Despite apparent barriers, UWB market relatively unrestrained

14 June 2006 News

Several formidable-looking barriers appear, at first glance, to pose serious obstacles to widespread commercial success for ultrawideband (UWB). But closer examination reveals that few of them will drastically inhibit the market, which a new ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) study forecasts will see nearly 300 million UWB shipments in 2011.

According to principal analyst Stuart Carlaw, some observers have pointed to the lack of standardisation as a major barrier to growth in the UWB market. "The collapse of the UWB standards process was widely seen as a major faux pas," he notes, "but those inside the industry viewed it as the shackles being removed."

Similarly, many people point to 802.11n as 'the UWB-killer.' The reality is that they are complementary. UWB's relationship to 802.11n may be compared to USB's relationship to Ethernet. Although that is an oversimplification, says Carlaw, "It is clear that UWB and 802.11n will co-exist and be powerful allies for each other."

None of this is to say that no factors threaten UWB's success. Issues around global spectrum and regulatory approval, along with the need to drive down cost, power consumption and silicon package sizes, are all legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. There is a need to find global regulatory approval and common frequency allocations. In ABI's analysis, this is the real key to the UWB question. All signs are that the band between 7 GHz and 8,5 GHz will be common across all regions. The European Communications Commission (ECC) has recently announced support for the 6 GHz to 8,5 GHz band, while Japan looks set to ratify the 7 GHz to 10 GHz band.

The recent announcement of the Bluetooth SIG's support for the WiMedia Alliance will also assist the drive for global regulatory approval, since the SIG has had significant success in doing this for its 2,4 GHz solutions. It is worth noting that global regulatory endorsement is not a precursor to success, and that Bluetooth gained a lot of ground before receiving general regulatory approval.

Further reading:

SACEEC celebrates standout industrial innovation on the KITE 2025 show floor
News
Exhibitor innovation took the spotlight at the KITE 2025 as the South African Capital Equipment Export Council announced the winners of its prestigious New Product & Innovation Awards.

Read more...

---

SA team for International Olympiad in Informatics
News
The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa has named the team that will represent South Africa at this year’s International Olympiad in Informatics.

Read more...

---

Anritsu and Bluetest to support OTA measurement
News
Anritsu Company and Sweden-based Bluetest AB have jointly developed an Over-The-Air measurement solution to evaluate the performance of 5G IoT devices compliant with the RedCap specification.

Read more...

---

The current sentiment of the global electronics manufacturing supply chain
News
In its latest report, the Global Electronics Association provides an analysis of the current sentiment and conditions in the global electronics manufacturing supply chain as of June 2025.

Read more...

---

Global semiconductor sales increase in May
News
The Semiconductor Industry Association recently announced global semiconductor sales were $59,0 billion during the month of May 2025, an increase of 19,8%.

Read more...

---

New president for Avnet EMEA
News
Avnet has announced that Avnet Silica’s president, Gilles Beltran, will step into the role of president of Avnet EMEA.

Read more...

---

DARPA sets new record for wireless power beaming
News
In tests performed in New Mexico, the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay program team recorded over 800 W of power delivered for about 30 seconds with a laser beam crossing 8,6 kilometres.

Read more...

---

Nordic Semiconductor acquires Memfault
RF Design News
With this acquisition, Nordic has launched its first complete chip-to-cloud platform for lifecycle management of connected products.

Read more...

---

Trina storage demonstrates high efficiency and long-term reliability
News
Independent testing confirms 95,2% DC efficiency and 98% capacity retention after one year of operation.

Read more...

---

From the editor's desk: AI – a double-edged sword
Technews Publishing News
As with any powerful tool, AI presents challenges, some of which, if not carefully managed, threaten to undo the potential that it can offer.

Read more...

---