Wireless USB Standards Wars Heat up Again

In April 2005, I'd talked about an emerging wireless standard commonly known

as wireless USB, based on UWB or UltraWide Band technology. At that time, there

was a hot debate over whether it was going to threaten Bluetooth in the near

future. I'd also said that if the Bluetooth SIG didn't put its act together then

it could be headed towards extinction. Maybe they heard me or others like me. In

November last year, the number of Bluetooth devices surpassed the one billion

mark, and we saw them proliferating all around us. Moreover, news also has it

that the Bluetooth SIG has tied up with the WiMedia alliance (the same group

promoting Wireless USB) to use their UWB technology. So that battle is more or

less over it seems.

Anil Chopra Editor

Now,another battle has begun between two competing wireless USB standards.

One is the Certified Wireless USB backed by the WiMedia Alliance and USB

Implementers forum and the other is Cable-Free USB, promoted by Free Scale

Semiconductor. Both use completely different approaches for data transfer and it

would be interesting to see the outcome of this battle. Both technologies

promise similar results. They plan to offer a data transfer rate of up to 480

Mbps,which is the same as wired USB 2.0,within a radius of 3 meters. This will

find a lot of applications, such as livevideo streaming or instant downloading

of photographs from digital cameras to PCs. Basically, they will enable a truly

wireless personal area network that comprises of more than two devices. Plus,UWB

inherently consumes lesser power than WiFi, so it might even replace WiFi in

some of the devices. The difference between WiMedia and CableFree based products

will be in the way they are implemented. The partners in the Cable Free

initiative will try to convert existing wired USB connections to wireless,

without the need for installing any additional drivers. This offers a huge

potential for this standard in the form of existing USB devices and ports.The

Certified Wireless USB products however will require additional drivers and take

longer to be released in the market. Earlier it was expected that these would

ship with Windows Vista, but that hasn't happened. Microsoft might release them

later on. As things stand today, it looks like FreeScale has a lead, but that

may not remain for too long as the Wi- Media alliance has a very strong set of

promoters like Intel, Microsoft, HP, etc.

So, it would be interesting to see who really wins the battle. Whatever the

case may be, this is one personal area networking technology that's massively

delayed. The world is waiting for some real wireless USB products to hit the

market.