Ultrawideband Soon To Be Legal In Europe

ukhackster writes "ZDNet UK is reporting that ultrawideband will be legalized in Europe within 6 months, but with tougher controls than in America — the only place where it is legal now. Ultrawideband offers wireless connectivity at speeds up to 1Gbps, and is meant to supersede USB and clear our desks of wires. In Europe, fears that UWB might interfere with other technologies have kept it out of the market. Opening up the European market could give manufacturers a powerful incentive to push UWB." From the article: "[S]ources confirmed to ZDNet UK that the restrictions put forward by the EC would indeed be more rigorous than those imposed in the US, although they would not be so restrictive as to make it impossible for some global harmonization of UWB devices... It is understood that the committee decision to allow UWB was based on a far from unanimous majority, with some Scandinavian countries and France opposing the proposal."

Comments

Charging

[7macaw]

So, does "clear desks of wires" include life-time battery for my camera/cell phone/zune (:p), or we'll still have to have those gross wires (but won't admit it even to ourselves, of course).

Re:Charging

[itlurksbeneath]

Don't forget your keyboard, mouse, flash devices, external hard drives (driven by a 12 volt car battery, I'd guess), scanners, cable and dsl modems, et al.

I had a wireless keyboard and mouse for a while. After a while, I figured it was easier to put up with a cord on the desk than having to dig through a drawer at 2 AM only to find out you're out of batteries. Granted, they don't need batteries often, but when they do, you're stuck if you don't have spares.

Maybe if they resurrected Tesla's research and came up with a breakthrough, then we'd be truly wireless

Err, testing??

[Reality Master 101]

fears that UWB might interfere with other technologies has kept it out of the market

I've been hearing about these fears for like five years now. Why the hell doesn't anyone just test the damn thing? Is this question really that hard to settle? Am I missing something here?

Re:Err, testing??

[Dr. Zowie]

The problem is the "death of a million cuts" -- by the time you've tested for it, it's too late. Each UWB device slightly degrades the radio spectrum around it for more conventional narrowband devices. One or two or even a thousand such devices in a square mile might be OK -- but by the time you've got a hundred thousand or a million of these things deployed in an urban core, it's too late to back out.

You can see the effect of progressive RF contamination by testing the range of (say) a CB rig in San Jose, California versus Tracy, California. Both have similar topography but vastly different levels of background RF noise in the 20-30 MHz band. (for what it's worth, a pair of car-mount Radio Schlock CB rigs with 1/4-wave antennae will work at up to about 35 miles in the California Central Valley, but only up to about 3 miles in Silicon Valley).

Re:Err, testing??

[InsaneGeek]

FTA:

It is understood that the committee decision to allow UWB was based on a far from unanimous majority, with some Scandinavian countries and France opposing the proposal. UWB opponents are mostly established band users who claim that high densities of UWB usage will raise the interference level enough to affect their existing and future services. However, tests in the US have not found any plausible scenarios where such interference is a significant factor.

I believe there is some concern in Europe about interfering with GPS & GNSS equipment around airports. I believe a second GPS test in the US was done that showed it wasn't as bad as first thought, but I haven't read it.

Re:Err, testing??

[topham]

The initial tested used devices that were damn near on top of each other.

I can show you a GPS unit failing when near a computer, or PocketPC under a similar configuration, with no other intentional radio signals present.

I wouldn't want a large amount of UWB equipment on an airplane, but I wouldn't worry about my GPS unit not working because of equipment in use near me. The alternator in a car generates more interference.

How 'bout...

[mmell]

Ultra Super Band, or USB?

Massively Connected Architecture, or MCA?

Petabit Connected Internet, or PCI?

High Density Datalink, or HDD?

Low-range Petabit Transmissions, or LPT:?

Further examples are left as an exercise for the reader.

Question is

[Daishiman]

The question is whether UWB will actually be as useful as it's being touted. I certainly know that I have no need or desire to have a home AP that whose signal goes beyond 100 meters. I'm sure most of us won't be using it for that either.

I can see a very practical use for this for quickly deploying an internet infrastructure under an emergency situation, as this would be perfect for creating relays to maintain connectivity to a distant area while covering a huge surface. I'm sure that as time goes on other more inventive applications will come to mind.

Las quejas de un sysadmin argentino: http://aosinski.phpnet.us/

Clear our desk of wires?

[Chabil Ha']

Taking a peek behind my desktop PC, I see mostly wires for the following:

2 VGA cables to my dual monitors
2 Power cords to those monitors
1 power cable for the PC
1 RF antenna for my FM tuner
1 Coax for my cable TV
1 cord for USB mouse
1 cord for USB keyboard
1 cord for power to my speakers
1 cord to connect speakers to PC

Let's do the math. 2/11 of those cords can be fixed with UWB. Unless wireless power is part of the spec, I'm quite sceptical of its desk clearing ability...

Re:Clear our desk of wires?

[Belial6]

I could be all wrong about UWB, but I believe that they want to clear 7 of those.

2 VGA cables to my dual monitors 1 Coax for my cable TV (would only count if you had a desktop case) 1 cord for USB mouse 1 cord for USB keyboard 1 cord to connect speakers to PC

The RF antenna and PC power cords are not on your desk. (given that you don't have a desktop case)

That leaves 3 power cords out of the 8 I would have counted. That is a pretty good improvement. Good enough to warrant more RF noise? That is another story...

Re:Clear our desk of wires?

[DrSkwid]

Wireless DVI

http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/11146180/Wireless_D VI_Dongle.html

As far as I can tell, only the 3 power cords in your setup cannot be replaced by wireless.

UWB is not WiMax

[Kadin2048]

I think you are confusing Ultra-wideband and WiMax.

WiMax is like conventional 802.11 "WiFi," but optimized for higher data rates and much longer distances. It's like Wifi on 'roids, emphasis on coverage area and distance.

UWB is different; it's a very short-range protocol for 'desktop' use. Basically, as a way to get devices that are near each other anyway, to communicate with each other without wires. Think of it as Bluetooth on 'roids, but hopefully without all the obnoxiousness.

UWB would definitely not be good for creating point-to-point internet relays/backhaul, or any application that involved distances of more than a few feet. It uses way too much RF spectrum; the idea is that it transmits on a whole load of frequencies at once, but since the power is very low, it doesn't interfere with other things (too badly). This way you get ridiculous data rates, comparable to high-bandwidth wired protocols (so say UWB's promoters) but without having to have wires all over your desk. In a UWB-ed world, you wouldn't have to have a cable going from your scanner to your PC, because it could just pass the data wirelessly.

You might be interested in reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-wideband#Applic ations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_area_network

Wireless peripherals mean more batteries

[HockeyPuck]

I have a logitech trackball.. it's unfortunately wireless. So every 2months I have to hunt down a pack of AA batteries from the office supply closet. Which during the holidays is impossible as everyone steals AA batteries to take home instead of buying them for their kids toys.

So, now I'll need another set for my keyboard, speakers etc...

americans

[minus_273]

yeah those backwards Americans, good thing I live in the forward thinking EU.. oh wait..

Re:Ultrawideband

[LordEd]

Take a page from the street fighter 2 series:

UltraWideBand Turbo
Super UltraWideBand
Super UltraWideBand Turbo

And once we run out of names....

UltraWideBand 2.0! (increment and repeat)

Re:Ultrawideband

[0x537461746943]

At least they didn't use Infiniband. Where would you go from there?

Re:In Europe?

[Per Abrahamsen]

> Last time i checked, Europe was not a nation. I suppose the article means the European Union, but
> isn't it better to keep the meanings intact?

Most non-EU nations in Europe tend to follow EU regulation as well. They just don't get a say in it.

> Also, aren't EU bills only a recommendation for the EU states, which have to accept it one by
> one as well?

They have to be implemented in national law, which the EU countries are legally obliged to do.

Re:Ultrawideband

[indifferent children]

Doublewideband is only useful for viewing incestuous porn and YouTube'd episodes of Dukes of Hazard.