Everything USB

Wireless USB (WUSB)

March 25th, 2005
By John Koon, Senior Industry Analyst, Tech Idea International

Certified Wireless USB: Cutting the Wires

Wireless USB Certified logo

Certified Wireless USB (WUSB), a natural extension of USB, makes it easier than ever before to connect peripherals and consumer electronic devices to a host PC. As new consumer electronic products appear on the market, the demand for this type of interface grows. The USB-IF is expected to release a new wireless specification this year.

Wireless USB is based on the ultrawideband (UWB) technology which supports the same 480 Mbps data rate over a distance of two meters (about 6.6 feet). If the speed is lowered to 110 Mbps, UWB will go a longer distance (up to 10 meters or about 30 feet). UWB started in 1960 as military application capable of transferring data up to 480 Mbps over a distance of 20 meters. For home or office environments, this technology would be very practical.

Multiband OFDM Alliance logo

Multiple organizations support the development of UWB. One of these, the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA), was formed in June 2003 and currently has about 170 member companies. The mission of the MBOA is to support and promote the development and global standardization of UWB (specification-focus). The organization supports a UWB specification originally developed by Texas Instruments in 2003. (Orthogonal FDM (OFDM) is a modulation technique used by various wired or wireless technologies including IEEE 802.11x.) An older organization, WiMedia, formed in September 2002 has a mission to promote wireless multimedia connectivity and interoperability between devices in a personal area network, focusing on compliance of the specification.

WiMedia logo after merging
with the Multiband OFDM Alliance

On March 3, 2005, both organizations announced their merge during the Spring Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held in San Francisco. Other companies that support MBOA including Intel, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Philips, Sony, and Texas Instruments will now be part of the new group. The new name is to be finalized. Freescale, a spin off of Motorola and supporter of the UWB Forum formed in 2004, on the other hand, is taking a different approach to solving the wireless connection problem and is not a member of the MBOA. It will be interesting to see which group will gain industry acceptance over time. Some have projected that the UAW-related silicon and hardware may reach the $1 billion mark in the next few years.

Jeff Revencraft, technology strategist of Intel and president/chairman of the USB-IF, has high hopes for Wireless USB. "For the next few years, the USB-IF will focus on certification, education, and promotion of the Wireless USB technology," says Revencraft. "USB overall has many new possibilities including higher speed in the future."

Apart from the new development of WUSB, the overall USB market is very promising. There are over a billion USB PCs in the market and many times more in USB devices. Thus, there are and will continue to be many opportunities for both new designs and add-on products. Cypress Semiconductor, a leading supplier of USB solutions, has shipped over 400 million units of USB silicon to date. Jeff Chang, USB business unit director for Cypress, believes that there are still significant growth opportunities for both wired and wireless USB in the future.

Even though there have been changes in the composition of the USB-IF core companies, momentum of USB growth is strong and major companies are still behind this interface. Take NEC for example. It was the first company to introduce a USB 2.0 host controller, hub controller, and device controller. Says Matt Katagiri, engineering manager computer I/O technology for Broadband LSI, NEC Electronics America, “NEC Electronics has been one of the core USB companies since the introduction of this technology. As a leader in the USB 2.0 controller market, we remain committed to the development and establishment of USB standards, and will continue these efforts with newly emerging USB technology such as the wireless USB.”

USB realizes the dream of unifying one connection for all peripherals. Although it had a slow start in late 90s, the universal one-size-fits-all standard later became the de facto interface and literally revolutionized the computing world. Its topology design hardware via USB hubs and its ability to carry power and data over a single cable had inspired numerous innovations from a USB light source to USB flash drives. The latter created a multi-billion-dollar industry.

In 2001, USB 2.0 with speed topping at 480Mbps was introduced to satisfy the bandwidth hungry devices. It has since become the choice of connection for various multi-media applications. With billion of USB devices in the market, Now the 11-year old standard is ready to go wireless. The new Wireless USB technology will be a formidable force in the years to come!

John Koon, Tech Idea International

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Wireless USB Resources

The Official USB Promoter Group
A non-profit corporation founded by the group of companies that developed the Wireless USB specification.

Nikkei Electronics Asia
A featured article detailing the progress of Wireless USB specs.

Intro. to Wireless USB
This technical whitepaper by Intel's Rafael Kolic introduces Wireless USB (WUSB) and explains how it will impact device performance and mobility.