Though the technology in itself is not new (been used for more than two decades in military radar operations) only recently it has begun to be tested for business communications. Researchers point out UWB is at least 1000 times faster than currently used 802.11b or bluetooth technologies and hence could constitute an excellent alternative choice of protocol for local area networks, increasing their ability to cater to many more users at high bandwidth speeds and at considerably lower costs. As Mr. Frank Dzubeck, president of Washington based 'Communications Network Architects' says, '"The initial approval from the FCC might be, for example, for 100M bit/sec with a range of 150 feet. But there's no reason why you can't increase speed and distance. it's a matter of power and finer granularity of the silicon chips." [John Cox] One interesting feature of UWB is that it operates in the same frequency as the electronic noise spectrum and because UWB pulses do not need a carrier wave (carrier free architecture) it does not chunk up the already crowded radio spectrum.
Another new development is the GIFI chip which offers very high-speed data transfers over short regions. Developed by Australian researchers, the GiFi chip measures only.2 inches on either side and operates in the mostly neglected above 60-GHz spectrum region. Though restricted to only a maximum distance of 11 yards, this GiFi chip is much faster than the normal WiFi devices. The speed of 5 Gpbs per second of data transmission is a new breakthrough, which implies that even high definition movies could be transferred between devices in a matter of a few seconds. This sensational GiFI chip is widely expected to hit the market...
[Antone Gonsalves]
Conclusion
Communication technology is a fast evolving one. In particular, the wireless domain is witnessing new standards and protocols that offer more speed, connectivity at lower costs. While we see the evolution from GSM to GRPS to 3G networks, research is already on in the development of 4G networks. Alongside the currently prevalent bluetooth technology, we are also in for new and drastic improvements such as the UWB transmission and the development of the GiFi chips, which can transfer up to 5 bps. In the near future we can expect wireless communication devices to be faster, smaller, enabling a whole new dimension of applications and thereby create a paradigm shift to our world of communication.
Bibliography
1) John Cox, 'Ultra Fast Wireless Technology Set to Lift Off', Accessed April 24th 2008, available at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2001/0827specialfocus.html
2) Antone Gonsalves, 'Aussie Researchers Build GiFI, a Tiny Chip with Big Wireless Capabilities', Available at, Accessed April 25th 2008
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=XNIZ1DZ0N1C14QSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=206801423&_requestid=462900
3) University of Denver, 'The Future of Bluetooth', Accessed April 25th 2008, available at http://mysite.du.edu/~ccfergus/bluetoothweb/future.htm
4) Jochen Schiller, "Mobile Communications," Published by Pearson Education, 2000
5) Timo Halonen, Javier Romero, Juan Melero (2003), 'GSM, GPRS and EDGE
Performance: Evolution towards 3G/UMTS," John Wiley & Sons
