US-based chip designer Alereon said Monday it is releasing the first chip that uses a radio frequency band that is legal all over the world for wireless USB, a technology with the potential to cut the tangle of cables surrounding computers.
USB, or Universal Serial Bus, cables connect computers to mice, keyboards, printers, cameras and external hard drives.
Alereon spokesman Mike Krell believes the new chip, the AL5100, will show up in external hard drives and cameras this year. They’ll connect to computers with optional wireless add-in cards, or dongles that go into USB ports.
The underlying radio technology is called ultra-wideband (UWB) and uses frequencies far above those usually employed for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular phones and other wireless technologies. It is relatively virgin territory in the airwaves, and exploiting it promises high data transfer rates with low power consumption. However, this limits the range of the device, with the signal hardly going further than 30 feet.
In theory, UWB can reach speeds of up to 480 megabits per second, equivalent to USB 2.0 cables, at distances up to 10 feet, but Krell said first-generation devices were not that fast.
Krell expects the company’s first UWB chipset, the AL4000, to reach the consumer market in a month or two in wireless USB hubs. The hub itself communicates wirelessly to a dongle on the computer.
The few wireless USB products that are already available send and receive signals over a frequency that isn’t legal in most of the world because of potential interference with radar. The Alereon has no such issues.
UWB is all set to be incorporated into Bluetooth technology, creating a high-speed version of Bluetooth.
“Assuming that they do it right and it works, it’s going to be a pretty powerful technology for interconnecting devices,” said US analyst Steve Wilson at ABI Research.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmp...§id=7&contentid=20070619023131671ca6192af
USB, or Universal Serial Bus, cables connect computers to mice, keyboards, printers, cameras and external hard drives.
Alereon spokesman Mike Krell believes the new chip, the AL5100, will show up in external hard drives and cameras this year. They’ll connect to computers with optional wireless add-in cards, or dongles that go into USB ports.
The underlying radio technology is called ultra-wideband (UWB) and uses frequencies far above those usually employed for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular phones and other wireless technologies. It is relatively virgin territory in the airwaves, and exploiting it promises high data transfer rates with low power consumption. However, this limits the range of the device, with the signal hardly going further than 30 feet.
In theory, UWB can reach speeds of up to 480 megabits per second, equivalent to USB 2.0 cables, at distances up to 10 feet, but Krell said first-generation devices were not that fast.
Krell expects the company’s first UWB chipset, the AL4000, to reach the consumer market in a month or two in wireless USB hubs. The hub itself communicates wirelessly to a dongle on the computer.
The few wireless USB products that are already available send and receive signals over a frequency that isn’t legal in most of the world because of potential interference with radar. The Alereon has no such issues.
UWB is all set to be incorporated into Bluetooth technology, creating a high-speed version of Bluetooth.
“Assuming that they do it right and it works, it’s going to be a pretty powerful technology for interconnecting devices,” said US analyst Steve Wilson at ABI Research.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmp...§id=7&contentid=20070619023131671ca6192af
