Vision - January/February 2008 - (Page 16) tech speak defining the digital world ] • [ by murray slovick A The Wonderful World of Wireless fter a year in which the feet indoors (walls are the limiting factor) and biggest bang in consumer more than 200 feet outdoors. electronics was created by The newest 802.11 iteration, 802.11n, will the introduction of Apple’s allow Wi-Fi networks to do more, do it faster iPhone, it may be swimming and over a larger area. Although 802.11n is upstream to point out that not all that’s still in “draft” stage—final approval will take new and noteworthy in the wireless sector place in early 2009—a number of hardware involves a mobile phone. When you visit vendors are selling products now based on the International CES this month, you’ll see the draft document. 802.11n devices have a theoretical range of about 300 feet and hear about a multitude of wireand operate at data rates of up to less technologies such as WiMAX, 300 Mbps, (the early units are runUltra Wideband (UWB), Wirening at about half that rate). 802.11n less USB, Bluetooth, ZigBee and, of course, good ole’ Wi-Fi. Indeed, gives Wi-Fi the bandwidth to support there have been so many “drumroll multiple HDTV streams at 20 Mbps each. Wi-Fi interoperability comes please” introductions of wireless forMurray Slovick under the auspices of the Wi-Fi Allimat upgrades that we might want to book a band playing background music at a ance consortium. Bluetooth is a popular short-range wireVegas magic show. To help you sort through the noise, let’s less standard for personal connectivity found take a look at recent developments in wireless on a broad range of consumer electronics devices. With Bluetooth circuitry built into technology, starting with a familiar friend. Wi-Fi. This widely available (more than a product, it can be connected to a network 250,000 public hotspots, tens of millions of of devices such as phones, laptops, printers, users in homes, businesses and on university headsets or digital cameras. The range for campuses) brand of wireless technology is Bluetooth devices is about 33 feet and verbased on the IEEE 802.11 WLAN (Wireless sion 2.0 Bluetooth radios can transfer data at a speed of up to 3 Mbps. Local Area Network) standards. In the eighth edition of its annual Blu802.11 has a variety of alphabet soup variaetooth report, IMS Research predicts tions. The most popular are the 802.11b and 802.11g standards using the 2.4 GHz band. worldwide Bluetooth-enabled end-product 802.1g products have a theoretical maximum shipments will increase by more than 40 throughput speed of 54 Mbit/sec (Mbps), but percent to around 800 million units this in the real world typically operate at about year. In October, the Cellular Telecommunihalf that speed with a range of perhaps 100 cations and Internet Association (CTIA) and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced an agreement to help carriers increase the quality and consistency of Bluetooth wireless technology implementation in mobile phones. The initial focus will be on improving connectivity and the user experience between mobile phones, headsets, stereo headsets and car kits. Ultra Wideband (UWB) is a short-range, indoor wireless technology. Two years ago the WiMedia Alliance (developers of UWB) and Bluetooth SIG signed an interoperability agreement so one device would work across both technologies. Data throughput is about 480 Mbps. The USB Implementers Forum also has selected UWB as the foundation of their wireless specification aimed at nextgeneration consumer electronics, mobile and computer applications. Wireless USB 1.1, now under development, is designed to move the more than two billion wired USB devices into the area of wireless connectivity. Wireless USB is backward-compatible with wired USB, will allow users to connect as many as 127 devices and is aimed at delivering up to 480 Mbps at 10 feet and 110 Mbps at 33 feet. Contrary to common belief WiMAX (or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is not an extension of Wi-Fi. It is a wireless telecommunications technology for large coverage areas that falls under a different standard, IEEE 802.16. WiMAX is an alternative to wired broadband such as cable and DSL and will compete with these networks to become the “last mile” connection to the consumer’s home. The technology behind WiMAX should allow for wireless data speeds of up to 40 www.ce.org 16 January/February 2008 Sara Hayward/Punchstock http://www.ce.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.