Overcoming Wireless USB commercialization challenges

Many anticipate that it will eventually become the personal and home area network of choice for high speed digital media transfer between devices, especially as the technology begins to reach out to the mass market via devices like PCs and mobile handsets.

Certified Wireless USB products are already poised to hit the market this year with initial products to include laptops, as well as dongle and hub solutions that allow PCs to wirelessly connect to PC peripherals and CE devices. By mid 2008, integrated solutions with built-in Certified Wireless USB capability may also be available in a few devices, such as printers and digital still cameras.

Such product introductions bode well for the commercialization of Wireless USB. Yet, like any new technology, its widespread proliferation will not come easy.

A number of key technological challenges must first be overcome if it is to become a true mainstream mass market technology—not the least of which is slashing chip prices, via migration to a single-chip solution, so that it is affordable to average consumers (See Sidebar: Lessons Learned.

Fortunately, there are solutions available to help design teams overcome the challenges of developing a single-chip solution.

Market growth
According to the market research firm In-Stat, full-speed USB has emerged in the communications market as a popular option in mobile phones. In 2006, over two billion USB-enabled devices shipped worldwide. Annual shipments through 2011 are expected to grow at a rate of 12.3%.

While 2007 is going to be a milestone year for USB's wireless counterpart, with Certified Wireless USB products finally hitting the market, the ability for the technology to achieve growth rates rivaling USB will be determined by a number of key parameters:

The chicken and egg syndrome
The old adage of what comes first, the chicken or the egg, provides an excellent analogy for the Wireless USB industry. In order for the market to evolve and customers to begin to demand product, the market must offer both host products and devices that can communicate with one another. After all, what good is it for consumers to have a PC with integrated Wireless USB if they are unable to use that capability to communicate with say a printer or digital camera?

For the Wireless USB market to grow, host and device manufacturers must each work to bring complementary products to market at the same time, rather than wait for one or the other to make the first move. Doing so will help boost consumer demand and ensure customer satisfaction with the capabilities offered by Wireless USB.

Worldwide regulation
For an emerging technology to achieve mass-market adoption, it must be global in nature. This would ensure, for example, that a businessman in North America with a Wireless USB handset could just as easily use the handset in Asia or Europe.

Key to making Wireless USB global is compliance with UWB regulations from governments around the world, such as in Japan where the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications established a UWB emissions policy to ensure coexistence with current broadcast systems and future services residing in the 4.2 to 4.8 GHz band.

Standardization and interoperability
Ensuring that products interoperate and are compliant with the specification is critical when introducing a new technology to the consumer. This is the only way to be sure that products from different device manufacturers will work together seamlessly.

As a means of addressing this issue, the USB Integrators Forum (USB-IF) developed the Certified Wireless USB Compliance and Certification Program to provide the necessary testing tools for manufacturers to deliver high-quality interoperable products. Certified Wireless USB compliance testing is hosted at Intel's Wireless USB Platform Integration Lab.