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An Introduction To Wireless USB (WUSB)

Posted by timothy on from the not-too-technical dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This technical whitepaper by Rafael Kolic, a technology marketing manager in Intel's Corporate Technology Group, introduces Wireless USB (WUSB) and explains how it will impact device performance and mobility. The latest iteration of USB technology, WUSB will offer the same functionality as standard wired USB devices -- but without the cabling."

12 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. Power by Ween · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I really enjoy being able to power most of my devices over USB and not having to have an extra plug and/or wallwart to deal with. I for one would much rather keep wired usb and forgo the power adapter, than wireless usb and have to deal with yet another plug to have to find power for. I know most of you probably are already running fire hazards as it is now.

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    1. Re:Power by Crypto+Gnome · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ah the joy of being narrow-minded. I've already got MY needs met, screw the rest of you.

      Read the article, it (for example) talks about using WUSB to connect your HomeTheater setup to your PC for streaming HDTV. Personally I'd prefer to keep my PC in one room and my HT setup in another (for acoustics if nothing else) in which case I'd much rather not have to run cables between the two.

      Clearly they're positioning this for the in home digital network. Digital Convergence While you *can* sortof achieve these things with WiFi and IP Streaming, the bottom line is that neither WiFi nor IP Addresses are trivial enough for Grandma to connect hreself.

      They envision a world where everyone has a computer (for internet and email) and they want to provide "consumer level" (ie plug it in and it just works) connectivity to it for "just about any computing device in the home".

      PLUS this spec talks about device-to-device (USB doesn't do this now?) so think along the lines of Digital Camera-to-Television for viewing Photos (or even videos).

      A high-bandwidth plug-and-play connectivity spec without wires opens up a Whole World of opportunity. Suddenly your computer in the study becomes a back-end server to the entire home, display on my HomeTheater Widescreen TV, stream HDTV from my computer (recorded from my DTV STB), pull up photos from my camera onto the TV, pick one and then email it to someone. and none of these devices are wired to each other. When I have guests around, all they see is "a normal living room" big TV, nice speakers and a digital camera on the coffee table. A complete lack of messy wires everywhere (without having to wire everything into the walls - which is generally not an option if you're renting). And the best thing (from a business perspective) is that if you have enough 'tech skills' to drive AOL then you can have a digitally-converged household like this (ie just about anyone is a potential customer, the only limit is disposable income - and we're taoking 'consumer level' here, so it's not big bux).

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  2. Wireless keyboard loggers, anyone? by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I can only hope and pray that wireless USB will be very very secure. The thought of someone with a nice high-gain cantenna and a datalogger is none to comforting.

    I can also see all many nasty opportunities for system flakyness when a computer gets intermitt-tt-ttant contacts with other wireless USB devices and tries to establish a connection.

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  3. Will die like bluetooth by mnmn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the biggest advantages of USB is the power that flows through it. I just plug in my mouse, webcam etc and no bulky adapters required. Theyve also been around since the days of the Pentium1, and you can be sure a USB drive will work many places.

    Now wireless.... you'll need batteries or adapters, wont work just everywhere and you'll have to pay motherboard makers to build it in.

    Not too many people need short-range wireless interfaces outside of the 802.11a/b/g, which is different

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  4. Re:Bluetooth by Liselle · · Score: 4, Interesting
    why do we need multiple standards that perform the same function?
    Why do we need more than one OS? More than one web browser? Why do we need more than one video card manufacturer? They both do the same thing, right? If my rhetorical questions aren't enough answer, here it is: competition makes for good products, as companies are forced to compete for consumer dollars. This is obvious, though.
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  5. Re:Doesn't this already exist? by eraser.cpp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Adoption of bluetooth technology has been very slow though. And since this would most likely see implementation on motherboards it is very likely to be bluetooth's successor if it actually ever enters production.

  6. Wireless power by Fragmented_Datagram · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And now if we could just develop wireless power for all these wireless devices... other than batteries, of course. ;-)

  7. Re:"...without the cabling." by Ferretski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...or the power

  8. Re:Doesn't this already exist? by the+melon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I gusee you could say USB(2) is to firewire what WUSB is to Bluetooth. (W)USB are host-based where firewire and bluetooth are host independant.

  9. Re:Doesn't this already exist? by Crypto+Gnome · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Develop, publish and promote the preferred short-range wireless specification for connecting mobile products.

    And if you read this "introduction" it's CLEARLY positioning WUSB for things like in-the-home high-capacity connectivity for devices where you're rather not have wires (eg HomeTheater, they specifically talk about bandwidth consumption of HDTV streams etc).

    Very muchly *not* what BlueTooth is aimed at.

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  10. Re:Doesn't this already exist? by MBCook · · Score: 5, Interesting
    If you read the posted article, it will allow limited host capability which would allow you to do things like print pictures straight from your cellphone to your printer without having to have a computer involved. This is a good thing too, because bluetooth allows the same thing, so to not include it would be quite stupid.

    Also, this is designed to compete in a different space. While it can do the things that Bluetooth does, it's also designed to be used by hard drives and other devices that require MUCH more bandwidth than is available with Bluetooth. Maybe when it's updated, but right now you just couldn't use it for a hard drive or to connect your 5MP digital camera.

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  11. Re:"...without the cabling." by TummyX · · Score: 4, Interesting

    An even cooler idea would be to run both 12VDC and 240VAC throughout the house. A lot of devices people run now days run on low voltage DC. Think battery chargers, computers, LED lighting, routers, flat screen TVs, clocks, radios etc etc. I reckon I run more DC devices than AC ones and I have tens of inefficient AC-DC power supplies to prove it.