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	TABLE OF CONTENTS Home WiNet Is WiMedia ready?

Over the next decade mobile phones will change substantially. The market is already moving in two directions. The third world is demanding cheaper simpler phones, and the developed world is asking for more and more features. For both markets WiMedia ultrawideband technology can support short-range high-bandwidth communications that will enable new uses for phones at a cost affordable for even the simplest of phones.

The WiMedia Alliance is a group of more than one hundred companies that have gotten together to standardize techniques for exploiting ultrawideband radio (UWB).

A decade ago scientists demonstrated that high bandwidth (gigabit) communications could be achieved over short distances. The idea is to spread a signal over wide area of radio spectrum at a very low power level at any one frequency. UWB does not interfere with conventional radio as it transmits at a low power level. Conventional radio does not interfere with UWB because narrow band signals can only interfere with a small portion of the UWB signal.

Since the initial demonstrations of UWB technology, the FCC in the United States and similar regulatory agencies in other countries have defined a regulatory environment for UWB. After attempts to standardize UWB through the IEEE failed, the WiMedia Alliance was formed. Today regulatory bodies in most countries allow some form of UWB, and WiMedia has published international standards through Ecma International.

Consistent worldwide regulation and an internationally recognized standard are necessary but not sufficient to deploy a technology in mobile phones. The technology must do something useful, and it must make economic sense. WiMedia has been adopted as the base radio technology for Certified Wireless USB, Bluetooth 3.0 and WiNet, which is WiMedia's scheme for implementation of internet protocols.

Certified Wireless USB will be the first use for WiMedia in mobile phones. Bluetooth 3.0 and WiNet specifications are still in committee, but Certified Wireless USB specifications have been published for about a year. Several companies are producing devices, and the first devices will be certified early in 2007.

Most phones already have USB connectors, and Certified Wireless USB allows cable replacement for USB devices without any change in software in the phone. Getting rid of the USB cable is simply a matter of convenience. Certified Wireless USB is a more mature technology than WiNet or Bluetooth 3.0, and early adopters can afford to pay a premium to synch their phones with their PCs whenever they come close.

Wirelessly synching files between a PC and mobile phone is a nice market, but it isn't enough to justify adding a new radio to mobile phones. Certified Wireless USB has a large market in cable replacement for desktop computers. Offices are cluttered with wires. Simply moving a printer across a room without running a cable is a significant advancement in ease of use. More to the point using the same chip and protocols for PC peripherals and mobile phones means the volume goes up and price goes down for systems based on Certified Wireless USB.

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