Bluetooth SIG transfers affections from UWB to 60GHz
Published: 3 November, 2009
READ MORE: CSR | Standards | Bluetooth | UWB
Bluetooth's divorce from UltraWideBand (UWB) technology is absolute, as the short range standard focuses on Wi-Fi and 60GHz platforms for its next generations. It once expected to combine its specs with high speed, low power UWB - specifically the WiMedia standard once spearheaded by Intel - for an enhanced data rate implementation. But that plan was put on hold in favor of a Wi-Fi approach as WiMedia lost support, and now it has been shelved entirely.
Mike Foley, chairman of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which controls the platform, told EETimes that there were now no plans to use the UWB technology acquired in March from the WiMedia Alliance, which folded as a separate entity at that time. Its technology was taken over by its chief licensee, the USB Implementers' Forum, which uses WiMedia as the basis of Wireless USB, and by the Bluetooth SIG. Instead, the SIG is now conducting due diligence on 60GHz technology as a possible transport for a future high rate Bluetooth.
Many technologies - including, in theory, UWB - can run in license-exempt 60GHz, which can support very fast speeds over short distances and is the latest hope for the future of ultrafast in-home wireless media networks. Much of the work has revolved around Wi-Fi, which could help 60GHz achieve a more mainstream role than WiMedia, though the future of the band is by no means assured at this early stage of its standardization and silicon design.
The final abandoning of WiMedia may have come down to licensing battles. Foley said in the interview that the SIG asked WiMedia stakeholders to make their technology available on the same royalty-free basis as Bluetooth, so that it could be certified and licensed in the same way as the older standard. "Some WiMedia members weren't amenable to that," said Foley, wanting to hold on to their existing royalties, even in a market of "zero units", as he put it.
Also in Bluetooth, the leading specialist chipmaker in the field, UK-based CSR, is looking for broader revenue streams. The firm, whose Bluetooth lead has been eroded by multi-technology silicon giants like Broadcom, has been looking for several years to expand into Wi-Fi, GPS and other technologies that sit alongside Bluetooth in handsets and other devices. However, it has made limited impact. It is now looking to rely more heavily on alliances to improve its fortunes and has signed three new partnership deals geared to Wi-Fi - not just in phones but to extending Bluetooth presence in notebooks and netbooks.
CSR has signed two partners in this field, Ralink and RealTek, to deliver high speed multi-wireless designs for PCs and netbooks. The UK company is also working with its foundry partner, TSMC, on a new edge 40nm low power RF process technology, to improve its competiveness in terms of integration, low power consumption and cost efficiency.
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