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IP: Dwindling UWB sector hopes for FCC breakthrough
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2002 09:17:21 -0500
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> [Note: This item comes from reader Janos Gereben. DLH] At 20:29 -0800 1/6/02, Janos G. wrote:From: "Janos G." <janos451 () earthlink net> To: "D.H." <dewayne () warpspeed com> Subject: Dwindling UWB sector hopes for FCC breakthrough Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 20:29:50 -0800 ============= Dwindling UWB sector hopes for FCC breakthrough Janos Gereben - www.the451.com [Ultra-wideband developers, federal agencies expect regulation changes, but the ruling may turn out to be too little, too late or both.] Only the hype is bigger than the importance of a possible Federal Communications Commission approval of ultra-wideband technology for consumer electronics. After decades of waiting for the green light to use UWB, companies still staying in the `business' of developing products that cannot be sold without a change in regulations are positively breathless as Feb. 14 approaches. That's the date for the Commission's next scheduled session and there is widespread speculation that a twice-postponed UWB decision may be forthcoming. For example, Xtreme Spectrum of Vienna, Virginia, is touting the UWB-based chips it is producing as "100 times faster than Bluetooth and still low-power enough to be embedded into batter-powered applications" such as PDAs, camcorders, DVDs, digital cameras, laptops, and so on. Calling UWB's high data-rate handling of multiple streams of video and audio"ideal" for home applications, Xtreme points to recent funding from Cisco, TI and Motorola as proof of the potential impact of the technology. (As so often is the case with this technology, there is much loose talk here. UWB can have many different implementations and, according the specifics of a device, it can have one-tenth the speed of Bluetooth just as running 100 times faster.) UWB radio uses short impulses of radio energy, generally at low power. Its characteristic spectrum signature extends across a wide range of radio frequencies, enabling the transmission of encrypted voice and radar signals simultaneously. The technology's proponents claim that a whole houseful loaded with `ubiquitous UWB' - operating in the 2,500-5,000MHz range - wouldn't approach the power of a cordless phone, much less that of a cell phone. (Again, only the specific implementation may or may not validate that claim.) UWB signals are difficult to intercept and can be digitally encrypted for additional security. Will the FCC finally resolve the UWB regulation conundrum? Not so fast, say grizzled veterans of the frequency wars, highly skeptical of the Commission waving a magic wand. The situation is especially fluid now that federal agencies, especially the Pentagon, are guarding their frequency monopolies more jealously than ever - and, at the same time, want industry development of military and intelligence tools utilizing UWB. The Commission's decision is likely to contain a laundry list of caveats and constraints, observers say, designed to placate opponents while permitting the FCC to proclaim the unleashing of some thrilling new technology. The question is not if there will be constraints, says one of the experts, but rather how stringent they may turn out to be. Bennett Kobb, author of "Wireless Spectrum Finder," the handbook of US radio frequency allocations, told the451 that so-called "safeguards" could be either deal-busters or UWB companies may be able to make profits while complying with conservative FCC rules. Kobb posed a number of scenarios: "Will UWB turn out to be another cool technology to be quashed by Washington lawyers, overwhelming the FCC with political pressure and interference complaints? Will UWB proponents have to act quickly to change any FCC rules that confine or confuse them, or will they feel free to move to production?" Kobb's concern - that the FCC will "limit UWB to an obscure spectrum ghetto, instead of offering this technology as an alternative to increasing private enclosure of the radio spectrum via auctions and exclusive licenses" - is shared by numerous expert observers, including Dandin Group CEO Dewayne Hendricks. Hendricks, who is on the FCC Technological Advisory Council and doubts that a conclusive decision will be handed down next month, has been questioning the form of the enabling regulation may take. He and others see software-defined radio (SDR) and, within that, cognitive radio as more potent forms of technology, but he does not expect that the Commission will encourage or even allow development on that front. Both SDR and UWB require a different, wideband, oriented spectrum usage model, Hendricks says, and the FCC is still "embracing the old paradigm that works through a narrowband orientation." Among the remaining UWB firms, Alabama's TimeDomain is generally regarded as the leading company in the field, but California's Pulse-Link and Aether Wire & Location, Xtreme Spectrum, even Intel and Sony departments are also heavily invested in the technology.
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