Wireless USB?

Wireless USB Arrives

Posted by samc on July 26th, 2007

The first notebooks with embedded Wireless USB, Dell’s Inspiron 1720 and Lenovo’s ThinkPad T61 and T62p were announced this week, enabling cable-free connections to Certified Wireless USB hubs from D-Link and IOGear to eliminate USB cords.

Another version is available in Toshiba’s Wireless UWB Port Replicator, available on three configurations of Portégé R400 series (right).

D-Link and IOGear also have Wireless USB dongles to add wireless functionality to notebooks and PCs that don’t have it built in (which would be virtually every other computer in the world).

Wireless USB was developed by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), which also developed the USB 2.0 standard. Unlike WiFi or Bluetooth, it does not use the 2.4 Ghz band. Instead Wireless USB uses UltraWideband techniques, utilizing a broad swath of frequencies to achieve high speed transmission at very low power.

Wireless USB devices can communicate in a 10-meter range at up to 480Mbps. Data transfers top out at 2 to 3 meters, with throughput reaching 110Mbps at 10 meters.

USB-IF is built on WiMedia Alliance’s ultrawideband Common Radio Platform. In addition, WiMedia Alliance’s radio platform is also being implemented into Bluetooth 3.0 and will be incorporated into 1394 Trade Association’s Wireless Firewire.

Data is transferred in the 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz spectrum and interference with other wireless devices is minimal. “In a particular given spectrum area, if there is conceived to be interference, the radio can turn off the particular segment of that frequency and use other bands to communicate,” said Jeff Ravencraft, technology strategist for Intel and president and chairman of USB-IF.

Certified silicon from Alereon, Intel, NEC, Realtek, and WiQuest Communications are integrated into the products, according to the USB-IF.

D-Link, like IO Gear, will sell their wireless hubs for around $200 with dongle clients around $100. They will be available later this year.

source : dailywireless.org