The non-profit industry standards association Ecma International announced that its new standard for UWB technology is based on the WiMedia Ultra-Wideband Common Radio Platform and that it will submit the standard for ISO/IEC JTC 1 for fast track approval. In the track to UWB standardization, there has been disagreement within the IEEE 802.15 Task Group 3a between companies promoting Multi-band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing technology - the MB-OFDM standard and those promoting a standard based using Direct Sequence technology - DS-UWB. The WiMedia standard uses MB-OFDM, operates in the 3.1 to 10.6 GHz UWB spectrum (causing some concern to C-band satellite users), and enables short-range file transfers at data rates over 480 Mbps.
Stephen R. Wood, president of the WiMedia Alliance said, "Our work with Ecma brings us one step closer to finally establishing a single, viable radio that allows manufacturers to create reliable products with differentiating functionality, while giving consumers the choice of product brands."
Wood added that there was no doubt that products would be available soon which would operate legally and meet expectations.
For additional information, including a copy of the Ecma International standard, visit www.WiMedia.org. Also see Wi-Fi Planet article Ecma Releases UWB Standard by Eric Griffith for a description of the debate between DS-UWB and MB-OFDM UWB proponents.
