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UWB Stretches Further
By Suzanne Deffree -- Electronic News, 9/16/2004
Two years in, and the battle for an Ultra Wideband standard still looms over the semi industry. The technology, a short range wireless form of connectivity often compared to the IEEE's 802.11 family of wireless LAN, has been tossed and twirled about, but has yet to see final standardization.
The battle continues to brew between two main groups: the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA), including the likes of Intel, Philips and Samsung; and Ultra Wideband Forum, a seven-month-old group that includes CoWare and Freescale and is pushing direct sequence UWB (DS-UWB).
"From a standardization perspective, both sides are going back and forth and taking turns winning [IEEE majority votes.] That's a pendulum that's swung back and forth. But neither side can get to a confirmation," Martin Rofheart, director of UWB operations at Freescale, noted. "So what we've suggested is that we follow the good example of 802.11, which has multiple technologies -- 2.4GHz, 5GHz, direct sequence, frequency hoping, OFDM -- all in one standard with multiple different technologies, but managed as one standard and letting the market decide what technology fits in what device."
Despite the absence of an IEEE approved standard, companies are pushing ahead and have begun chip releases into the UWB market, forecasted by to reach $1 billion by 2007. And according to ABI Research, Freescale has the lead. The company, as part of Motorola in November 2003, acquired a start-up called Xtreme Spectrum (XS) and has since launched an aggressive UWB roadmap based on the obtained 110Mbits/sec. wireless personal area network technology.
After receiving the first FCC certification for an UWB solution in August, Freescale last week announced it had partnered with Universal Scientific Industrial, Gemtek and GlobalSun Technology to begin commercial shipments of its XS110 chipset -- a huge leap forward, says Alan Varghese, ABI Research's director of semiconductor research.
"The FCC compliance is significant since regulatory issues can cause slowdowns in even exciting new technologies," the analyst said. "At this point, it looks like they have a lead of about a year on the rival MBOA-OFDM UWB standard."
Varghese believes Freescale's customers will design UWB technology into their consumer electronics applications, with the first of such equipment possibly out by spring 2005. Freescale agrees, with Rofheart estimating DS-UWB will be on the shelves of Fry's and Best Buy next year. By that time, Freescale plans to have a 220Mbits/sec. solution ready to go. And through 2005, the company has a 500Mbit XS chipset slated, followed by a full gigabit version next Q4.
However, wireless competition is harsh for UWB, as it will face off against 802.11n. The predecessor to 802.11g is expected in products around the same times as UWB, but will come with an actual throughput of 100mbits/sec., compared to UWB's current 110Mbits/sec. data rate. Beyond that, 802.11 has begun to make itself comfortable in consumer living rooms, while UWB is still deadlocked at IEEE.
"Wi-Fi will continue to work its way into home entertainment networking, and will become entrenched," Phil Solis, an ABI Research senior analyst, said in a recent report. "By the time UWB comes out -- or just a little later -- 802.11n solutions will start to appear."
But like all things in consumer electronics, it will be up to those Fry's shoppers to make the final call for UWB.
"I think of it as jumping on the audio/video/connectivity wagon," Rofheart said, noting UWB's uses, such as cable elimination for flat panel TVs and video camcorders. "I think [consumers] will do that beginning in 2005 as they gain some flexibility and benefits from this technology."
