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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?
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).
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"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.
There seems to be a lot of useless technology in the news today. The New York Times is covering a breaking story about downloading movies http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/technology/31bas ics.html?ref=technology.
Palm trees and 8
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...
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.
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.
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
I think you hit the nail on the head. The antennas for UWB are very hard to get right. Initially, designers were focused return loss but have recently discovered that the gain is as important. The s11 is just not sufficient to characterise UWB antennas. The reason is that the antennas have different gains along the operation band of the antenna. This is effectively inserting a transfer function to the channel. The s21 curves and time-domain analysis are now being more carefully considered. This has a bandwidth of ~500 MHz and is strictly a UWB device, but given some time to sort out the antennas I think we will see devices with nanosecond pulses and/or ~4 GHz bandwidths. Truly amazing data throughput potential. Think Blu-Ray player to HDTV wirelessly.
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..
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"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
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
The funny thing is that microwave ovens are extremely narrow band. They are tuned to the resonance frequency of water. Shift it up a few Mhz and it suddenly becomes a lot less effective at heating.
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
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