronics, and mobile phones. Completely new products that blur the lines between these categories will certainly evolve, but nothing comes out of nothing. New products are driven by market opportunities, and understanding the market is as important as understanding the technology.
As this is a large subject, we’ll divide the discussion into more manageable topics.
- Physics of radio
- How do radios work?
- What is UWB and why is it different from conventional radio?
- Radio and the law—International regulation
- Radio to bits: WiMedia PHY
- How do you make a radio digital?
- WiMedia: implementable and interoperable digital radio
- Encrypted bit streams
- WiMedia MAC—Rules for the information superhighway
- Certified Wireless USB (CWUSB)—Personal Computer interconnect extends to consumer electronics
—Internet protocols on WiMedia framework.
- Bluetooth—WiMedia extends to mobile phones. Continued…
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