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Ultra Wideband Hub Coming in October
Dhiram writes "Japan based Y-E Data Inc. has announced the development of the "Wireless Hub" based on UWB (ultra wideband) wireless technology. It is the first UWB commercial application announced. The Wireless Hub mounts a UWB wireless communication module, as well as four USB ports. It comes with a USB dongle with UWB connectivity which connects to the PC. Other USB peripherals can be connected to the wireless hub, which then connects to the PC through UWB and has an effective data rate of 100 mbps over a 10-m distance without obstacles."
the leg bone. The leg bone is connected to the... thigh bone.....
10m, with no obstacles? What would the use for this be?
Mount on ceiling. Use as wireless hub for small office.
Connect to form network, arms and legs. And I'll form the head!
You know what would go really well this? How about a brand new 16GB USB dongle?
Blerg.
Story here.
Its ok, 100mbit at 10m with no obstacles in a lab environment is quite good, however in your home (where you have air as an obstacle) you will get 100kbps max.
You are better off teaching monkeys how to type and make paper planes than use wireless for wireless sake.
liqbase
So does this thing run on batteries or wall power? I mean, would I be able to, say, charge an iPod off of it? If I were to plug in my favorite wired Logitech mouse, would I still have to deal with the annoyance of replacing batteries for the convenience of being able to controlling my PC from the couch?
I'd have to imagine that this thing, due at least to its own wireless power demands, would have to get wall power, but then is it truely "wireless"? Even with this kind of limitation, I can easily see uses for such a device, however.
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
at first I thought this was like a networking wireless router/hub type thing... but it's not, it's just a way of adding more USB ports to your computer without wires.
Tricky/vague description.
I've been waiting for a while now (!) for wireless usb (there are 2 standards, from what I understand) to come out.
I'd like to be able to shoot 'tethered' and not have the camera or the pc know or care that its a wireless link.
not having cords tangle while shooting would be a big bonus; plus I could just upload all my pics to my pc and not care about storage card limits (assuming there IS supported wire-based tethered shooting for your cam; many do not have it).
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
many non-metallic/stone obstacles won't cause much of a hinderance I suspect. Stille, a 20 meter radius isn't so bad, that's enough to cover many houses except for a couple corners. The question is: how much falloff is there past that range? how much falloff is there due to various types of blocking materials (plaster, metal pipes, wrapping paper [hey, it actually interfears with my 802.11g router, there was some stored in a closet between my notebook and the router - removing it, even though it was replced by cloths, increased signal strength], etc).
34486853790
Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
Say you have a PC under your desk. Instead of having a USB cable to the printer, a USB cable to an external HD, a USB cable to etc. You just have a simple USB dongle on you PC which then wireless commnunicates with all your USB devices. Less wires!
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
I just came upon an interesting series of government studies that look into characterizing the succeptability of DTV receivers to interference from UWB. Interestingly enough, UWB signals are different enough from most modulated-carrier type signals that interference is not merely a function of power and frequency, but also specific temporal characteristics. The study also notes that it is heavily dependent on the level of forward error correction used by the DTV, along with the overall bandwidth of the DTV receiver.
I, for one, do not welcome our new DTV-wrecking overlords!
This is a pretty gool product, although I would contend it is not really using UWB technology. The linked page indicates that the channel used is "4.224 to 4.752 GHz". While this is in the UWB band, it is not really all that wide. The UWB runs from 3.1 - 10.6 GHZ, and provides for truly ultra wideband applications. This product may have a wider-than-usual band but I wouldn't say UWB products have arrived with the introduction of this item.
UWB is a pretty cool, but I do see one problem in the way of wide spread use. Namely the cost of testing UWB. Interoperability testing of course would just as cheap as any other technology once there are few devices around. Until then you would have to sniff the layers to make sure it really doing what it should in the way that it should. The big cost in my mind is testing the physical layers in a radiated environment. UWB, just as the name implies has a huge bandwidth which makes it very difficult to capture on a spectrum analyzer in a usable way. Thus, doing measurements like over the air antenna performance become troublesome. I am not saying it's impossible, but the equipment needed is vastly more expensive then what's needed for say, GSM or Bluetooth.
Then again, there is really not hard fast rule yet to qualify a UWB's physical layers and who knows, maybe they will stick with just testing the application layers.
Japan based Y-E Data Inc.has released a new ultra-wide band (tm) microwave oven that can reheat a cup of coffee within a 10 meter radius without obstacles.
I can't wait until my neighbor gets one of these so I can check this out!
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
Y-E Data may be OK for some, but I prefer the English firm Y. E. Olde Data Shoppe.
...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
No shit!? Wrapping paper was messing up your signal?
:\
I've got a closet full of wrapping paper near my router. Maybe THAT's why my signal is so bad, who woulda thunk it? I'm gonna try that. Although in actual fact, there are probably 100 things between me & my router that could be a problem.
I understand the desire for less clutter as I am an audio technician, producer, vj, and dj. I have wires going EVERYWHERE in my studio. It is frustrating at times, but I am used to it. What is the big deal here? When I need USB connectivity to go 10m, I run extenders along the carpet. You ultimately are not going to get rid of all the wires; i.e. monitor cable, power cables, etc. Ugh, what we will buy into for convience that is inferior in quality.
Music, my drug; dance, my ecstasy.
I hate to be a geometry nazi, but I think you meant a 20 meter diameter. Aside from that you do raise some excellent points :)
disclaimer: I've been known to store numbers in my ass for which to dig out when quantities are required.
Wireless. Docking. Station. Walk in with your laptop and drop it anywhere in the room and you're done. The only missing piece is the video....and I'm sure that solution is coming - wireless video.
printers, backup devices, cameras, web cams, projectors, scanners... pretty much any workgroup peripherals where the workgroup is on one floor of a building and not sequestered in real rooms, ie: cubicle farms would work... studios, conference rooms.
10M from the device... so a 10M radius... just put your device someplace central to it's users.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
I imagine the reason for the restricted frequency range is due to the difficulty of designing an antenna that is reasonably efficient that covers that much spectrum. I know that I have separate antennas for 80M, 40M, 20M and 2M/70cm, and I know that it's tricky to design and build antennas for the higher bands (a full-wave dipole for 3.8GHz would be ~1.5", and dipoles aren't especially suited for higher-frequency work). Sure, you could use a Pringles can, but you'd need several to cover the range of frequencies for true UWB. I don't know of any trapped antenna designs in the GHz range, but that might be something to try...
Just junk food for thought...
Neither should have to put up with interference, but I would argue TV has saved many more lives than HAMs do.
Rarely as direct, but TV has spread a lot of knowledge about health and how to deal with emergencies; worldwide that is no doubt saving many lives every day.
On the flip side, it's also filled with junk food ads...
Sounds terribly useful to me. My main computer is my Laptop which I move around a bit (on the desk, in the chair, on the couch, etc). I would LOVE to be able to sit down and plug the little dongle in (or better yet, just use UWB if it gets built into laptops) to sync with my iPod, connect a printer, etc. I have quite a few little USB gizmos and having to plug something into the laptop is a bit of a pain. But to be able to have all that stuff (let's add PDA, hard drive, etc) connected at once would be great. As it is now, I either have to choose what I want to plug in, or use a USB hub with a cable to wherever my laptop would be.
Not a lot of point for Desktops. Great for laptops. A wireless docking station.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
...and keep it as far away from your testicles as possible...
Everybody wants to send data through my grey matter. It hurts, dammit. Wi-LAN is bad enough (have it at home) and I use it knowing that I am subjecting my cells to radiation they were not made to survive in. Now they want me to send data at USB 2.0 speeds through the air, and my brain? I like my cables, thank you very much. /*searches for old tinfoil hat
Anyone know what the ping times are like with UWB technology? Is the responsiveness good enough for gaming?
:P
If it is, this can really overhaul the idea of lan parties. Managed switches will still be needed for a large scale, intelligent network. Power will still be a limiting factor, but gaming capable laptops are coming of age. If someone can slap down a UWB hub with a DHCP server, lanning can take place anywhere.
Here's a fun idea. Slap down said UWB hub and DHCP server in a downtown area, let people wardrive to find the lan location (maybe in a parking garage, or even a coffeeshop), and have flash lan mobs.
Neutiquam erro
Not every use is in your home. Many production facilities could use something like this, with multiple computers w/n a 30 foot range.
However, I could see it in my home. Although it may have trouble with multip walls and obstacles to get the full range, I think 10 feet through a ceiling/floor should be fine.
PS: That is what part of the alphabet would look like if the letters "Q" and "R" were removed.
Well (that's a deep subject), it doesn't look like it'll be that useful, but at least it will allow me to get junk from my laptop to my desktop, and vice versa, much faster than before. And that's always important, because time is of the essence. There just isn't enough time in the world to do anything. And that's why I'm sitting here, wasting a whole bunch of time typing this junk into this thing over here. Because I type at the whopping speed of sixty minutes per word. And, no, I'm not cixelsid.
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
Don't we already have Bluetooth? I suppose the 100mbit bandwidth would be useful for a wireless external harddrive or camera/card reader.
Centralization breaks the internet.
I assume he was talking about wrapping paper with metal in it. Lots of them have it these days.
Just wanted to point out: UWB is another of those abbreviations that's quicker to write, but slower to say. I think the English-speaking world needs to redefine the way "W" is pronounced, before this interweb tubes thing takes off.
Meta will eat itself
And how secure is the connection? I guess up to this point it would be easier to just physically plug and snoop around (you are already 10m from the pc), but once the range improves, is it going to be another WEP nigthmare? Will people wardrive looking for wireless usb printers to print goatse ?
Maybee you can bridge two computers trough wireless usb, that would be fun, a mesh on interconnected PCs via wireless usb.
The best test environment is production. - Me
chrome://browser/content/browser.xul
This product is a UWB Wireless USB Hub, but I don't see any indication on the web site that this product complies with Certified Wireless USB.
There has been a long running battle between two opposing UWB groups that each have incompatible UWB implementations. If you're going to get any Wireless USB products, make sure to look for the product's compliance to "Certified Wireless USB". More information at Certified Wireless USB. Certified Wireless USB is built on top of the WiMedia UWB standard. The WiMedia UWB platform is an ECMA standard, and certification by other standards bodies has been in the works.
Disclaimer: Until this past April, I worked for one of the Certified Wireless USB developers & promoters, and I was deeply involved in this standardization effort.
one word: cameras.
its not about distance. its about being tangle free. the tripod and other danglies are bad enough as it is..
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
The antenna is Y-E Data's original development. Although the company uses its proprietary UWB wireless communication protocol this time, it is reportedly developing in parallel another version to support the industry's standard "Certified Wireless USB" specification.
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(from http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/2006
Not a lot of point for Desktops. Great for laptops. A wireless docking station.
Unless, of course, you are in a situation as I am in, where you have limited desk space and want to have as few items on what is left of that space as possible.
The way my house is situated, I could throw my two printers (ink/laser), my scanner, and my external HDD on my normally unused kitchen table (which is HUGE).
I'm sure I'm not the only one in this type of situation, either.
bork bork bork!
No shit!? Wrapping paper was messing up your signal? I believe it. My wife has some fancy stuff that looks like a foil of some sort.
for a price of "in the price range of 25,000 to 40000 Yen ($ 210 to $ 340)" i'll stick to my $30 7 port wired hub. call me back in 5 years when the price has come down, or better yet, it's integrated into my laptop and devices.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Not to be a math nazi, but.... radius, so you'd be looking at a 10 meter radius, a 20 meter diameter of coverage.
There used to be all this talk about how cell phones where using our cerebral cortex as an antennae and therefore causing medical side effects. Is there any truth in this? If so, could all these wireliss hookups have a similar effect? Has anyone bothered to test it?
I don't mean to be paranoid. But not propperly testing new technology was a big help in destroying the Roman Empire. They thought plumbing was the best invention they had ever seen. And it was, but has sealed all their pipes with lead...
Let's start blasting noise over GHz of bandwidth all at once.
Having said that commercial UWB products have been around for years. This is the first commercial wireless USB system to use UWB not the first product to the technology.
In theory we have Bluetooth, put I don't think I've ever seen a Bluetooth printer, camera, or well just about anything. However, there is certainly tons of USB stuff (just about everything seems to ship with USB support). Plus you can use the stuff you already have instead of dropping cash to go buy a bunch of new stuff that supports Bluetooth (even if it existed). Just plug the dongle in you PC, plug your existing devices into the hub, and away you go.
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
Is it a multiple user hub though, or is it tied to one hub/dongle pair?
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
reminds me of blue tooth.. i remember being at a presentation of the tech when they where first working on it.. they where quoting 1km ranges and how you could use it to keep sync with stuff over a city mesh.. then it came out and well.. it sucked.. it wasn't untill it started getting picked up for the 30ft range stuff that they managed to make a market..
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
General Retail Point of Sale, Food & Beverage Point of Sale and other vertical markets. When Ultra Wide Band is available then all the cables disappear. Chips that include a combined UWB and Bluetooth implementation will be able, finally, to free workplaces and homes of cabling, a major step forward. Look what happened to the telephone when the cord was cut. Embedded computing solutions absolutely demand the elimination of all cables and the presumption of the ability to work with a whole universe of devices, peripherals, machines and intelligent control systems.
Desktop users will not understand this. The rest of the world will.
An identical story about the Belkin hub was previously covered. According to an early July report from Belkin, their product is due in September. "... first ever commercial application for UWB ever announced" seemed a little misleading, but I guess it could be technically correct. Wireless USB hubs may be the first announced application of UWB, but seems like Y-E Data did not announce (nor will they ship) the first UWB product.
100 millibits per second??? That is one bit in 10 seconds, I presume.
Over 10 meters of distance. That smells like IP-over-Avian-carriers...
Belkin announced a product months ago
0 1_03_06CableFreeUSB.html
http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/releases/uploads/
Can someone post a PDF? small windows are popping up so I can't read the article...
Not all cables... power cabling still there, unless you use tons of batteries.
Now wireless power... or inductive power, where the whole countertop is a power loop...
Except for a few specific removable devices, like cameras and iPods, and the usual keyboard and mouse that have other wireless solutions, most of the applications people have discussed really belong to be on LAN connections, not USB connections. Printers belong on LANs. USB isn't made for sharing peripherals, so if you're trying to share a disk drive, it needs to be associated with a computer, and you can use a wireless LAN to reach the computer.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Yeah, I remember when they announced it around CES time. There's enough people who read press releases (like the Y-E Data one ) and think "News!" that press releases are effective. Obviously the poster and the editor are both in that camp.
A simple search for "USB hub UWB" would have given them a clue. Of course, the Belkin link is just a press release also. "Available Early Spring" has been pushed to next month, so far.
What is the next?... oh, yes, I imagine... a korean company has a new GUWB (giga-UWB) router that provides an effective data rate of 1Gbps over 0,1m distance without obstacles, cellular phones in use, CRT monitors switched-on (LCD allowed) and in perfect vacuum environment.
It is not serious... I prefer the old 100mbps ethernet cards with their wires than this.
I've been using a Keyspan USB Server (networked via cable, but far away from the workstations) for over a year now. It's only 10Mbs and really needs an update overall (both drivers and hardware). Nevertheless it has worked very well. It's quite useful for networking the intergrated scanner, fax, and ink control of my monster Canon Pixma hidden in the closet... No video or HID support.
g e.spml
There's also no Linux support. That sux. Hopefully this new product will have it or be open enough for the community to do it's thing.
http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/server/homepa
Does such an item exist? A battery powered male USB adaptor that you could plug your USB device into and a USB dongle on the PC that communicates with it?
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
Over that distance and without obstructions, it's just a guess, but I'm thinking that you could design a wireless optics-based system that would have many times that bandwidth. Correct me if I'm wrong about that, I'd be interested to know if my instincts are off.
Oh no. A plot device from The Pulse!
Expect initial releases of the hardware to cause ghosts dancing in slow motion to fall out of shadows by your desk, then eat your life.
We don't need any more bloody protocols, thanks!
We've got USB and we've got gigabit ethernet and we've got 802.11 (and psuedo-802.11n) and we've got Bluetooth. If that's not enough, there's still multiple variations of Firewire, SCSI, and fibre-channel.
Tell me: In what way is this UWB mumbo-jumbo superior to a networked USB port and a fast standards-based wireless network connection?
Just curious.
Kid-proof tablet..
Ah USB. thus thorougly useless for *networking*. sure would be nice if there was a FastEthernet version. In fact, only 10meters? Why not just use a 100baseT switch and some cat5e?
In theory we have Bluetooth, put I don't think I've ever seen a Bluetooth printer, camera, or well just about anything.
Printers are not really the intended target for Bluetooth. Bluetooth is meant to be used for small devices with low power consumption - mobile phones, headsets, cameras, PDAs, mice. And there are plenty of those using Bluetooth, at least where I live.
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
I've got bluetooth printers in my conference rooms here in the office. Our copy-cam takes pictures of the whiteboards and either emails then to the users, or spits 'em out to the printers..
Neat stuff, and it saves me having to scramble to catch up to the presenter.
I had the same thoughts about the distance sucking... But then, I can't remember the last time I used any of my bluetooth devices more then 6' apart.
It's just handy to not have to carry a cable to connect my headset, phone and Palm together, or to be able to sit down in front of my PC and access pictures from my phone without playing with a cable.
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...