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| Ecma standardizes UWB Today, the Ecma General Assembly approved the first ultra-wideband (UWB) standards. These standards give wireless personal area network (WPAN) device and component manufacturers the ability to design products to the same specifications, thereby enabling interoperability. UWB technology is intended for high speed, short-range multimedia file transfers. Various consumer devices such as cell phones, computers, digital cameras, digital media servers and high-definition televisions are expected to leverage UWB's capabilities. PHY and MAC -- ECMA-368 specifies the Physical (PHY) and the Media Access Control (MAC) layers for a decentralized, complex system with controls for high QoS (Quality of Service) and fast device discovery. The radio employs the unlicensed 3.1 to 10.6 GHz UWB spectrum. The standard mandates that devices support at least 53.3, 106.7 and 200 Mb/s to ensure a reasonable consumer experience. Interconnectivity -- Today, Ecma also approved the companion interface specification as ECMA-369, which enables interconnectivity for separate implementations of the PHY and MAC layers specified in ECMA-368. Throughout drafting stages of the UWB standards, technology experts from shared WiMedia Alliance and Ecma members contributed to the development. The UWB standards are available via Ecma's and WiMedia Alliance's Web sites. "We are happy to see the rapid development of the UWB layers after such wireless systems have been studied for a long time, " said Jan van den Beld, Secretary-General of Ecma. "Ecma expects that industry will now quickly take advantage of these standards by implementing various low-cost wireless personal area network (WPAN) devices such as wireless USB. "Ecma's decision today is a great win for the industry at-large, " said Stephen R. Wood, president of the WiMedia Alliance and vice-convener of the UWB task group in Ecma. "We appreciate the committee's time and attention paid to the UWB platform proposal as the global UWB device market is well into final stages of development. With Ecma's support, we anticipate seeing that market open wide in the near future with numerous opportunities for manufacturers and consumers." write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Networking News :: home page |