High End Technology
by IeFand's
Ultra WideBand - new wireless technology
UWB (ultra-wideband) is an attractive wireless technology for the increasingly bandwidth-hungry consumer electronics industry. It provides short-range, very high-speed wireless communication between electronic devices. With the increased use of handheld and portable devices such as digital cameras, camcorders, mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), there is a need for a wireless technology with speedy connectivity and minimal power consumption and ideal solution to it is UWB. A UWB transmitter sends out signals in very short pulses spread over many radio frequencies simultaneously. The timing of the pulses relative to each other contains the signals' information, which can be recovered by the receiver using sophisticated processing techniques.
UWB Advantages
• Data rates are very high (up to 500 Mbit/second currently) because the signal is spread over very broad ranges of the radio spectrum.
• The spectrum is also used by other sectors (like mobile operators, broadcasters and the aviation community, satellites and radio astronomy stations). So UWB can be allowed to operate at very low powers so that interference with other applications is avoided.
• It is also cost effective technology.
• Low power also means longer battery life and mobility which is very important especially for portable and handheld devices running on battery power or having limited access to power supply.
• In addition, UWB devices include high resistance to eavesdropping and allow distances to be measured accurately. This feature can be used also for high-precision positioning and location identification in, for example, public safety applications.
• Also this high-speed interconnectivity is not restricted to wireless environment, but is possible over power lines and coaxial media as well.
• UWB operates below noise level so these signals are virtually impossible to detect which makes UWB pulses extremely difficult to detect or intercept. Thus it provides high security transmission.
Regulating the use of the radio spectrum for UWB applications is complicated by the fact that the large bandwidth of their signals means that they have to co-exist with a substantial number of conventional radio systems, such as mobile phones, broadcasting and air radio-navigation, all of which require protection from harmful interference to operate effectively.
• Data rates are very high (up to 500 Mbit/second currently) because the signal is spread over very broad ranges of the radio spectrum.
• The spectrum is also used by other sectors (like mobile operators, broadcasters and the aviation community, satellites and radio astronomy stations). So UWB can be allowed to operate at very low powers so that interference with other applications is avoided.
• It is also cost effective technology.
• Low power also means longer battery life and mobility which is very important especially for portable and handheld devices running on battery power or having limited access to power supply.
• In addition, UWB devices include high resistance to eavesdropping and allow distances to be measured accurately. This feature can be used also for high-precision positioning and location identification in, for example, public safety applications.
• Also this high-speed interconnectivity is not restricted to wireless environment, but is possible over power lines and coaxial media as well.
• UWB operates below noise level so these signals are virtually impossible to detect which makes UWB pulses extremely difficult to detect or intercept. Thus it provides high security transmission.
Regulating the use of the radio spectrum for UWB applications is complicated by the fact that the large bandwidth of their signals means that they have to co-exist with a substantial number of conventional radio systems, such as mobile phones, broadcasting and air radio-navigation, all of which require protection from harmful interference to operate effectively.
UWB and Bluetooth
Comparing UWB with Bluetooth, Bluetooth is a comprehensive wireless standard, including all the various elements of transmitting and recovering data, while UWB is a wireless personal area networking technology - that is, it is the means by which data is transmitted (the "radio interface"). The next version of Bluetooth will use UWB as its transmission technology. In so doing, the speed of data transfer will increase potentially by several hundred times over existing Bluetooth applications.
Applications
UWB also affects other areas on a great scale, including health care, automotive, home networking and multimedia communications. Technology is also breaking new ground in the short-range wireless communications and multiple streams segment, which includes applications based on PCs, HDTV (high definition television) and consumer electronics. For instance, several companies are developing UWB technologies to specifically address the need of various applications such as precision geo-positioning systems, collision and obstacle avoidance radars, intelligent transportation systems, asset tracking, medical imaging and wireless communications, etc.
European Commossion and UWB
In Europe, the EC has taken an active role to encourage progress and a policy-driven approach to this subject. The European Commission (EC) adopted a decision outlining the mandatory conditions for using UWB technology in next-generation wireless communications devices across the European Union (EU). This new decision will take Europe a step closer to a single market for a new generation of mass-market consumer electronics (such as laptops, mobile phones, digital cameras and TVs) that can exchange data wirelessly at very high rates over short distances. The EC has worked towards a balanced result that enables UWB applications to be introduced in Europe with common rules, allowing the same equipment to be used throughout Europe, thus strengthening the internal market for information and communications technologies
