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NEWS FROM THE BLUETOOTH™ AND SHORT RANGE RF ENVIRONMENT ISSUE 93

IN INCISOR THIS MONTH

It was always very difficult to see thisdecision going any other way, but it is stillbig news within the wireless industry. Afterannouncing a collaboration with the UWBindustry in May last year, on the 28th ofMarch the Bluetooth SIG announced itsselection of the WiMedia Alliance multibandorthogonal frequency division multiplexing(MB-OFDM) version of ultra-wideband (UWB)for integration with current Bluetoothwireless technology. This is the next step inthe SIG’s plan to create a version ofBluetooth with a high speed/high data rateoption.

The new version of Bluetooth is intended tocater for the need to synchronize and transferlarge amounts of data as well as enabling videoand audio applications for portable devices,multi-media projectors and television sets. Interms of throughput, the Bluetooth SIG and theWMA are looking at an optimized 100MBps datarate at Bluetooth’s traditional 10 metre range.This is some way short of UWB’s theoreticalGigabit data rates, but plenty enough for theWPAN applications that are being considered,including streaming of high-quality video, ratherthan the Internet-quality video that Bluetoothcan currently manage. At the same time,Bluetooth will continue to look after traditional,very low power WPAN applications such asmice, keyboards and mono headsets. The viewis that this will enable devices to select the mostappropriate physical radio for the applicationrequirements, thereby offering the best of bothworlds.

Michael Foley, executive director of theBluetooth SIG, managed the Bluetooth SIG’swebinar at which the announcement was made,supported by Stephen Wood, president, WiMediaAlliance and UWB technology strategist at Intel.When asked what had prompted the SIG’sselection of the WMA over the UWB Forum, Foleycommented: “As a member-driven organization,it is the Bluetooth SIG’s responsibility to ensureit’s attentive to its members’ needs. Havingconsidered the UWB technology options, thedecision ultimately came down to what ourmembers want, which is to leverage theircurrent investments in both UWB and Bluetoothtechnologies and meet the high-speed demandsof their customers. By working closely with theWiMedia Alliance to create the next version ofBluetooth technology, we will enable ourmembers to do just that.” When pushed, Foleydid provide some other technical justifications,but in reality, the Bluetooth SIG seems to begoing with the WMA for the most obvious and

Bluetooth SIG alignswith WiMedia

Alliance for UWB

Welcome to the April 2006 issue of Incisor magazine.What a month we have had. There we were, working our waythrough a series of fascinating interviews in our follow-upstory to CSR’s WiMedia announcement, when the jungledrums alerted us to the fact that something big was about tohappen. And what’s more, it involved the Bluetooth SpecialInterest Group.It could only be one thing. The BSIG was going to announce itsown UWB decision – would it choose the widely supportedWiMedia Alliance version, or the DS-UWB version promoted bythe UWB Forum? Sure enough, on Wednesday the 28th March the BSIG told theworld that it would align with WiMedia. In agreement with theBSIG, we had the news early and sat on it until an embargowas lifted. Others didn’t, and it was frustrating to note thatwhile we did the decent thing, certain less disciplined mediacompanies put the news up on the Web instantly.The BSIG’s announcement has meant an unseemly scrambleto re-think and partly re-write our related stories. No matter,the job is done now, and our views and analysis are here fouryour consideration.What is certain is that although there has been a fanfare oftriumphal responses to both the Bluetooth SIG and CSR’sactions, there is an undercurrent of uncertainty. We feel thatthe companies that have been leading the WiMedia push are,in some cases, maybe just a little threatened, which ischaracterized by a certain amount of sabre-rattling.See if you agree. Inside this issue we invite you to help uscreate a reader’s letter page. We would love to know yourviews.Vince Holton • Publisher/Editor-in-chiefEmail: vholton@click.co.uk • Tel: +44 (0)1730 895614

Features:

Bluetooth SIG aligns with WiMedia Alliance .1-2Wireless industry news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-6Is CSR driving Bluetooth + UWB . . . . . . . .7-10An analysis of the wireless industry’s reaction to CSR’s WiMedia announcement

The Wi2Wi Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12New products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13-16Out-of-the-box headset design . . . . . . . . . . .17By Karen Parnell, CSR

Wireless industry intelligence

UWB / Wireless USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-19Wi-Fi/ WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20-21RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22-23ZigBee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-24

Connections section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25-28Jobs and opportunities in the wireless sector

Wireless industry calendar of events . . . . .29continued

Streaming high quality video from your camcorder to yourplasma screen? No problem with high-speed Bluetooth

2

simplest reason. Because (nearly) everyone elseis doing so.

One of the SIG’s supporting statements wasthat it is critical that the UWB technology becompatible with Bluetooth radios and maintainthe core attributes of Bluetooth – low power, lowcost, ad-hoc networking, built-in securityfeatures, and the ability to integrate into mobiledevices. The Bluetooth SIG is apparentlysatisfied that MB-OFDM UWB technology,offered by the WiMedia Alliance, is capable ofmeeting all of these requirements, and said thatthe two organizations are dedicated to workingtogether to ensure that the combined high-speed solution is optimized for mobile deviceswith very low power consumption.

Backwards compatibility with the over 500million Bluetooth devices currently on themarket is undoubtedly an importantconsideration, and, as Foley pointed out, by thetime Bluetooth/WMA UWB products hit thestreets, that number will be 1 billion. That is hardto argue with, and is surely a reason why thosefew companies that have, to date, fallen on theDS-UWB side of the fence, might want to changetheir allegiance. When asked whether anyBluetooth SIG company that had also been amember of the UWB Forum would now bethrown out of the Bluetooth SIG, Foleydiplomatically suggested only that if theywanted to develop high-speed, Bluetooth/UWBsolutions and to stay within the ‘certifiedproducts’ camp, they would have to useWiMedia-based UWB.

The unspoken question was where this leftMotorola, as the strongest supporter of DS-UWBvia its spin-off business FreescaleSemiconductor? Those thinking that this putsMotorola in a difficult position are convenientlyforgetting that Motorola is one of the companiesdelivering Bluetooth-enabled products in thebiggest numbers. Motorola is already sourcingBluetooth silicon from outside, and is notdependent on Freescale’s income from UWBproducts (for more views on Motorola’s position,see also ‘Is CSR driving Bluetooth + UWB?’elsewhere in this issue. Precisely whatFreescale will do isn’t clear, but if you currentlytry to access the ‘UWB’ section of the Freescaleweb site, you get taken to a page that says ‘Thepage you requested cannot be found. The pageyou are looking for has been removed, renamed,or is temporarily unavailable’. Interesting …..

Stephen Wood pointed out one of the strongattractions of the deal to the WiMedia Alliance:“The Bluetooth community has been extremely

successful at generating strong brandrecognition among users of high volume, lowerdata rate computer, telecommunications andconsumer products. The WiMedia Alliance looksforward to providing suppliers of Bluetoothproducts with a higher speed technology paththat will enable the next generation of excitingnew portable data applications.” All of whichrather glosses over the fact that the UWBindustry has hung its hat on wireless USB as itsprimary (or at least initial) route to market.Wireless USB, whether it is the WMA’s CertifiedWireless USB or the UWB Forum’s Cablefree USBis going to be very, very big, and is beingpromoted now. Bluetooth and wireless USB arecompeting for the same, short-rangeconnectivity applications, and while both Foleyand Wood promoted the view that the two couldand would co-exist – Foley remarking that manydevices currently have USB as well as Bluetooth– the story wasn’t wholly convincing. It’s naturalenough for a device to have a Bluetooth wirelessconnection and a USB wired connection – butBluetooth and wireless USB? Sure, there is a biginstalled base of Bluetooth devices, but theinstalled base of UWB devices is already bigger,and continuing to grow fast. This situation couldgenerate some future conflicts that disturb thestatus quo.

Global regulatory acceptance for UWB isanother key issue, and was described as one ofthe key components to the agreement betweenthe Bluetooth SIG and the WMA. The subject wasdealt with quite briefly, with Foley and Woodsuggesting that the Bluetooth SIG’s track recordwith dealing with regulatory bodies around theworld would help UWB achieve similar successwithin the required timescales. Part of the gameplan is for both parties to agree to develop ahigh speed, high data rate Bluetooth solutionthat utilizes the unlicensed radio spectrumabove 6 GHz. This move is intended to quashconcerns voiced by regulatory bodies in bothEurope and Asia. It is worth remembering thatgaining those world-wide approvals forBluetooth took several years, and the work waslargely happening at an earlier stage inBluetooth’s development than UWB is at now.Ultimately, the Bluetooth SIG did achieve theregulatory approvals that Bluetooth needed, andit is to be hoped that the same will hold true forUWB. However, we believe that the matter willbe more complex than suggested at the time ofthis announcement, and that the timescales aremore pressing.

Although not present for the webinar, John

Barr, chairman of the board of directors,Bluetooth SIG and a long-term Motorola stalwart(currently director, standards realization),commented in the SIG’s release: “Companiesworking with Bluetooth technology want to stayone step ahead of consumer demand anddeliver a wireless technology that meets theglobal market needs for the personal areanetwork – today and in the future. There is nowan opportunity for the WiMedia Alliance to workwith the Bluetooth SIG to define the Bluetoothtechnology/UWB implementation that will workfor the Bluetooth SIG, our members and endusers.” Barr has a lengthy track record ofinvolvement in standards creation andregulatory approvals, and will doubtless beusing that experience over the coming monthsand years.

So, what happens now? The Bluetooth SIGCore Specification Working Group Charter andUWB Feature Requirements Document (FRD)have been approved by the Bluetooth SIG Boardof Directors, signalling that work maycommence. The requirements set by the UWBstudy group in the UWB FRD define what has tobe done to create a solution appropriate foradoption by the Bluetooth SIG. Both groups willimmediately begin work together on thespecification draft within the Bluetooth SIG CoreSpecification Working Group. The Bluetooth SIGestimates this process to last approximately oneyear, with the first Bluetooth technology/UWBsolution chip sets available for prototyping in Q22007. The forecast was that with a bit of luckand a fair wind, first consumer products wouldappear at or near the first quarter of 2008. Orwill there more likely be a scramble to getsomething in the shops for Christmas ’07? Tomaintain a perspective, its worth rememberingthat wireless USB products will have been onthe market for at least 18 months at that point.

So the big announcement has been made.Bluetooth will team with the WiMedia Alliance’sversion of UWB. As we said at the beginning ofthis piece, that this announcement would bemade has always felt like a ‘when’ not ‘if’situation. Will everything be plain sailing fromthis point forwards? Will Freescale now roll overand die, retiring DS-UWB into obscurity – or atleast a life of proprietary solutions over-shadowed by the triumphal success of WMAUWB?

It is impossible to say. At Incisor, we are onlysure that there will be plenty more columninches to be written yet on this fascinatingsubject.

Bluetooth & wireless industry news

3

Staccato steps up alongsideBluetooth SIG

Hot on the heels of the Bluetooth SIG’s(BSIG) announcement of its selection ofWiMedia UWB for the future high-speedversion of Bluetooth, StaccatoCommunications has announced its three-step product roadmap for the convergence ofCertified Wireless USB, WiMedia WiNet(Internet Protocol) and Bluetooth/Bluetooth-over-UWB technologies.

The first step combines existing Bluetoothsolutions with the approximately 250 timesperformance improvement that comes withCertified Wireless USB. In this space, Staccato’sRipcord solution is based on Certified WirelessUSB on a single MiniCard and USB donglereference designs for PC applications Thisallows customers to launch combinationsolutions into the market immediately.

The second step includes the new Bluetooth-over-UWB specification on Staccato’s single-chip Ripcord product. This step will realize thevision shared by Staccato and WiMedia of ‘one-radio, multiple protocols’ for the first time byproviding simultaneous support for CertifiedWireless USB, WiMedia’s WiNet protocol, duelater this year, and the new Bluetooth-over-UWBprotocol, expected to be finalized in 2007.

The third step would then finally integrate anyadditional silicon blocks required into thecurrent Ripcord single-chip, all-CMOS packageenabling all Wireless Personal Area Network(WPAN) standards to be supported on a singleinexpensive silicon solution.

Staccato’s product roadmap is enabled by theRipcord PIK (Protocol Independent Kernel) MAC(Medium Access Control) technology, which is a

protocol independent kernel, based on a customimplementation of hardware acceleration andARM9 software control. This patent-pendingtechnology has been designed for gigabit-speedheterogeneous protocol environments exactlylike the Certified Wireless USB / WiNet /Bluetooth combination enabled by today’sannouncement.

“Our architecture and product plans have longanticipated today’s announcement by theBluetooth SIG. We expect to be the first tointroduce Bluetooth-over-UWB compliantproducts with multi-protocol support,” saidMarty Colombatto, chief executive officer ofStaccato Communications. “Staccato not onlyshares WiMedia’s vision of ‘one-radio multipleprotocols’, we helped create much of theunderlying specifications that make it possible.The world needs only one radio for all wirelesspersonal area networks and that’s what we

intend to provide using our Ripcord PIK MACtechnology as the foundation.”

“The Bluetooth SIG’s action sets a clear anddefinitive path for the next generation ofBluetooth technology and we welcome thisdecision,” said Roberto Aiello, chief technologyofficer of Staccato Communications andWiMedia Board member. “We view the twotechnologies as completely complementary andwe believe the WiMedia radio platform was theideal choice considering its broad supportamong industry leaders, its ability to meetinteroperability and worldwide regulatoryrequirements and its support for multi-protocoldesigns with a single radio. Ripcord wasdesigned by a staff of Staccato engineers withdecades of combined experience in Bluetoothchip development. However, consumers don’treally care about underlying technology, theycare about making connections quickly andeasily – and they expect it to work every time.Products based on Certified Wireless USB orBluetooth-over-UWB and powered by Staccato’sRipcord chip will provide this functionality withina small form factor, with low power and lowcost.”

Marty Colombatto, CEO, Staccato.

Snippets Snippets

Red-M sponsors Wireless EventRed-M, which provides services and

products for managing wireless infra-structure, is sponsoring this year’s The

Wireless Event at Olympia on 17 - 18 May 2006.Regular exhibitors at the annual conference andexhibition, this year Red-M is the show’s officialAirspace Management Sponsor and the

company’s chief technical officer, SimonSaunders, will be presenting during theEnterprise Wireless Networking Seminar on17 May.

GENERAL

Bluetooth & wireless industry news continued

4

Frontline updates Bluetooth Sniffer

Frontline, which makes the only v2.0 + EDRBluetooth protocol analyzer (FTS4BT), hasintroduced an update to its product whichallows engineers to gain an immediateinsight into data transfer inefficiencies whendeveloping and testing Bluetooth products.The new Packet Timeline view allowsdevelopment and test engineers to look“inside” devices under test and graphicallysee exactly what is happening on thecommunication link, enabling optimizationof both chip-level firmware and applicationlevel software. This highly graphical newview was created in response to extensivecustomer feedback and is a market first.

The Packet Timeline view in conjunction withthe FTS4BT Frame Display allows users tolocate questionable packets and drill down tothem in order to determine if they are optimizedfor maximum data throughput. All of thisanalysis can be conducted in realtime while

data is streaming, which further reducesdevelopment time and cost.

“Ever since Frontline has been involved withBluetooth testing we have been an innovatorand have continually provided new features andfunctions that improve engineers’ efficiency,”said Eric Kaplan, Founder, Frontline. “PacketTimeline is particularly exciting because itcomes at a time when there is a major push toimprove data throughput and it is exactly theright tool to accomplish this. One of ourcustomers, during a sneak preview of thefeature, has already been able to find and fix avery tricky low-level firmware bug and they saidthat without Packet Timeline it would have takenthem much longer.”

Frontline’s software/hardware offering,FTS4BT, decodes Bluetooth protocols inrealtime, offering comprehensive Bluetoothprofile and multimode sniffing support. FTS4BTsupports simultaneous analysis of the air

interface and the HCI interface. It is suitable bothfor troubleshooting and for verification ofBluetooth applications.

Frontline is continuing to make a name foritself in the test market. In addition to offeringthe only solution for Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR, itserves as the worldwide support centre for theBluetooth SIG’s Profile Tuning Suite tool and wasrecently named the worldwide distributor andsupport center for Codenomicon’s newBluetooth robustness tester. Frontline is also the2006 worldwide sponsor of the Bluetooth SIGrun interoperability testing events, UnPlugFests.

Frontline has made the updated FTS4BTavailable immediately for a free 15-day trial.

SiRF shows single chip Bluetooth & GPS

SiRF Technology has introduced SiRFLink, amultifunction architecture, and SiRFLinkI, acorresponding product line that makes theestablished connection between GPS andBluetooth.

SiRF says it is responding to customer demandby combining its SiRFstarIII GPS technology withadditional wireless connectivity functions. Theproduct is targeted at a large array of platformswhere both Bluetooth and GPS are becomingcommon functions, including devices where aBluetooth radio is used to communicate locationinformation to other devices or applications. Byputting this all on one single-chip solution, SiRFbelieves it can provide size and power savings,as well as cost savings through a lower bill ofmaterials

“SiRFLinkI, our first multifunction productoffering, signals an important milestone for SiRFas we continue to find innovative ways to

enhance the value of solutions we provide to ourcustomers," said Kanwar Chadha, founder andvice president of marketing for SiRF. "In a worldof increasing wireless connectivity, GPS andBluetooth are becoming common functions inmost of our target markets and SiRFLinkI isoptimized to address these emerging needs. Weare especially proud of this achievementbecause we harnessed our global resourcesincluding the development capabilities of SiRFIndia, and the radio frequency expertise of SiRFSweden, to produce an innovative multifunctionproduct in such a short time."

In addition to the small size and low power,SiRF claims that SiRFLinkI also provides a fastertime to first fix in more environments than everbefore. This comes courtesy of a combination ofSiRF’s SiRFstarIII core, the SiRFLoc architectureand SiRFInstantFix technology. SiRFLoc,introduced in 2003, improves GPS location

capability in wireless system environments byutilizing the wireless infrastructure to assistGPS, improving extremely weak signalreception, while SiRFInstantFix eliminates theinitial task of obtaining GPS data from thesatellites themselves, resulting in much fastertime to first fixes on start-ups.

SiRFLinkI was demonstrated at 3GSM WorldCongress in Barcelona in February 2006 andproduction availability is expected in second halfof year 2006.

Bluetooth & wireless industry news continued

5

CSR announces record 2005 resultsand strong outlook for 2006

At the end of February, CSR announced itsunaudited preliminary financial results for thefourth quarter and its audited financial results forthe 52 weeks ended 30 December 2005.

These continued to be impressive. Highlights ofCSR's 2005 end of year results included salesincreased by 92% year on year to $486.5m ($253.1min 2004), 460 new designs of which 43% were inhandsets or headsets, and design-ins with 5 out ofthe 6 top mobile phone OEM's during 2005. CSR’ssuccess in the cellular sector continues to power thecompany, with over 70% of its unit shipments goinginto the cellular sector. CSR has also won 69% of EDRBluetooth designs, mainly in mobile phones and PCs.

In the fourth quarter of 2005 revenue increased104% to $162.9m and CSR won 32 design wins in thequarter from mobile phone customers (13 more than

CSR's record to date) and the company’s headcounthas increased to 688 largely as a result of continuedR&D investment.

Speculating on the outlook for 2006, CSR expectscontinued strong growth in the Bluetooth market in2006 and estimates year on year growth in unitshipments to be around 60%. CSR predicted that itsrevenues for Q1 2006 were expected to be $125m to$135m, (88% to 104% higher than Q1 2005).

"We are pleased to announce very strong resultswith revenues and profits almost doubling, operatingmargin held virtually stable and record sales in thefourth quarter. We estimate the Bluetooth market hasmore than doubled in unit terms during the year, andthese results reflect CSR's position within this marketand our success in driving down the cost of ourBluetooth solutions, whilst simultaneously increasingtheir functionality and reducing size and powerconsumption" commented outgoing CEO JohnHodgson.

John Hodgson has overseen CSR through a period ofmajor success

Stollmann boosts BECI software interface

German software company Stollmann hasinitiated the standardization of the BluetoothEmbedded Control Interface (BECI), at the sametime taking over the leadership of the BluetoothSIG study group created for this purpose.Stollman’s objective is to standardize a softwareinterface at the level above the Bluetooth profilesthat would allow application programmers todevelop Bluetooth application software without

having to possess detailed information about themechanisms at work in the Bluetooth transferlayers. Both Stollman and the Bluetooth SIGbelieve that BECI can make an importantcontribution toward the spread of Bluetoothtechnology, especially in the industrial,automotive and medical fields.

BECI is being developed and prepared especiallyfor Bluetooth integration in embedded devices, which

at present use only proprietary software interfaces.The BECI functionality will include all Bluetoothfeatures and support both multi-profile and Multilinkapplication. Following the example of the HCIinterface, which has found general acceptance foraccessing the Bluetooth chip, BECI will continue thisstandardization process on a higher level.

Stollmann expects the standard to be available by2007.

DECT responds to Bluetooth,WLAN and VoIP

A new report from Informa provides a review ofthe full DECT value chain, including analysis andmarket information.

The ways in which DECT suppliers are respondingto Bluetooth and WLAN and are creating newmarkets with DECT/VoIP and DECT/WLAN productsare described. VoIP over WLAN/Bluetooth, combinedwireless gateways, etc, are discussed, as well as thelessons learned from past DECT dualmode

cordless/cellular offerings.The report provides a review of the whole DECT

industry – its structure and suppliers across theindustry and across the world, geographical andproduct markets, technology, IPR and future potential.It provides an overview of the present status and thefuture evolution of the industry, describing recentregulatory & market developments, technology trendsand supplier responses to such trends.

As well as covering residential cordless telephony,the report describes new residential applications,enterprise capabilities, fixed wireless access,cordless headsets, and more. Geographicalopportunities in Eastern Europe and the USA(including the recent FCC decision to open the USmarket and routes to product approval) are alsodiscussed.

Bluetooth & wireless industry news continued

6

SigmaTel and Infineon focus onBluetooth for Portable Media Players Infineon and SigmaTel, which has

specialised in mixed-signal multimediasemiconductors, have announced that theyhave entered into an agreement to offerBluetooth solutions for portable digitalmultimedia devices. The companies willjointly develop a Bluetooth chip that isoptimized for use in digital multimediadevices based on SigmaTel’s portablemultimedia System on Chip (SoC) solutions.

The new chip will tap into the two company’sstrengths - SigmaTel’s optimized radioarchitecture and Infineon’s experience inBluetooth technology, chip design, CMOSprocess technology, and manufacturing know-how. The aim is to enable widespread adoptionof Bluetooth in even the most cost sensitive,power and space constrained applications, suchas MP3 players or stereo headsets. The newchip will be exclusively marketed by SigmaTel.

“Wireless technologies are strategic toSigmaTel and our customers, who view wirelessconnectivity as the next ‘must have’ feature that

will enhance the end-user experience. SigmaTelis working on both internal developments aswell as relationships with world-classcompanies like Infineon to offer customerswireless capabilities in conjunction with ourindustry-leading SoC solutions,” said RonEdgerton, president and CEO of SigmaTel. “Afteran extensive evaluation, SigmaTel determinedthat Infineon offers the best performing, lowpower Bluetooth solution on the market.Infineon’s technology will allow us to meet ourcustomers’ needs today, and will be integral inhelping SigmaTel develop tomorrow’s leading-edge wireless technologies for portablemultimedia devices.”

“The new Bluetooth chip is optimized for lowpower consumption and minimum size,” saidThomas Pollakowski, vice president and generalmanager of the Connectivity business unit atInfineon Technologies. “Based on our state-of-the-art chip IP and excellent CMOSmanufacturing capability, we are one of theworld’s very few semiconductor companies

offering radio frequency (RF) foundry servicesenhanced with RF IP blocks. We are pleased toprovide connectivity solutions that willcontribute to the success of Sigmatel’s portableSoC products.”

Infineon has been in Bluetooth for some time,and says that its BlueMoon UniCellular supportsbasic and enhanced data rate together withminimized power consumption and excellent RFperformance, providing receiver sensitivity of -90 dBm (decibel milliwatts).

Prior to the availability of the new optimizedBluetooth product, SigmaTel will begin offeringInfineon’s BlueMoon UniCellular (PMB8753)Bluetooth 2.0 solution featuring Enhanced DataRate (EDR) functionality as part of its STMP3600MP3 player Reference Design Kits (RDKs). Thereference design will include the Bluetoothupper stack software and relevant Bluetoothprofiles.

SigmaTel’s STMP3600 RDK with the InfineonPMB8753 Bluetooth solution is now samplingand will be in production in the second quarter.

Incisor reader letter

What comes after Bluetooth?

From time to time Incisor is contacted byits readers with views on news and featureswe have published. Here is one example.

We would love to hear from more of you, sodon’t hold back. Let’s get a reader’s letter pagegoing!

Email your letters to Vince Holtonvholton@click.co.uk

The article on the history of the Bluetooth namemade great reading. There is a common view thatconsumers don’t like being baffled with technologyand that mainstream writers and marketers shouldavoid technical terms.

It is of course more complicated than that.There are some technical terms that most consumers

don’t understand (TFT, CMOS) and some that they do –like megapixel. When they do, the understanding islimited, but functional. I realised that Bluetooth hadcrossed the divide when at my son’s birthday party Iheard two mothers discussing their new phones andsaying “it had to have Bluetooth”. Not a “wirelessheadset connection” or “PAN” but Bluetooth.

This is a level of success of which the industry can beproud. With the next stage being UWB it would bewrong to lose that. I would like to propose that a namewhich reflects Bluetooth be used in place of theacronym UWB. Bluemouth might be a logicalprogression but I think Redtooth would work better. Itmay seem odd reading it here for the first time but lookback at how the name Bluetooth was received and thathad a far steeper hurdle to climb. What comes afterBluetooth? Redtooth makes sense, UWB doesn’t.

Simon RockmanCreative Experience DirectorMotorola

Besides UWB reminds me of...

...But maybe that’s more a reflection of me and my age ☺

7

In last month’s issue of Incisor magazine,we ran a front page story reporting CSR’sdecision to align with the WiMedia Alliance’(WMA) version of UWB. This was verysignificant news from two perspectives.First, as the company with the largest shareof the Bluetooth chip market, and a companythat has been seen as very influential in thedevelopment of the Bluetooth specification,CSR’s selection could be taken as portentousin the process of deciding what was right forBluetooth as a whole. Then there was thesecond reason. Remember that for most ofthe period between CSR’s announcementand this issue of Incisor appearing, theBluetooth SIG (BSIG) had not announced itsown way forward. The jury was still out –WMA or UWB Forum? Was CSR’s decision toannounce before the BSIG intended to pushthings along? We will never know, butnevertheless this was very important news.

Incisor decided to obtain the viewpoints ofspokespersons from around the industry. Wetalked to Eric Janson, VP of North America forCSR, to gain further insight into CSR’s thinking.Robert Eisses, VP of Sales and Marketing atIcron Technologies gathered and representedthe views of UWB Forum companies. From theWiMedia Alliance, we spoke to Mark Bowles, VPof Business Development and CorporateMarketing at Staccato Communications,Matthew Shoemake, CEO at WiQuest, JimRobillard, Director of Marketing at Alereon, ColinMcNab and Mark Moore, CEO and CTOrespectively of Artimi, and Serdar Yurdakul,Director of Business Development andMarketing at Wisair. Yurdakul is also Secretary ofthe Board of Directors of the WiMedia Alliance.All of these people, we knew from pastexperience, have direct knowledge of goings onin UWB, and are deeply-embedded, or directly atthe coal-face – you choose which metaphor youprefer. And all had valid and interesting opinions.

Then, of course, just two days before this issueof Incisor was due to be published, the BluetoothSIG made its own announcement of support forthe WMA. Was it a coincidence that this was sosoon after CSR? Had the pressure to announcebecome too great? Or was this really the point atwhich the BSIG had come to its decision? Had it(the BSIG) planned all along to announce at theBluetooth All Hands’ meeting that was taking

place in Seattle this week? Again, we will neverknow the reality, but by talking to this group ofindustry execs we hoped to get a little closer tothe truth, and at least to gain a feel for thegroundswell of opinion. Due to the eleventh hournature of the BSIG’s announcement, there wasno opportunity to interview anyone from theBSIG as part of this feature, but participating inthe BSIG’s UWB announcement webinar didpermit us to ask some of the questions wewanted to ask, and these are reflected in ourfront page story.

We have also had to re-write some parts ofthis story, as some of the questions and answersneeded updating. But, hey! No problem. We hada whole 24 hours to play with.

The CSR effectOur first line of questioning centred on the fact

that CSR has had a majorimpact on the Bluetoothmarket. Did our expertsthink that the same will betrue for UWB? Eric Jansontold us that that wasCSR’s intention, and that itwas already working onthe forthcoming ‘Seattle’

release of the Bluetooth specification, whichencompasses the UWB expansion of the spec.

Understandably, the WiMedia companies,whilst making positive noises about thetestimonial value to the WMA of CSR’s decisionand the potential to expand the UWB market,also demonstrated that they will each fight theirown corner. Artimi’s Colin McNab was amongstthe most direct: ‘CSR was not instrumental indeveloping the BT standard, and is late to joinWiMedia. The basic architecture of UWB is verydifferent. Productisation is CSR’s key strength –high volume and low cost. CSR’s skills are in lowdata rate in commodity silicon. None of itsexisting IP is reusable – therefore CSR faces anuphill struggle.’

WiQuest’s Matthew Shoemake concurred: ‘Asfar as CSR’s influence on WiMedia and UWBgenerally is concerned - the verdict is still out.CSR and other BT solution providers aresignificantly behind in their development of anUWB solution. The reality is that the BluetoothSIG realised the threat too late. It will be verydifficult for them to catch up to companies like

WiQuest that started building their solutionseveral years ago. As an example, WiQuest-enabled products will be on the market this year,we were sampling in 2005 and we made ourdecision to support what is now WiMedia in2003. Thus the newsworthiness of CSR’sannouncement has more to do with who theyare and misconceptions in the press related tothe WiMedia Alliance vs. the UWB Forum than ithas to do with the state of the market. It’s beenclear since late 2003 and early 2004 that theTier 1 OEMs in the PC and mobile phonesegments were big supporters of WiMedia.CSR’s announcement helps to make it utterlyclear that the WiMedia platform is the platformfor not only the PC and Home A/V marketsegments, but for the mobile phone segment aswell.’

Mark Bowles of Staccato was analytical: ‘Ibelieve that CSR’s position in conventionalBluetooth is still well above 50%, so if Bluetoothover UWB comes to market fairly quickly, CSR’sincumbency position will definitely give themleverage.’ Despite this positive viewpoint,Bowles added a note of caution. ‘If the processof getting Bluetooth + UWB to market drags on,the number of W-USB nodes out in themarketplace will build to a point where there willbe a decreasing value in a UWB version ofBluetooth that would essentially do the samething for consumers.’

Wisair’s Serdar Yurdakul was reasonablygenerous, believing that CSR brought a breath offresh air to the UWB market, and would helpbring the WMA into the Bluetooth environment.There was one caveat: ‘CSR will make animpact, but it will not necessarily be immediate.’

While the WMA companies were mostlyacknowledging the positive benefits to the WMAof CSR’s announcement, it would be wise forthem to acknowledge that this could be seen asa big(-ish) fish entering a pool currentlydominated by much smaller, albeit fast-movingminnows. Robert Eisses understandably had aslightly different view to that of the WMAcompanies: ‘These are exciting times for UWB,and while current developments are validatinginterest in UWB, CSR coming onto the playingfield actually just means that there is now onemore WiMedia company. But there is more to itthan that. CSR is a very well-resourcedcompany that doesn’t need to buy another

Is CSR driving Bluetooth + UWB?

continued

Eric Janson, VP of NorthAmerica, CSR plc

8

company to gain a foothold in the market. GivenCSR’s strength and success in the Bluetoothmarket, this must be worrying the WMA start-ups.’

Influencing development of theUWB standard

Whatever some of the WMA companies mightsay at this time, few would dispute that - asideof its unquestionable commercial success - CSRhas been heavily involved and influential in theongoing development of the Bluetooth standard.It is hard to imagine that CSR would not want tobe equally active in development of the UWBstandard. There is a lot of work to be done, in ashort time, in order to stitch Bluetooth and UWBtogether. We asked our panel of experts if theythought that CSR could or would be able to be asinfluential in UWB?

Shoemake was doubtful:‘The degree to which theyinfluence the standard willbe dependent on theirproduct. While companieslike WiQuest areannouncing productavailability, CSR is justannouncing what theysupport. The importantstandardization work thus

far for the UWB market has happened in theWiMedia Alliance and in the USB ImplementersForum for Wireless USB. This is actually the bigelephant in the room that people may beignoring. The WiMedia and W-USBspecifications were set in 2004 and early 2005.We’ve known what the physical layerspecification was going to be since late 2003when the first drafts were available. It takes 2+years to build a complete solution and get it intothe market place. This explains why W-USBsolutions based on WiMedia will be hitting theshelf this year. The Bluetooth specification is notyet set and at best will be done in late 2007.This means that the first WiMedia and W-USBsolutions will be on the shelf two full yearsbefore you could potentially see the firstBluetooth solutions with UWB on the shelf.Thus, you will see W-USB in a mobile phonebefore you see Bluetooth over UWB.’

Whilst Shoemake’s view left little ground forCSR to influence developments in UWB, othersrecognised the same factors, but conceded alittle more room for CSR’s contribution. Bowles,for example: ‘The fact that UWB MAC and PHYdefinitions and specs are well defined at this

point means CSR will notlikely have the sameground-floor impact asthey did in Bluetooth. Thatbeing said, there is a greatdeal of innovation left inUWB in areas includingpower optimization formobile, scaling to higherfrequencies to accommo-date a variety of regulatoryrequirements worldwide, and in upper layerprotocol. This work is already going on in theUWB community but CSR has great experiencefrom Bluetooth that they could bring to bear.’Jim Robillard of Alereon seemed to be singingfrom the same hymn sheet: ‘CSR’s primarycontribution will be how to splice Bluetooth intothe radio spec. We do need to know what CSR’sstrategy is? In the world of HID there is still a lotof proprietary stuff. Bluetooth’s strength is inaudio – mono and now stereo. The challenge isfor Bluetooth to get into datacomms and for USBto get into wireless.’

Serdar Yurdakul brought up a point that is bestnot forgotten. CSR is not the only company thatis successful in Bluetooth: ‘The WMA PHY andMAC are established already, and so there won’tbe significant changes. However, as Bluetooth +UWB is not yet clearly defined, CSR can beexpected to push here, but equally so couldBroadcom.’ Yurdakul also made anotherimportant point. ‘The WMA is a very democraticorganisation where big and small companies areequal. It operates on the basis of a flat structurewith peer to peer, filtered discussion. If there isa technical justification for a solution, it will belistened to. While CSR’s influence will bepositive, it will not distract from this process.’

Welcome at this party?Regardless of whether CSR would become an

influential player in UWB, we asked whether itwas actually desirable or healthy that theyshould do so? Generally the opinion was yes, butit seemed that this was mainly because theWMA companies valued the contribution thatCSR would make by spreading the UWBmessage amongst its existing - and huge -customer base. As Jim Robillard commented:‘UWB is a technology and there is no path tomarket for UWB itself, though W-USB is startingto stake a claim. Remember that not that manymajor players are yet involved – some, such asPhilips and NEC are talking about it. CSR’spresence and the pull that it generates from its

OEM customers will help build awareness andencourage other big semiconductor companiesto become involved. This in turn will promoteinteroperability – any successful standard needsa number of big players building interoperableproducts.’

Yurdakul agreed. ‘Let businesses competeamongst themselves. Any technology needsmultiple vendors with interoperablesolutions/price points. Each vendor will need tohave an edge. OEMs want and need choice.’Bowles added that CSR’s direct experience fromreal world Bluetooth application deploymentcould be brought to bear on similar real worldapplications for UWB.

A catalytic converterAt this point our discussion covered ground

that has since shifted. We asked whether CSRcould provide the glue between UWB and theBluetooth SIG? Remember that at the time wewere asking this, the BSIG had not made its ownannouncement, and had appeared slow to turnits commitment to UWB into reality. Although wenow know that the BSIG has chosen the WMA,some interesting observations came out of thispart of our talks. Mark Bowles was realisticabout CSR’s ability to influence the BSIG. ‘Thiswas a “it takes a village” problem. CSR is amember of that village but couldn’t do it on theirown. CSR’s recent announcement in support ofWiMedia was very powerful so in that way theywere singularly helping move things forward.’

Perhaps CSR’s move made a greatercontribution to the timing of the BSIG’sannouncement than the Bluetooth governingbody is prepared to concede. MatthewShoemake was not alone in commenting thatthings within the BSIG organisation had beenapproaching stalemate: ‘The Bluetooth SIG couldhave experienced the same type of deadlockthat occurred in the IEEE 802.15.3a committee.This significant potentialfor deadlock in the BT SIG,was likely another reasonthat CSR issued theirannouncement.’ ColinMcNab agreed, and wasagain forthright: ‘An IEEEstyle mess was alreadyapparent inside the BSIG – it was the samecharacters/same scenarios – and CSR can onlyinfluence this so much. If the Bluetooth SIGsuffered big delays it could lose to W-USB.Bluetooth could die – UWB can do low

continued

Matthew Shoemake, CEO,WiQuest

Mark Bowles, VP ofBusiness Development

and Marketing, StaccatoCommunications

Colin McNab, CEO,Artimi Ltd

9

power/low data rate and is already 20x morepower efficient per bit rate transferred than BT.The BSIG must have been thinking hard. And ifthe BSIG fails, so does CSR. Ultimately, the BSIGmust adopt a common PHY, and there will be amove to common software on top of the PHY –the likelihood is that Bluetooth will become avirtual protocol.’

Going where UWB has not gone before

As a magazine that has long monitoreddevelopments in the Bluetooth market, Incisorhas come to expect a monthly collection ofpress releases from CSR announcing newdesign wins. CSR’s silicon has been adopted bya huge number of electronics companies, anddesigned into many and varied devices – notjust cellphones and headsets as some comfortthemselves by thinking. The UWB industry haslatched onto Wireless USB (in its various forms)as an initial route to market, and the first waythat consumers will experience UWB. Wewondered whether CSR's entry to the UWBmarket was likely to accelerate the design anddevelopment of a broader portfolio of productsusing UWB technology?

Eric Janson certainly felt that would happen:‘CSR’s customer base is already wellestablished in the PC, cellphone and mobiledevices market. We are moving towards a timewhen you will use Bluetooth as a signallingchannel, and you will turn on UWB to blast data,then turn it off again. This is all sorted and ready.There is no peer to peer connectivity within USBand so W-USB will struggle to accomplish the adhoc connections that Bluetooth does so well.The way it will roll out for mobile devices is forthe use of TCP-IP for high-speed wirelessnetworking, using UWB as the PHY, and havingBluetooth access that channel for ad hocconnections. Cellphones now have 5+megapixel cameras and 20GB microdrives.Devices such as this are going to need UWB.Today, Wi-Fi is being used but powerconsumption is high by comparison, and this isa vital factor in mobile devices.’

The WMA companies were less convinced.McNab saw limitations to CSR’s ability to pushBluetooth + UWB into new application areas: ‘Ithink they will do well in cellular, yes – but in thePC space no. Intel has always driven what hashappened in the PC space and is strong in theWMA. Bluetooth is a one trick pony. CSR willhave to aggressively develop other applicationsto survive, and focus attention on cost and

power consumption – though these are not soimportant.’ Shoemake also raised doubts: ‘WiredUSB is a very flexible standard, and wirelessUSB will be too. W-USB will be more than just PCbased and may be more than the initial route tomarket. My T-Mobile MDA has USB in it. I seeRAZR mobile phones all over our office that haveUSB in them. When Wireless USB - for which astandard already exists - starts hitting theseplatforms, it’s not clear to me what will drive themobile phone manufacturer to put in Bluetoothover UWB. It won’t really influence chip makerslike WiQuest. It may influence some of CSR’sOEMs that are not as close to the standards.’

With Shoemake and McNab establishingthemselves as the most aggressive promoters ofpure UWB/W-USB over any option involvingBluetooth, it was left to others to look for thepotential for CSR to drive UWB into newapplication areas. Bowles focused on theimportance of standards: ‘Consumers will only care about standard products thatinteroperate. To that extent, it was moreimportant what and when the standard groups decided regarding Bluetooth and UWB.

Once that was decided,CSR and others couldundoubtedly acceleratethe development of abroad portfolio of UWBproducts.’ Robillard lookedat specifics: ‘Phonecompanies are alreadyshowing interest, as wellas camera/media playercompanies. Bluetooth isone of the few standards

that has grown and grown awareness outside ofthe PC industry.’

For whom the bell tollsWe finished our discussion by asking the

million dollar question - is this the death knell ofDS-UWB? Originally we had been asking this inrelation to CSR’s announcement, but the BSIGadding its support for WMA makes it only morerelevant. In this instance, there was only onedissenter – Robert Eisses, as should beexpected – and one contributor taking abalanced viewpoint. This was Eric Janson, whosaid: ‘Perhaps DS-UWB will die, perhaps not.Direct Spectrum does have some advantages –for example it has lower power consumption pertransmitted bit than WMA. CSR will have to workhard on power consumption, but then WMAmakes channel selection easier, regulatory

issues are simplified by the ECMA process andthe WMA has much greater marketing muscle,bringing worldwide appeal and confidence. Plus,OFDM is already well-established in Wi-Fi. It isreliable with no user issues. CSR would haveliked to go with DS-UWB, but the costs were toohigh and looming IP issues were not likely to beresolved soon. I believe that DS-UWB is likely tosurvive in niche applications – a camcorder toplasma screen might be an area where DS-UWBwould be OK, for example.’

For all of the fact that the UWB Forum and itsmain supporter Freescale Semiconductor arestill promoting DS-UWB, there was no doubtamongst the WMA companies that not only wasthe battle over, but that it had ended a long timeago. Again, Mark Bowles took perhaps thecalmest view: ‘The one advantage the pressalways seemed to give to Freescale was thatthey had product to market before WiMedia. Thelogic was that this would give them a head starton WiMedia solutions as the incumbent.Freescale either didn’t have commercially readyproduct, or their customers weren’t willing toship it. Either way that advantage was not and isnot real.’

Jim Robillard was in agreement: ‘For DS-UWB,the whole game plan was to be first to marketbut it hasn’t happened. Regulatory issues havebeen more difficult than for WMA. DS-UWB maylook to China – although this could beproblematic as the WMA has spectrumallocation via ECMA, and China has to recogniseinternational standards. WMA and DS- radiosdon’t live well together and so WMA + Bluetoothwill have to stay away from DS-UWB. Maybe DSwill move towards entertainment applications?’

In addition to agreeing with Robillard about thelikely clashes between WMA and DS-UWBradios, Colin McNab looked at the commercialrealities: ‘UWB is coming, and it will be verydangerous to be a silicon company without aproduct. Freescale screwed up with both Wi-Fiand Bluetooth – customers don’t want aproprietary product and UWB radios don’t co-exist well. Freescale won’t get commercial DS-UWB product out there. It will more likelyconcentrate on ZigBee. When the time comesthat it realises it has no choice, Freescale willhave to buy the last and therefore mostexpensive standalone WMA player.’

WiQuest’s Shoemake was equally certain: ‘It’sa done deal. The WMA/W-USB spec is alreadyfinished, thanks to pushing by Intel, and hasside-stepped the IEEE deadlock. Bluetooth andUSB are both big, existing brand names and this

continued

Jim Robillard, Director of Product Marketing,Alereon

10

will help people understand what W-USB isabout. So I believe that the death knell for DS-UWB was sounded some time ago. People justrealize this at different times and by variousmeans. I do believe that CSR’s announcementwill cause some people to realize this thathadn’t already done so. For the small numberpeople that don’t yet realize it yet, the productsthat will be hitting the market in 2006 will do thetrick.’

Serdar Yurdakul suggested we needn’t feel toosorry for Freescale, and big brother Motorola:

‘Freescale willconcentrate on theirproduct/technology. DS-UWB will go niche market.Motorola is a productcompany and its interestin Freescale will not beimpacted seriouslywhether DS-UWB fails orwins.’

Representing the viewsof the UWB Forum

companies, Robert Eisses counselled a morecautious position, which seemed to align withsome of the things that CSR’s Janson had said.‘CSR was working with DS-UWB as late as CESin January – playing both sides of the fence.Overall this is a very political situation - Motorolacould switch Bluetooth vendors, for example.And Freescale should not to be dismissed tooquickly. The response to Belkin’s announcementat CES of its Wireless USB Extender has been very good and there are developments to

follow. This product isbased around Freescale’sCable-free USB solution.It is also true to say thatfor many applications,Certified W-USB +Bluetooth associationmodels could be morecomplicated thanneeded.’

Incisor analysisFor Incisor the value of writing this feature

went far beyond considering the importance ofCSR’s announcement of support for the WiMediaAlliance. Doubtless that announcement is veryimportant. The WMA companies would do wellnot to underestimate the contribution that CSRwill make, and the impact that it will have on theUWB market. Without wanting to get into therealms of hero-worship, your writer – with 20+years of experience of working in the technologysector – has never seen one company impactupon a technology the way CSR has withBluetooth. And the level of success that CSR hasachieved, within the timescales it has achievedit in, are extraordinarily rare. Whatever theindustry. This level of ambition is unlikely todiminish.

And in our opinion, an example of CSR’sinfluence can be seen in the Bluetooth SIG’sdecision to announce WMA support now. Manypeople in the industry were telling us howconstipated things were becoming within theBSIG. Whatever anyone chooses to say, we

believe that CSR’s announcement did push theBSIG to come to a decision and to announce itsooner than might have otherwise been thecase. This is good news. The industry needed toknow the BSIG’s position in order to be able tomove forwards.

The amount of space Incisor has alreadydevoted to reporting developments in the worldof UWB gives an understanding of ourassessment of the importance of thistechnology. The combination of Bluetooth andUWB has huge potential, but this isn’t going tobe a clear playing field. In some ways it is ashame that the BSIG didn’t move earlier, thenthe UWB companies wouldn’t have needed tomake the very definite decision to hang their haton wireless USB as a route to market. W-USB isand will continue to be a thorn in the side ofBluetooth. However, we do not believe that thatthorn is as big as the UWB companies arebelieving. The BSIG has done an excellent job ofbuilding a standard, and this isn’t to bedispensed with too quickly. Coupled with thevalue that the BSIG will bring in gaining world-wide regulatory approval for UWB (and/orBluetooth + UWB), and a shift of power is notunimaginable.

The WMA companies are feeling pretty bullishat the moment. Which is fine. But they shouldn’tunderestimate the size of the task ahead ofthem, nor the value of Bluetooth’s global brandawareness, and the power of companies suchas CSR.

Maybe they should check the dictionarydefinition of hubris?

Serdar Yurdakul, Director,Business developmentand Marketing, Wisair Ltd

Robert Eisses, VP of Salesand Marketing, Icron

Snippets SnippetsCSR Bluetooth-enables O2's Xda Atom

CSR has announced that O2's latestproduct, the Xda Atom, features CSR'sBlueCore3 silicon and Bluetooth version 1.2software stack. In designing the Xda Atom, O2used CSR BlueCore3 technology tocomplement the handset's wide range ofmultimedia and mobile office features. Billedas the smallest multimedia PDA-phoneavailable, the new tri-band PDA-phone withGPRS/EDGE functionality went on sale in AsiaPacific in December.

Paragon Wireless delivers VoWLAN on TI gateways

Paragon Wireless, an IP-based broadbandwireless equipment company, will enablemanufacturers to deliver high-performanceVoWLAN residential gateway solutions as amember of the Texas InstrumentsIncorporated (TI) DSP Third Party Network.Paragon will add functionality to TI's AR7VWplatform, including soft PBX switching, voice-mail services and peer-to-peer VoIP calling.Paragon has pending patents solving such

challenges in VoWLAN systems as talk time,handoff latency, voice quality and SIP testing. Inaddition, Paragon has developed a scalablesystem and software architecture that allowsthe company to add or remove terminalfunctions easily to address different marketsegments without hardware redesign.

BLUETOOTH WI-FI / WLAN

11

The Wi2Wi story – delivering multiplewireless networks

As recently as five years ago, thosevisionaries that predicted the widespreadadoption by consumers of wirelesstechnology as an everyday tool were, at best,politely indulged. Everyone knew that nomatter how useful it might be to be able toeffortlessly move information betweendevices – whether it was pictures, video,audio or even work-related material – thereality was that it was complicated to do andthere was just no commonality of wirelessstandards to enable devices to talk to eachother.

One technology – Bluetooth – has gone a longway to changing that. Whilst Wi-Fi/WLAN hasenjoyed some success in the corporate/PCmarket, it is Bluetooth that has really persuadedconsumers that they may be able to make thewireless dream a reality. So much so that now,wireless is becoming pervasive and consumerappetite for the ability to connect to multiplenetworks is severely challenging the devicemanufacturer and the technology companies.They are under huge pressure to deliver multi-mode wireless connectivity NOW, and at thesame time to make products smaller andsmaller, while continuing to add functionality.And Bluetooth has dragged forward the deliveryof other wireless technologies such as UWB,ZigBee, RFID and NFC. Each in its own wayanswers problems that Bluetooth cannot solveas a result of bandwidth restrictions, powerconsumption, range or cost.

Statistics detailing shipments of consumerportable devices tell the story. As an example,worldwide unit shipments of portable audioplayers (HDD and solid-state), will reach 104million units in 2009, up from 27.8 million unitsin 2004. This represents a healthy compoundannual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.2% between2004 and 2009. HDD player shipments will havea remarkable CAGR of 36.9% between 2004 and2009. This will be caused by aggressive pricingin this segment, as well as the success of mid-

capacity players, such as Apple’s 6GB iPod mini,Rio’s 6GB Carbon, and iRiver’s 6 GB model in itsH10 series.

Two into one WILL goEvery consumer electronics manufacturer is

now faced with the challenge of integrating notjust one, but two or more wireless technologiesinto its products. These are often companieswith limited RF skills. Help is at hand, and theproblem of integrating multiple-mode wirelessin a small form factor is solved by Wi2Wi, acompany that specialises in providing multi-mode, small form factor wireless PAN, WAN andLAN solutions to OEMs, integrators and devicedesigners. Wi2Wi has mastered the design andproduction of System in Package (SiP)technology, which can increase functionaldensity, reduce size and simplify thedevelopment and manufacturing processes.

This is a young company, but one with a solidbase of industry experience. Headquartered inSan Jose, California, Wi2Wi’s was formed as a2005 management buy-out of ActiontecElectronics OEM division's product, IP andassets. As a result, Wi2Wi has substantial skillsets to call upon. In 1997 Actiontec was the firstsupplier of IBM-branded PCMCIA modems, andfollowed this to become the first company todesign & manufacture built-in notebookmodems for Tier 1 US laptop computercompanies including Dell and Gateway, and wasfirst to design & manufacture 802.11b modulesfor the US PC OEMs including HP, IBM andGateway.

Taking Wi2Wi forwards today is a team ofexperienced executives from leading industrycompanies, including founder, Ramzi Al-Harayeri, President & CEO (formerly VP & GM ofActiontec’s OEM Products Division), DhirajSogani, General Manager & Senior VicePresident, Advanced Technologies (formerly co-founder and VP Engineering & Marketing atIconic) and Robert Ragusano, VP WW Sales &

Marketing (formerly VP & GM of SMART ModularTechnologies’ Communication ProductsDivision). The team’s focus is on buildingWi2Wi’s Advanced Technology Division to offernext generation System in Package (SiP)solutions, and a software team to providecomplete system level solutions. Wi2Wi isactively developing product IP - designinghardware and software solutions that can easilybe integrated into consumer devices - and willprovide complete, cost-effective wirelesssystem solutions in SiP for PAN, WAN and LANby combining discreet parts and addingadvanced software features.

The SiP/Module versus DiscreteDesign Value proposition

Why is Wi2Wi focusing upon wirelesscombination technologies in SiP? RobertRagusano explained. "The market is drivingdevice companies to make products smaller andsmaller, while adding additional functionality.This presents a problem of integration whichWi2Wi solves by delivering multi-mode wirelessfunctionality in a SiP.” Wireless SiP is acombination of RF circuit design and advancedpackaging which results in a small form factorand ease of radio integration. Wi2Wi’s time-to-market cycles are similar to PCB design cycleswhile offering the densities of ceramic products.

Wi2Wi’s route to market is via a series of fullyintegrated, pre-certified modules thatincorporate SiP platforms – combining wirelesssystems such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi - that canbe regarded as ‘off the shelf’ solutions by OEMcustomers. Any OEM considering thedevelopment of discrete solutions can insteaduse these certified modules, benefiting fromreduced technical risk and development costs,improved electrical performance, improvedreliability and being able to allocate a smallerarea for the radio. Equally important, the OEMwill enjoy reduced manufacturing costs, andless time is needed to manage its supply chain.

continued

12

Then there is the undoubted benefit ofaccelerated time-to-market.

This last point is always a vital element –nobody wants to launch products late. The useof certified modules is a fail-safe way for OEMsto multi-mode wireless-enable their productswithout needing to wait the often lengthy periodthat the semiconductor manufacturers take togo from single to multi-function silicon. This canoften be between 18 – 36 months after a singlemode chip has been launched. Wi2Wi is able toprovide the same features of multi-mode siliconsolutions but in a much more timely manner.Furthermore, because Wi2Wi develops its multi-function SiPs around single-function radios, itcan offer best-in-class RF technology to itscustomers.

One further important factor is that the use ofcertified radio products lessens the risk anduncertainty of certifying product which has aunique design. Certification is complex, costlyand takes time. This is not an overhead that anOEM will want to take on if there is a tailor-madeand convenient option.

Robert Ragusano expanded upon theadvantages of his company’s chosen technicalstrategy; “System in Package (SiP) is the futurefor wireless integration. The challenge and costof developing the necessary skills to design,develop, certify and manufacture radio solutionsdiverts investment away from a company’s corecompetencies. The benefits of SiP over a silicon-down solution include simplification of thesystem-level design complexity, a reduction inthe need for RF expertise on the part of theOEM/ODM and improved electrical performanceand reliability. And there is no doubting the valueof a faster time to market over system-levelsolutions – typically we are talking 6 months toa year for each new SiP product.”

All of which means that customers for Wi2Wi’sSiP solutions will be able to more quickly andmore efficiently wirelessly-enable products, andsupport multiple technologies

Multi sector market appealSo who are those customers, and into what

product areas will WI2Wi’s technology beapplied? The application areas for Wi2Wi’sSiP/module solutions are actually very broad.Target markets include manufacturers ofsmartphone/cellphones, MP3/MP4 & personalvideo players, PDA/handheld computers andconsumer devices such as digital/videocameras, GPS, etc.

It doesn’t stop there. In addition to theportable, low-power markets, Wi2Wi will alsoaddress the PC, Medical, Industrial, M2M,Automotive and Accessory Products sectorswith board-level wireless products.Where thesespecialized markets are concerned, Wi2Wioffers another key advantage - commercialflexibility. Wi2Wi’s technology is very scalable. Amajor OEM may be able to attract the interest ofa large semiconductor company when volumesare in the multi-millions, but not everyelectronics company operates on such scales.“We are able to support multiple volume tiers,”said Ramzi Al-Harayeri. “Our business modelallows for us to support small and mid-sizecustomers who many only need 100,000devices per year. Typical ceramic solutionproviders cannot economically address smallermarkets. We can, and our model can still bescaled up for high-volume customers.”

The Wi2Wi product debutAll of which brings us to the realisation of

Wi2Wi’s concept – the first product to come tomarket. This is a fully compliant Dual ModeRadio SiP that supports dual ISM Band802.11b/g and Bluetooth version 2.0 + EDR. Anyregular observer of the electronics/wirelessindustries will know that this is a keycombination. The W2CBW001 is a fullydeveloped coexistence solution that provides fullsupport for 802.11e (QoS) and 802.11i(Security) and which has an SDIO Interface for802.11b/g and UART or USB Interface option forBluetooth. One of the key advantages of SiP isits small footprint, and in this case that meansdimensions of just 15mm x 15mm x 1.5mm in a4-layer BT substrate, with LGA.

Wi2Wi’s SiP roadmap extends into the futurewith other wireless solutions including a GPS +Bluetooth + Wi-Fi product and also Bluetooth +UWB. Where required, Wi2Wi can developcustom products in response to particularcustomer requirements. An example of this is asingle-function 802.11 SiP solution currently indevelopment to meet a specific requirement.

Future developments include legacy support

Whilst Wi2Wi sees SiP as centric to its futureroadmap, the company has not forgotten itsroots. Alongside development of its SiPproducts, Wi2Wi will continue to develop board-level products and support its PC Card andmodule customers. Wi2Wi’s existing portfolio

includes multiple products including modems,802.11 and Bluetooth products.

Wi2Wi is managed today by experiencedindustry leaders who have demonstratedleadership in bringing innovative and world-class products to the OEM markets, includingmany world firsts. The Wi2Wi team is fullycommitted to enabling OEMs in the electronicsindustry to deliver products that supportmultiple wireless networks, and which can beshipped to consumers within the correcttimescale and at the right price.

www.wi2wi.com

Sponsored contribution

New products

13

CSR has created a design for a plug and playdongle for making wireless voice over IP (VoIP)calls. For OEMs wanting to get into this market, theCSR Voice Dongle 1 package incorporates all theelements required to produce a low cost plug andplay USB dongle, enabling a user to make SkypeVoIP calls over a Bluetooth mono headset. Believedto be the first of its type, Voice Dongle 1 pairsautomatically with the user's Bluetooth headset,integrates seamlessly with the computer's Skypesoftware and requires no separate installationsoftware.

The use of free or low cost telephony over Internetprotocol (VoIP) has experienced dramatic take-up inrecent years due to the fact that calling using VoIP islow cost and convenient. The market for VoIP has seendramatic growth recently with the number of Skypedownloads sailing past the 236 million mark. Add tothis the ability to take the call using a Bluetoothheadset, without being forced to sit at a computer

desk, and the option is even more attractive.Once plugged into the USB port of a PC, the dongle

will pair automatically with a discoverable headset andwill allow the user to accept or reject, adjust thevolume up or down and mute calls using the monoheadset.

Karen Parnell, Product Marketing Manager at CSRsaid, "The CSR Voice Dongle 1 solution enables

designers to produce a VoIP Dongle quickly and easilyby providing all of the elements needed for thedevelopment. This includes a software developmentenvironment, fully interoperability-tested applicationcode, hardware reference design and designdocumentation. This will dramatically reduce the timeto market for VoIP Bluetooth Dongles."

The hardware reference design includes everythingneeded to manufacture a dongle including PCB designfiles and documentation. OEMs such as Plantronics arealready showing interest; "As the leader in headsetsfor business users, we understand the importance ofdelivering innovative products quickly," said ChuckYort, vice president of business solutions atPlantronics. "Partnering with CSR on the Voice Donglesolution enabled Plantronics to rapidly develop a fullyinterop tested VoIP product that we will bring to marketin the very near future."

Bluetooth Skype phone hits the UK marketElite Devices is claiming that it is now possible to

buy the first Bluetooth Internet telephone withSkype in the United Kingdom, the TRENDnetClearsky, which is said to support all of Skype’spopular features.

The Bluetooth Clearsky is a Bluetooth telephone thatis connected to a PC via a Bluetooth dongle connectedto any USB port. Users are then free to make wirelessSkype calls with the handset anywhere up toBluetooth’s Class 1 limit of 100 meters away. Thephone's display shows whether friends or colleagues

who also use Skype, areonline. If they are, userssimply have to press theappropriate green button totalk to them.

Elite Devices Director, RonPye, says: “We are thrilled to

be one of the first companies in the UK to ship theTRENDnet Clearsky. Internet telephony has progressedat a phenomenal rate in the last 12 months & I feel thatoffering such a simple wireless Bluetooth solution will

be very welcome in the residential & businesstelephone markets nationwide, especially because youcan make and receive free calls to friends up to adistance of 100 meters away from your PC. Somethingwe haven’t seen before. I really believe that this is abreakthrough product within the UK Internet Telephonymarket.”

Elite Devices was established in January 2004 andhas a management team that has been involved withinthe Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and VOIP industries for over 5years.

One in the eye from PacerPacer, a UK company that integrates

optoelectronic solutions, has announced theavailability of a new, wireless-enabled lightweighthelmet mounted display manufactured byMicroOptical Corporation.

The SV-6 PC viewer is capable of integration withprescription or safety eyewear, and allows the user toaccess task specific data whilst maintaining a naturalfield of vision. The display is suitable for a variety oftasks that include security, military, surveying, searchand rescue, surgery, manufacturing and field service. It

interfaces directly with a Dell Axiom PDA via Wi-Fi andBluetooth connectivity. The SV-6 provides a directinterface to the PDA, enabling a remote user to workwith both hands, while viewing instructions orincoming images simultaneously.

The high-brightness 640 x 480 resolution LCD is saidto offer excellent clarity, even in the brightest sunlight.It is lightweight, too, and coupled with the 18-bit(262,144) colour display with variable focus depth,Pacer says tha the display can be used over aprolonged period without the risk of eye strain.

Pacer can provide PCand Video applications,using from VGA toXVGA and CompositeVideo protocols. Thebattery achieves 5hours of continuousoperation and is

contained on a belt-mounted controller unit. Binocularand custom mounting versions and bespoke interfacescan be offered for OEM solutions.

Broadband VoIP calling becomes ever moreattractive/convenient

Bluetooth VoIP dongle design from CSR for Skype calls

New products continued

14

Pentax Technologies Europe - which is asubsidiary of Pentax Japan, a company known tomost for its cameras - and ThinPrint GmbH havejoined forces to promote solutions in the mobilemarket for Bluetooth printing. They are aimingparticularly at the numerous companies that haveequipped their staff with BlackBerry devices in therecent wave of wireless technology upgrades.

Incisor was told that mobile users can now printemails and attachments as well as locally storedinformation from Bluetooth-capable BlackBerryhandhelds, Symbian smartphones or Windows Mobile-based devices to the PocketJet 3 BT/ 3Plus BT printers.

"Staff using BlackBerry handhelds and Symbiansmart phones really need this printing capability to

support their activities when they’re on the move.Printing makes information retrieval more efficient, andthis solution makes that very easy to achieve, even on-the-go," remarked Martin Mogendorff, GeneralManager of Pentax Technologies Europe.

The Pentax PocketJet3 and 3 Plus printer range areBluetooth-enabled, have USB and infrared ports andsupport Windows laptops, Pocket PC and Palm OShandheld devices.

A print function of an application called ContentBeamer makes it possible to print attachments inoriginal format direct from the mobile device to thePentax PocketJet 3/3Plus BT, without downloadingthem. Instead, the server component of the softwaresends a highly compressed print job to the handheld, so

that it takes less time to print out the attachment thanit would to download the file.

Alternatively, where layout is not important and thecontent is already loaded onto the mobile, as with emailtext, Content Beamer Local lets users on the go printout even faster with a "Direct Print" option. This sendsthe pure text directly in offline mode to the PocketJet 3BT /3Plus BT, without going through the server.

Could Bluetooth printing make Blackberry even more ubiquitous?

Pentax and ThinPrint feed Blackberry users

Using one of Fractus’ ultra-slim internal tri-bandGSM antenna antennas has enabled French mobilehandset manufacturer Sagem Communications tocreate its new ultra-slim my300X mobile phone line.

Fractus has pioneered fractal antenna technology,and the Fractus antenna selected by Sagem is just5mm high, some 37.5% smaller than previous antennadesigns, enabling a handset that is 25% slimmer thanits predecessors.

To conserve space the antenna was custom-designed

to deliver the required performancedespite being positioned extremelyclose to other integrated compon-ents. Traditionally the antenna hasbeen isolated as much as possiblefrom other components to avoidinterference.

"The next-generation of antennaswill need to either integrate within

other components or at the very least sit closely next to

them," said Josep Puig, Fractus Director, MobileHandset Antennas. "Fractus jumped in early in thedesign process. Working with Sagem, we have clearlyshown the level of handset design innovation that ispossible using Fractus antenna technology."

The tri-band Fractus antenna operates over GSM onthe 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz frequency bandsin Europe and the 850MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz inthe US.

Sagem slims handset design with antenna from Fractus

It is not often that a new cellphone stands out fromthe crowd, yet the Serene mobile phone - the productof a collaboration between Samsung and Bang &Olufsen – really does. This is one minimalist designhandset, and the Bluetooth connectivity that wouldenable the user to connect easily to an extensiverange of wireless devices needed to avoid anycompromise of form or functionality. CSR's BlueCorewas identified as fitting the bill, also offering excellentpower consumption, stats and size.

The design-conscious Serene handset simplifiescommunication and connectivity by adopting onlyessential features. Going all out for ergonomics, the designincorporates a circular number pad with a thumb-

operated touch wheel. Apparently, the Serene's approachto simple communication integrates Bluetoothconnectivity as a necessity and BlueCore’s deep sleeppower saving modes mean that the battery's impressive250 hr standby time isn’t affected. The Serene also comeswith a DECT docking station, which enables the phone tosynchronise with Bang & Olufsen cordless phones. The tri-band GPRS-enabled phone features a 640 x 480 VGAcamera and a 240 x 320 pixels TFT 256K colour screen.

Matthew Phillips, VP Asia for CSR commented, "The useof Bluetooth connectivity in the Serene handset is a cleardemonstration of the importance of the technology for anymobile phone manufacturer today. Samsung's decision tochoose CSR as a connectivity partner further

demonstrates the market leadingquality and innovation of ourwireless systems." Phillips,added, "CSR works closely withits customers to ensuremanufacturers have access tomost complete and reliablewireless technologies on themarket today and we have anexcellent track recording inhelping our customers' products

to become winners."The Serene is available now from Bang & Olufsen stores

and selected Samsung resellers.

Serene handset from Samsung and Bang &Olufsen has CSR inside

For the cellphone userwho dares to be different

New products continued

15

CSR has added its Clear Voice Capture (CVC) system toWi-Gear Inc.'s iMuffs stereo headphones. Theheadphones, for use with both mobile phones and musicplayers, employ CSR's BlueCore3-Multimedia(BlueCore3-MM) silicon for enhanced Bluetoothconnectivity and support for native music compressionCODECS. The headphones, which are available now, useCVC to ensure high quality, clear voice communicationsdespite the proximity of the integrated microphone tothe speaker within the earpiece.

The iMuffs are the first Bluetooth stereo headphones tosupport CSR's CVC technology, which cancels echo andsuppresses noise in voice communications by separatingout the voice signals of interest using proprietary signalextraction techniques. This approach employs an active andself-adaptive system that utilises the manner in whichhuman speech is heard and processed.

The headphones are also designed with iPod users inmind, offering complementary styling and excellent audioperformance. To enhance compatibility with the iPod, Wi-Gear offers a Bluetooth dock adapter for the new Nano anda dongle, allowing them to stream music to Bluetooth-enabled speaker systems and stereo headphones within a10m range.

The iMuffs can be simultaneously connected to both amobile handset and iPod via the supplied Bluetooth adaptor.BlueCore3-MM supports the advanced audio distributionprofile (A2DP) and audio-visual remote control profile(AVRCP) which allow the wearer to control playback of theirmusic via the headset controls. The headset willautomatically stop the music playback to alert the user to anincoming call. The user then decides to accept or reject thecall with a touch of a button on the headset and once the callis finished, music playback will automatically resume.

Luke D'Arcy, productmarketing manager, CSRcommented, "Consumerdemand for high-qualityBluetooth stereo headsetshas been building for a whilebut it is only recently thatproducts have started to

come to the market. The ability to control music playbackand voice calls from multiple sources simultaneously, on thesame device, was an important breakthrough. Wi-Gear hasimplemented this advanced functionality in addition toensuring that the quality of the calls is second to none, in anattractive design which should be popular with consumers."

Incisor is reviewing Wi-Gear’s iMuffs as part of a multi-product stereo Bluetooth headset review feature in the nextissue.

Hi-spec Bluetooth stereoheadset from Wi-Gear featuresCSR’s echo cancellation andnoise suppression technology

Wi-Gear selects BlueCore and CVC for iMuffs

Nokia has announced a new Bluetooth product;the Nokia Wireless Audio Gateway AD-42W, whichstreams music between compatible mobile devices,home stereos, PC's and wireless headsets.

The Nokia Wireless Audio Gateway AD-42W alsoallows users to listen to music stored in their compatiblehome computers or other compatible devices with theirhome stereos, or they can listen to audio from their homestereo or home theatre with compatible wirelessheadsets.

"We are excited to introduce the Nokia Wireless AudioGateway AD-42W to the market," said Razvan Olosu,

Vice President, Enhancementsat Nokia. "Nokia enhancementsare designed to align withconsumer's needs and theNokia Wireless Audio GatewayAD-42W lives up to thatpromise, by allowing them touse their digital music in a

multitude of ways." The Nokia Wireless Audio GatewayAD-42W connects to your home stereo via standard RCAcables and there is a dedicated switch to change theusage mode (to/from audio source).

The Gateway is compatible with devices that have theBluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) -profile.Nokia currently offers the A2DP -profile with its own8800/8801 mobile phones (software version 3.94 ornewer), with the Nokia HS-12W wireless stereoheadsets, the Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-601 and theNokia Wireless Audio Adapter AD-47W. Nokia will belaunching several more devices supporting A2DP -profilelater this year.

The Wireless Audio Gatweay will be available duringthe 2nd quarter of 2006.

Nokia Wireless Audio Gateway connects mobile device to the home stereo

CSR’s BlueCore3-Multimedia (BlueCore3-MM)silicon is at the heart of the new BlueTrip fromGriffin Technologies. The Bluetooth accessoryenables the ever-growing population of iPod usersto wirelessly broadcast and control CD-qualitymusic from an iPod to any home stereoenvironment or compatible A2DP compliantBluetooth stereo headphones.

The BlueTrip wireless transmitter clips onto the iPodthrough the audio output jack and transmits CD-quality

music directly to theBlueTrip receiverattached to a homestereo or AV system.The transmitter ispowered directlyfrom the iPodcreating no need tocharge the unit

separately. The receiver is powered by a 12v DC power

supply and features RCA stereo plugs as well as opticalS/PDIF and mini-jack output allowing for compatibilitywith any home stereo. The BlueTrip is compatible withthe 3G and 4G iPods along with the iPod mini and iPodphoto.

BlueCore implements a host of profiles includingA2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) and AVRCP(Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile). AVRCP permitsthe BlueTrip to act as a remote control unit for aconnected Bluetooth device. The A2DP profile allows

CSR provides wireless connection to Griffin's iPod adapter

continued

It just keeps getting easierto listen to your musicwherever, whenever

Trend towards integration of personalaudio devices and homeentertainment continues

New products continued

16

advanced audio to be transmitted from the music playerto devices such as Bluetooth stereo headphones or ahome stereo. CSR believes that BlueCore3-MMprovides additional benefits, such as an integrated DSPthat means that the device requires no externalprocessor for audio analysis, saving money on theassociated bill of materials, and that the DSP is very

efficient in audio processing, achieving powerconsumption levels similar to that of Bluetooth monoheadsets. This allows the BlueTrip to have a smallimpact on the battery life of the iPod and enjoy a longerplaying time.

Mark Rowan, Engineering Manager for GriffinTechnologies commented, "Our new BlueTrip device

uses the best Bluetooth technology and the highestquality components on the market. CSR's expertise hasallowed us to achieve the highest possible soundquality and a highly attractive product."

The BlueTrip is available now worldwide.

Socket Communications has unveiled theCordless Ring Scanner (CRS) 9P. Claimed by Socketto be a first of its kind product, the CRS combineslaser bar code scanning with Bluetooth to provide ahands-free solution that Socket says makesscanning as simple as pointing a finger.

"The underpinnings of many industries involvemoving items from point A to point B in the mostefficient and cost-effective way," said Peter Phillips,vice president of marketing at Socket. "The CordlessRing Scanner is extremely beneficial for employees thatscan everyday, all day. As a hands free scanningsolution, the Cordless Ring Scanner enables users tohandle materials, goods and packages quickly andefficiently without picking up and putting down a big,clumsy gun scanner to scan bar codes."

The CRS 9P is designed to fit on the index finger andutilizes an exclusive Liquidmetal casing, which is overtwice the strength of titanium and which enables a

lighter, more compact design. The CRS 9P is IP54compliant for water and dust resistance and cansustain multiple drops from four feet. Fuzzy Logictechnology means that the CRS can scan damaged,poor quality or hard-to-read bar codes, whilst Socket'sError Proof Protocol ensures that scanned data iscorrectly received by the mobile computing device andallows for real-time validation of data and error

notification to the user."The ability to capture data without having to handle

a scanner gives an enormous boost to our customer'sworkforce efficiency and productivity," said Scott Allen,sales manager at Infologix, a provider of mobilewireless computing hardware and consulting solutionsto the healthcare, industrial, pharmaceutical andenterprise mobility solution markets. "Bar coding isindispensable in warehouses and distributionenvironments to maintain inventory accuracy. Using ahands-free scanner such as Socket's Cordless RingScanner will enable our customers to communicatedata that is more accurate than the traditional methodsof hand written or voice confirmations."

The CRS 9P is tethered to a Class 1 Bluetooth devicethat is strapped on the wrist. The Bluetooth wrist devicetransmits scanned data wirelessly to a mobilecomputer.

Socket’s CRS is available now.

Cordless Ring Scanner for Bluetooth-enabled mobile computers

from Socket

Socket makes scanning simpler

Snippets SnippetsRaise your glasses to Wi-Fi

Researchers at MIT have incorporated avariety of coloured LEDs, liquid sensors andwireless (GPRS or Wi-Fi) links into a pair of glasstumblers to create drinking glasses thatcommunicate with each other over long

distances. The idea is meant to promote communaldrinking between friends and lovers who live indifferent areas. When either person picks up aglass, red LEDs on their partner's glass glowgently. When the glasses are brought to one's lips,white LEDs on the rims of the glasses glow brightly

by way of a sensor, so users can tell when eitherparty is drinking. One of the creators, JackieLee, says the glasses could be used in a varietyof beneficial manners as well, suggesting thathospitals use them to monitor if patients aredrinking enough water.

WLAN customer revenue increases 33% in 4Q05

IDC's EMEA WLAN Tracker reports that WLANcustomer revenue increased by 33% to $665.8million during the last quarter of 2005,

compared to $499.5 million in the previousquarter. The total EMEA market revenue reached$2 billion in 2005, representing a growth of 52%compared to 2004.

As in prior quarters the residential market

experienced the highest growth rates, andduring the last quarter of 2005 this segmentincreased by 45% while the enterprise marketstayed relatively flat, with quarter-on-quartergrowth reaching no more than 5%.

WI-FI / WLAN

17

Out-of-the-box headset designThe introduction of the BlueVOX1

development kit for headsets marks a newpeak in the efficiency of applying exampledesigns to bring Bluetooth products tomarket.

CSR has created a reference design that isabsolutely complete and interoperability tested -yet still software-configurable. If the PCB isused as it is, the electronics design can be fixedwithin a few hours of receiving the product. Allwithout affecting the pre-existing Bluetoothqualification (if the new PRD 2.0 program isapproved - which facilitates more efficientdevelopment, reducing the time and cost ofgetting through the qualification process†).

CSR's BlueCore device already accounts for avery large majority of the headsets in productiontoday. The BlueVOX1 headset design breaksnew ground in the 'ready to go' nature of thehardware design, and the introduction of thelatest iteration of CSR's well-proven headsetsoftware - which now comes with a Windowsconfiguration tool.

Easy-to-integrate PCBCSR has packed everything required for the

headset electronics - including microphone,speaker, battery, antenna, buttons, LEDs, andmini USB connector for charging - onto a PCBthat measures ~1.7 x 4.2cm. The boardfeatures a rounded end that helps it to fit intoboth clip and ear-hanger style designs (Figure 1).

At the heart of the design is a BlueCore4-Audiodevice with its integrated mono codec, switch-mode power supply, battery charger circuitry,and software in ROM.

Under the imminent PRD 2.0 scheme, if usersdo not affect elements within the 'Bluetoothscope' of the product, they should be able tomodify other parts of the hardware withoutcompromising the Bluetooth qualification (forexample by moving the microphone). This cuts atruly substantial amount of time and risk fromthe development process, allowing OEMs tofocus on the industrial design of their products.

New-generation headset softwareTo complement the efficiency of the hardware

design, the headset software comes with a newWindows based tool that allows users toconfigure their own man-machine interfaceschemes. User-configurable features include thefunctionality of button presses, LED flashing,

pairing operation, etc (Figure 2).Behind this tool is a powerful

new generation of CSR'sestablished headset software:Headset v4. Among the newfeatures are support for Bluetooth2.0 + EDR, eSCO, and the Hands-Free 1.5 Profile. The availabilityof both EDR (enhanced data rate)and eSCO (error-corrected SCO) -features increasingly available onmobile phone ends of links -allows OEMs and their user basesto enjoy considerably longer

battery life, and quality of calls in difficultenvironments. Some of the other new features inthis iteration include support for: the onchip windnoise reduction filter; customer-specificringtones; 3-way calling; sidetone generation;and auto reconnect after link loss and powerdown. This broad functionality enables designersto achieve a low-cost headset withoutcompromising audio quality or user experience.For example, the wind noise reduction filtersupports use even in noisy environments, and theaddition of sidetone gives a more natural userexperience by feeding back a small amount ofthe user's voice into the speaker.

These features - which have been extensivelytested in CSR's interoperability lab - deliver asubstantial leap in headset functionality andquality. Moreover, the eBOM (electronic bill ofmaterials) of this design is highly optimised, andit goes a long way towards the industry's goal ofcreating a headset with a retail price of $20 forthe low-end market.

Advanced headsets tooAs mentioned, CSR supplies development tools

that allow users to modify this design. It's easyto add functionality to optimise the design forbetter audio quality - by using a higher qualitymicrophone and speaker for instance.Alternatively, it's feasible to reduce the cost andsize of the design even further, by optimising thehardware and PCB layout.

To address the demand for optimum qualityheadsets, note that CSR offers a variant of thisdesign based on its DSP-equipped BlueCore-Multimedia chip - BlueVOX1 CVC. This comeswith the well-known CVC (clear voice capture)software from CSR Detroit. The algorithm suiteincludes echo cancellation and noisesuppression, howling suppression, and Tx andRx equalisation, to optimise user experience.

For more information follow these links:

BlueVOX designs†PRD 2.0

Karen Parnell is a Product Marketing Manager with CSR

Karen Parnell, CSR

Sponsored contribution

Figure 1. One side of the new BlueVOX1 reference design for headsets

Figure 2. The Windows tool for configuring the BlueVOX MMI - the'Configurator'

18

UWB / Wireless USB

WiQuest secures second round funding

Fabless UWB semiconductor companyWiQuest Communications has closed $18Min Series B funding. This round was led bynew investor Sequoia Capital and alsoincluded full participation by Series Ainvestors, Menlo Ventures, Palomar Venturesand iD Ventures America. WiQuest will usethese new funds to ramp production of itsexisting products and to further expand itsgrowing portfolio of WiMedia and WirelessUSB solutions.

“We are pleased to support WiQuest’sultrawideband technology development with astrategic venture investment,” said MarkStevens, Partner at Seqouia Capital. “WiQuest’sexperienced management team has a provendepth of knowledge, industry leadership, andnotable accomplishments to date and is a clearleader in the ultrawideband chipset market.They have already shown outstanding resultsand we look forward to seeing consumer

products roll out later this year based on theirchips.” With Sequoia’s investment, Mr. Stevenswill join WiQuest Communications Board ofDirectors.

“The attraction of such high-caliber investorsis due to the significant customer demand forour WQST110/101 chipset. The customerdemand is due to WiQuest’s leadership in levelof silicon integration, 1 gigabit per second datarates as well as completeness and readiness ofour solution.” commented Dr. Matthew B.Shoemake, WiQuest founder, CEO and president.“The strong Series B lead by Sequoia Capital aswell as the full participation by our Series Ainvestors is a testament to our product anddesign-win leadership.”

In December 2005, WiQuest announced high-performance silicon delivering wirelesscommunication speeds up to 1 gigabit persecond, its WQST110 and WQST101. Thechipset is based on the WiMedia UWB physical

layer (PHY) and media access controller (MAC)specifications. In the four months since, WiQuesthas announced several reference designs, andagreements with sales and engineeringrepresentatives in the Far East to supportcustomers that are currently designing theWQST110/101 chipset into their products thatwill debut on the market during the second halfof 2006. WiQuest has also announced theavailability of the WQST100EVK systemevaluation kit.

Focus expands UWB portfolio Focus Enhancements is both a specialist in

video production and conversion technologyand also a chip company. It has recentlytaped out the second chip of its two-partTalaria Ultra Wideband (UWB) technologychipset solution. The company expectssilicon of this digital/baseband/MediaAccess Controller (MAC) UWB chip in May.

“With the tape-out of our UWB digital chip, wecan now tackle the wireless applications andproduct opportunities demanding highperformance UWB solutions,” said TomHamilton, executive vice president and generalmanager of Focus Enhancements’semiconductor group. “Modules will beassembled shortly after we receive first silicon.Evaluation and product development kitscontaining both UWB chips are expected to beavailable for shipment by the end of secondquarter 2006.”

Cadence supplied design services for FocusEnhancements’ UWB chipset, while TaiwanSemiconductor Manufacturing Corporation,

Ltd.(TSMC) will produce the digital/baseband/MAC application specific integrated circuit(ASIC).

Focus claims that its technology allowswireless high definition (HD) and standarddefinition (SD) video transmission at data ratesfrom 37 Mbps to 880 Mbps with distancessufficient for whole house wireless videocoverage, and can effectively transmit wirelessvideo through a variety of typical in-homeobstructions. The company is nowdemonstrating multiple HD streams throughvarious types of walls and line-of-sight SD videostreams up to 40 meters in its Hillsboro, ORlaboratory.

Talaria uses both WiMedia MB-OFDM andFocus Enhancements DS-OFDM modulationtechniques. Designed to be interoperable withthe WiMedia UWB Standard, Focus says thatTalaria generates more densely packed signalsthat cover a wider swath of the available UWBspectrum. This means that Focus’ UWB radiosprovide a more robust link that transfers data at

faster rates over longer distances, making themideal for high-speed wireless and videoapplications throughout a home or small office.

The Talaria chip will operate between 3.2gigahertz (GHz) and 7.2 GHz. In addition to 880Mbps, other selectable rate settings include 110Mbps, 440 Mbps and 660 Mbps. The digital chipis built in 0.13 micron CMOS processtechnology.

According to Focus, Talaria UWB chips,modules, evaluation systems, productdevelopment kits, software and accessories willbe available for customer shipments before theend of the second quarter, 2006.

19

UWB / Wireless USB continued

Artimi passes Intel’s Wireless USBinterop tests

For a wireless technology to become successful on awidespread basis, one company’s solution has to workwith another. The UWB industry is moving beyondannouncements of chipsets and into the realms ofinteroperability testing. During March, Artimi announcedthat it’s WiMedia MAC has passed interoperabilitytesting with Intel’s PDK and also successfullytransmitted and received UWB signals with the Intel PDKthrough several WiMedia PHY’s during closed sessioninteroperability testing at the Intel labs.

“This is a significant achievement in Artimi’sdevelopment of WiMedia compliant products for highspeed Certified Wireless USB applications,” stated ColinMacnab, CEO of Artimi. “Intel’s PDK is considered thebenchmarking tool in interoperability testing within theCertified Wireless USB community. The successfultransmission of the full 480 Mb/s data rate capability ofthe RTMI-150 MAC with Intel’s PDK via a third party PHYfurther validates Artimi’s technical excellence andconfirms Artimi as a leading player in this space.”

The private interoperability sessions consisted of theRTMI-150 MAC interacting with the Intel PDK using therange of WiMedia specification rates and data types. TheRTMI-150 MAC acting as a Certified Wireless USB devicecontroller was tested in several transmit and receiveconfigurations with Intel’s PDK, Intel’s emulated PHY andanonymous third party PHY’s, which were provided byIntel. The RTMI-150 MAC successfully achieved therequired results in all the supported tested scenarios.

Embedded Wireless USB Camerademos in Florida

UWB company Wisair partnered with SlydeTechnologies, a wireless conversion solutionprovider for the digital photography and videomarkets, and FotoNation, an imaging andconnectivity solutions companies for the digitalphotography industry, to demonstrate a WirelessUSB solution embedded into a camera at the PMAConference in Orlando, Florida during February.Digital stills and video images were wirelesslytransferred between cameras and a PC.

The demonstration combined Wisair’s UWB chipset,

Slyde’s DropIntegration architecture, and FotoNation’sPTP technology, to deliver a small form-fit, in-cameramodule that can communicate over the air with aWireless USB dongle connected to a PC. The threecompanies claim that the in-camera module requiresminimal changes to current camera architectures and istherefore easily integrated by the manufacturer. Theembedded Wireless USB camera provides data transferrates of up to 480 Mbps coupled with low powerconsumption. The companies demonstrated thetechnology on various pocket-size cameras produced by

leading manufacturers.Amir Freund, VP Marketing at Wisair noted, “There is no

doubt that Wireless USB characteristics of high datarates, low cost, and above all—low powerconsumption—perfectly fit the requirements of thedigital still camera (DSC) market for wirelessconnectivity. The collaboration with Slide and FotoNationclearly demonstrates how end users will soon beleveraging our Certified Wireless USB technology in abroad range of portable devices, including digital andvideo cameras.”

Ellisys and LeCroy use Wisair’s UWBChips for analyzer products

...and Wisair has taken a tangential direction inthe promotion of its semiconductor solutions. It’sUWB physical layer (PHY) chips are being utilizedby protocol analyzer providers, Ellisys and LeCroy.

“At Wisair, our commitment to the UWB industry istwofold. Our mission has grown from charging ahead todeliver the industry’s first WiMedia chipsets andsolutions to one where we are also focused on helpingthe industry more readily manufacture and adopt UWBand Certified Wireless USB technology,” noted AmirFreund. “We understand that analyzers are a valuablecomponent in the process of delivering interoperableand reliable end products to the market, and bycollaborating with Ellisys and LeCroy we are ensuring

that design engineers can measure, analyze and verifytheir UWB and wireless USB product developments."

"The excellent RF characteristics of Wisair's WiMediachipset make it the best choice for a robust protocolanalyzer,” said Mario Pasquali, co-founder of Ellisys."Wisair has strongly supported Ellisys since early 2004and helped Ellisys to be the pioneer company in UWBand WUSB protocol analysis product offerings. Thissuccessful collaboration is an important step towardthe rapid growth of Certified Wireless USB, andhighlights the strong commitment of Wisair and Ellisysin this promising market."

Wisair’s relationship with Ellisys is reciprocal asWisair has been using Ellisys' Wireless USB analyzer

since its early release. Freund further noted, “Ellisys'analyzer greatly contributed toward helping ourengineers develop our UWB and wireless USB protocolstack for current and next generation silicon."

James Wright, marketing director at LeCroy PSGcommented, “Wisair played an important role in helpingus deliver our UWBTracer system, enabling the captureof over-the-air traffic within the wireless USB networkin a non-intrusive way. Wisair gives us the capabilitiesto provide the powerful capture triggering and filteringthat manufacturers require in a solution for theirverification needs.”

20

Wi-Fi with your Weetabix?Wi-Fi/WLAN

This story is a bit off-piste for Incisor, but itdoes mention Wi-Fi, and anyway, its notoften we get to include stories aboutrefrigerators.

According to Electrolux, which claims to be theworld’s largest producer of powered appliancesfor kitchen, cleaning and outdoors, modern-daykitchens have fast become an area wherechildren do their homework at the table whiledinner is being prepared; parents read themorning paper and listen to the radio; familieswatch their favorite shows, check their e-mailand talk on the phone, or also entertain guests.In essence kitchens have become the modernhub of the home, increasing in size andcomplexity over the years. Supporting theseactivities are a vast number of electronicgadgets like TV’s, laptops and radios (allaccompanied by unsightly wires) to otherorganizational items like calendars, ‘to do’ lists,‘post it’ notes and a plethora of other items - alltaking up precious space which could be usedfor food preparation or entertaining.

So, Electrolux has come up with a refrigeratordesigned for 21st Century use. Screenfridge isconnected to broadband and TV via a Wi-Ficonnection – 802.11g, no less - and features a15-inch touch screen and pop-up keyboard.Offering a calendar, Internet connection, email,phone, radio and an MP3 player, among manyother functions, Electrolux has developed theScreenfridge as what it describes as a central

hub, equipping it with a messaging system andcalendar that keeps family members updated oneach other's lives.

“As consumers spend more time in thekitchen, the launch of Screenfridge on theEuropean market is a natural follow-up to theirwants and requirements,” says Andy Mackay,

Brand & Marketing Director at Electrolux.“Screenfridge offers consumers e-mail, chat,and the opportunity to surf the Internet withoutleaving the kitchen. You can even save recipes ina built-in library or try out new recipes whilewatching cooking shows. Screenfridge is allabout convenience, helping people stay in touchand making life a bit easier.”

The fridge is equipped with speakers, amicrophone and small video camera, allowing ahousehold member to leave text or voicemessages along with a picture. The video callingoption also allows consumers to stay in touchwith friends and family while cooking orperforming other chores in the kitchen withouthaving to clasp the phone between head andshoulder. There is also a built-in radio and MP3player, and Screenfridge also offers quickupdates on traffic conditions and weatherforecasts, and personal organizer features. As afinal touch, this intelligent refrigerator alsoallows consumers to add items to a practicalelectronic shopping list, which can be printedfrom the Screenfridge. Thanks to the remotefunction, the calendar, shopping list and e-mailcan even be accessed while at work.

The Electrolux Screenfridge will be available inthe UK later in 2006 and is expected to sell ataround £5000. Not cheap, but add up the cost ofall of the other gadgets that this appliancereplaces, and maybe it doesn’t look so bad.

SiGe Semiconductor delivers 802.11nSiGe Semiconductor is claiming to have the

world’s first complete RF front-end modulefor Wi-Fi products designed to comply withthe IEEE 802.11n draft specification.

This announcement comes on the heels of thesignificant activity by industry leadersdeveloping draft 802.11n products. Supportersof the IEEE 802.11n specification believe it willenhance the range and throughput of Wi-Fi,while maintaining backwards compatibility tothe worldwide installed base of WLANinfrastructure. The belief is also that the higherthroughput of 802.11n will allow WLAN productsto diversify away from standard “data” centric

applications and move to other large consumermarkets such as high definition video and mediadistribution.

“802.11n will open markets that could doubleexisting WLAN penetration,” said AndrewParolin, director of wireless data products atSiGe Semiconductor, Inc. “We have beenactively following the standard, and arecollaborating with other industry leaders todesign for interoperability as the first 802.11nproducts come to market. Our new module issampling to lead customers, and initial feedbackis that we have effectively solved all of the RFchallenges associated with MIMO design.”

The SE2545A10 RF front-end moduleintegrates two full dual-band transmit/receivechains (2 x 2.4 GHz Tx, 2 x 5 GHz Tx, 2 x 2.4 GHzRx, and 2 x 5 GHz Rx) required for Multiple Input,Multiple Output (MIMO) operation. The front-endmodule replaces up to 60 components,providing all of the circuitry required betweenthe transceiver and the antenna in a single,chip-scale package.

The SE2545A10 is sampling now. A higherpower variant of the SE2545A10 will beavailable later this year for access points andPCs.

Little Johnny orders 60GB iPod before leaving for school

21

Wi-Fi/WLAN - continued

WiFi Wireless shows "Smartship" forcontainer tracking

WiFi Wireless has announced Smartship andis aiming to make any container ship a"Smartship," with a new, patent pendingtechnology that combines WiFi Wireless’WF205 and WFSCT Systems.

The WF205 system is a fully-integrated, self-contained communication and security systemdesigned specifically to work accurately inextremely severe weather conditions, and onintegrated bridges. The full integration of anysatellite modem and the use of patent pendingCRTBA technology (Controlled Reception andTransmission Beam Antenna) improves signalstability and reception with virtually no loss ordegradation.

WiFI Wireless claims that the WFSCT System hasstreamlined and advanced global products andcommunication and advanced cargo monitoring.The WFSCT System allows a ship owner to achievethe benefits of facilitating cargo tracking andmonitoring on their vessels without expensive orcomplicated ship-board installations. The companysays it has taken the concept of a cargo container

ID tag and turned it into a ship board utility, offeringcontinuous cargo monitoring and managementfeatures such as: real-time container identification,security alerts (cargo tampering detection),temperature monitoring, and hazardous orexplosive materials detection.

For the ship owner, the WiFi Wireless suggeststhat WFSCT System could translate into significantsavings in insurance premiums by dramaticallyimproving cargo security, reliability and safety. Thesystem also improves a ship owner's potentialprofitability by attracting informed shippingcustomers wanting the peace of mind that theircargo is traveling in the most secure environmentpossible.

Intel reveals Wi-Fi/WiMax products at IDFAt the recent Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San

Francisco, Intel Executive Vice President SeanMaloney announced a single chip Wi–Fi/WiMAXradio and an Intel–branded mobile WiMAXPCMCIA card, as well as for the first timedisclosing details of the next–generation IntelCentrino mobile technology–based platform.

Maloney disclosed that Intel will deliver a mobileWiMAX PCMCIA card in the second half of the year,

enabling WiMAX in laptop PCs. Additionally, Maloneyshowcased the first single–chip multi–bandWi–Fi/WiMAX radio, codenamed Ofer, which willenable people using laptops to connect to Wi–Fi orWiMAX networks worldwide.

The next generation of Intel Centrino mobiletechnology, codenamed Santa Rosa and detailed forthe first time in Maloney’s keynote, is designed to giveusers better overall performance and graphics,

improved wireless connectivity and improved securityand manageability. Santa Rosa is expected to includea more powerful mobile microprocessor, an improvedgraphics chipset, codenamed Crestline, an IEEE802.11n Wi–Fi adapter, codenamed Kedron, as wellas Intel–optimized advanced management andsecurity solutions.

Santa Rosa will be available in the first half of 2007.

Nokia and Deutsche Telekom pilotWLAN in FMC sector

Together, Nokia and T-Com, a division ofDeutsche Telekom Group, are testing InternetProtocol (IP) convergence solutions on theNokia N80 and Nokia E60 devices.

Under the T-One brand, an integrated dual-modetelephony solution combines the benefits of fixedline and mobile communications and is beingpiloted on Nokia N80 and Nokia E60 devices. Usingthe WLAN enabled Nokia N80 and Nokia E60devices, customers will be able to use the samedata and voice services from home or on the gothrough a T-Com HotSpot.

"The Internet and mobile communications arecoming together faster than anyone expected.We're delighted to work with Germany's leadingoperator, the Deutsche Telekom Group, in themobile and Internet space to offer new possibilitiesfor people to communicate in a flexible way withthe T-One solution," said Ilkka Raiskinen, seniorvice president of Multimedia Experiences at Nokia.

The Nokia E60 and the Nokia N80 are the firstNokia devices that are able to support SIP-basedInternet Calls. Both of these devices work on GSM,WCDMA and WLAN networks.Nokia’s Raiskinen is monitoring growth in FMC

22

RFID

Allévo and Nedap use RFID in Dutchhealthcare market

Care organization Allévo is enhancing the deliveryof home health care with Nedap's iO TouchProsolution, a combination of the iO concept for Careregistration and Nokia’s Field Force Solution. AllévoHome Care Institute's 700 employees are using theRFID technology to improve the delivery of service toits patients across the Netherlands.

"Using iO TouchPro, our more than 700 nurses canquickly and reliably register their visits with their patients,freeing up valuable time to spend with the patient. And,the iO Concept ensures that we have the most up-to-date, accurate information available at all times," said

Theo van Campen, CEO Allévo. "Allévo continues to seekinnovations that will enhance the quality of care wedeliver to our clients. Nokia's RFID technology-basedsolution allows us to deliver better service, and allows usto maintain up-to-date, accurate information real-time."

In the iO concept every client is provided with acontact free chip card when they become Allévoclients. At each visit, the nurse touches the chip cardusing a Nokia 3220 phone with its RFID reader toregister their visit thus eliminating the time need to fillin forms. In addition, the nurse has secure access tothe most up-to-date information on the client allowing

them to focus on delivering care.The expectation is that more healthcare

organizations will follow the example of Allévo in thecoming months. "We are pleased that Allévo haschosen Nokia’s RFID technology-based solution tocontinue their innovations in the delivery of health careservices," said Petri Vesikivi, Head of Nokia WorkforceSolutions at Nokia Ventures Organization. "The NokiaField Force solution is designed for enterprises withmobile workforces that are generating large numbersof transactions in industries such as domiciliaryhealthcare, security guards, and field maintenance."

Savi RFID solutions see success witharmed forces

The Spanish Armed Forces (SAF) has signed acontract with Savi Technology to deploy Savi’sConsignment Management Solution (CMS), whichincludes an active RFID network thatinteroperates with similar networks deployed bySavi for NATO countries and other allies, includinga growing number of international defenceorganizations, including the U.S. Department ofDefence, NATO headquarters, United KingdomMinistry of Defence, Australian Defence Forces,and Denmark Ministry of Defence, among others.

Savi claims that recent findings from defenceorganizations show that when used with improvedsupply chain processes, Savi’s RFID solutions havesignificantly improved fill rates, reduced backlogorders by 70 percent, and reduced inventory by manytens of millions of dollars. Just as importantly,operational efficiency has improved, and theconfidence of field operatives is enhanced as a resultof the ability of their logistics operations to get theright supplies to the right place at the right time. Savihas also sold over 1.5 million tags to defence forces,

and the combined networks track about 35,000consignments a day.

For the Spanish Armed Forces, the SaviConsignment Management Solution will provideseamless visibility of defence consignmentstransported through Spain, Afghanistan, Haiti, theBalkans, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Implementation of Savi CMS for the Spanish ArmedForces already has begun and is expected to beoperational by mid-2006, after which assessmentswill determine possible additional deployments.

New RFID Study from AberdeenGroupTrenStar, a mobile asset management specialist,

has announced the availability of a new researchreport by leading research firm AberdeenGroup calledEmpowered Asset Management: Sharing andTracking Logistics Assets to Improve ROI. Keyfindings support the increasing importance of RFIDas a way to better manage a company’s logisticsassets, such as high-value containers used to shipgoods through the supply chain.

The report, which was sponsored by TrenStar detailshow logistics asset operations can consume 4 percent ofa company’s annual revenue, and one fifth or surveyrespondents spend more than 10 percent of annualrevenue on logistics assets. Companies report that

managing asset availability, having accurate inventory ofthose assets and coordinating movement of those assetsare among the most difficult tasks to execute. Theresearch report also highlights that two thirds ofrespondents plan to invest heavily in better assetmanagement solutions over the next 24 months.Expectations for these investments are very high, ascompanies are anticipating 50% to 100% more valuefrom new technology systems.

“Capital investment for logistics assets can easily reachinto the millions of dollars. Because logistics assetsexpenses consume significant corporate resources,creating a more effective logistic asset process iscritical,” said Gregory Belkin, AberdeenGroup research

analyst and author of the report. “When outsourcing orindustry pooling are included in a company’s logisticsasset management strategy, there are opportunities toreduce the capital involved in maintaining these logisticsassets.

“As a leader in this area we recognize the importanceof RFID technology to the mobile asset managementindustry,” said Mike Parmett, senior vice president andgeneral manager of TrenStar United States and Asia-Pacific. “TrenStar teamed with respected analystresearch firm AberdeenGroup on this insightful andvaluable report because we feel it is important to providethis data to a wider audience that may benefit from thetechnology advantages.”

23

RFID - continued

Savi RFID docks at ports in HongKong and China

Savi Networks, which supplies RFID-enhanced information services for containershipments, has announced that it hasimplemented systems at major port facilitiesin two of the world’s busiest ocean terminals-- in Hong Kong and Shenzhen (China).

Savi began developing the SaviTrak solutioncommercially in 2002 as a provider ofnetworking technology to the Smart and SecureTradelanes initiative, which included thousandsof RFID-tagged container journeys from originsin Indonesia, China, Thailand, Malaysia,Germany and South Africa. The system wasfurther refined in several other globaltransportation security initiatives.

The company plans to announce additional“live” trade lanes throughout Asia, Europe and

South America in the coming weeks, followingits recently announced partner agreements withU.S. terminal operators, Marine TerminalsCorporation (MTC) and Trans Pacific ContainerService Corp. (TraPac), which own and operateterminals across the U.S. West and SouthAtlantic coasts.

“Our information network is operationalthroughout Asia and other important trade lanesworldwide,” said Lani Fritts, Savi Networks’COO. “We’re on course to continue growing our port network in 2006, enabling ourcustomers to improve the efficiency andeffectiveness of their global operations.”

Savi leverages standards-based AutomaticIdentification and Data Collection (AIDC)technologies, such as ISO 18000-7 operating at

433.92 MHz throughout ports and inlandlocations, the goal being to improve theefficiency, effectiveness and security of globalsupply chains. A web-based information service,called SaviTrak, provides automated alerts andreporting and other important information on thelocation and status of containerized shipmentsand their contents.

ZigBee turns up (and down) the heat

A new ZigBee-based heating controlsystem using Ember’s wireless networkingtechnology promises to bring theconvenience of remote control and energysavings to millions of European residentswho today must operate their radiatorsmanually.

Italian company 4-NOKS, a systems designerof ZigBee solutions, has developed a number ofZigBee-based devices that enablemanufacturers of heating and refrigerationproducts to add wireless monitoring and controlcapabilities.

The first commercial product using thetechnology is the new Cyclope interactivethermostat control from Kalirel, a Frenchradiator manufacturer, for monitoring andcontrol of radiators in the home. Cyclope is saidto be the first wireless device of its kind that canreceive, display and alter the current roomtemperature and radiator settings. ZigBee radiosin each radiator throughout a house orapartment create a self-forming, self-healing

wireless network that lets each radiatorcommunicate with the remote control anywherein the residence.

Cyclope also enables users to record howmuch heat they have consumed over time. Withthese controls and information, users canoptimize their thermostat settings to saveheating costs and conserve energy. Additional 4-NOKS products are also being integrated into asoon-to-be-announced wireless sensing systemfrom a major refrigeration company.

The 4-NOKS modules were developed onEmber’s first-generation ZigBee-compliantplatform, the EM2420 radio coupled withEmberZNet networking software. The companyplans to utilize Ember’s next generation ZigBee-compliant EM250 ZigBee system-on-a-chip(SoC) going forward. This 802.15.4/ZigBee-based semiconductor system integrates aprogrammable microprocessor, RF radio,network protocol stack and memory into a tiny,single-chip solution smaller than a shirt button.The EM250 offers reductions in component size,

cost and power consumption, while providing acritical rapid application developmentenvironment.

“The Ember EM250 was the only ZigBee SoCin production, enabling us to meet theaggressive development schedule and supplycommitments demanded by our customers,”said Corrado Marchetti, CEO of 4-NOKS.“Besides, Ember offers the most reliable, provenand easy to use platform with best-in-classfeatures. Ember offered everything – includingthe hardware, software and development tools –in a single, integrated platform that dramaticallyreduced our development costs and timetable.”

ZigBee

ZigBee - continued

24

TDC adds Chipcon to wirelesscomponent range

TDC, a specialist electronic component distributor,has announced that it has added to its portfolio ofwireless franchises. The new addition is Chipcon(now owned by Texas Instruments), a company that isbest known for its ZigBee chipsets. TDC believes thatChipcon’s portfolio perfectly complements itsembedded product range.

As Incisor described in the recent report on TI’sacquisition of Chipcon, the Chipcon product line includesa broad range of proprietary and standards-based low-power, high-performance CMOS RFICs for a large numberof wireless applications in the sub 1 GHz and 2.4 GHz ISMfrequency bands. The range includes low-power RFtransceivers and transmitters, true single-die System-on-

Chip solutions and IEEE 802.15.4/ ZigBee-compliantsolutions.

The Chipcon products are particularly suitable toconsumer applications such as wireless keyboard/mouse, wireless VoIP solutions, remote controls andwireless gaming accessories, in addition to home andbuilding automation applications such as alarm andsecurity systems, active RFID systems, automatic meterreading systems and other monitoring and controlsystems.

Managing Director of TDC, Jerry Sandys commented,“We are delighted to add Chipcon to the TDC wirelessportfolio. This is an excellent opportunity for TDC to buildits business in the exciting world of ZigBee/RF

technology.” Located inBasingstoke, UK, TDC ispart of the Abacus Groupand is a technicalcomponent distributorspecialising in embeddedcomponents for wirelessapplications such as GSM,GPRS, GPS, Bluetooth,WiFi and now ZigBee.

Parent company Abacus is itself a leading regionaldistributor of electronic components and value addedsystems in Europe, with directly owned companies havinglocations in every major European electronics market.

Rohde & Schwarz embraces ZigBeetest equipment from Frontline

Test equipment company Rohde & Schwarz is nowoffering the FTS4ZB ZigBee packet sniffer andprotocol analyzer from Frontline, a leading provider ofPC-based protocol analyzers for special-purposedata communication networks. The frame decoderdecodes the protocols down to bit level in real time.Plus, it displays the protocols based on the IEEE802.15.4 standard in plain text, simplifying andaccelerating R&D and error diagnostics.

Rohde & Schwartz believes that chipset manufacturers

and users require intuitive protocol analyzers in order toperform compatibility tests between various products andto certify equipment in accordance with IEEE 802.15.4.The protocol analyzers accelerate the development ofradio chipsets and user software and also allowinstallation sites and transmission paths to be optimized.

The FTS4ZB ZigBee packet sniffer and protocolanalyzer, which captures the ZigBee packets at the airinterface, consists of the FTS software and the snifferhardware in the form of a USB dongle. The FTS4ZB runs

on Windows 2000/XP. The frame decoder decodes theprotocols in accordance with IEEE 802.15.4 down to bitlevel in realtime. All user-defined protocols based on thisstandard can be decoded as well. A viewer is availablefree of charge, allowing data obtained in mobileapplications to be analyzed in the lab.

The FTS4ZB ZigBee packet sniffer and protocolanalyzer from Frontline is available now through Rohde &Schwarz.

MaxStream has ZigBee DKs for allMaxStream says that as ZigBee is designed for a

variety of applications, it has created three differentXBee development kits to meet the varying needs ofOEMs and systems integrators.

The XBee Professional Developer’s Kit (PDK) isMaxStream’s high-end solution for developers looking tomaximize the mesh networking capabilities of the ZigBeestandard. The XBee PDK includes five OEM RF modulesand five enhanced development boards with RS-232 orUSB connectivity. Wireless communication is madepossible via the two XBee-PRO modules and the threeXBee modules that are included.

For those looking to develop strictly with low-cost,

point-to-point wireless communications, MaxStream issupplying the XBee-PRO Starter Kit and XBee Starter Kit,which are said to make it possible to establish a reliable

RF link in minutes. Included are either two XBee-PRO ortwo XBee modules with integrated wire whip antennas,as well as both an RS-232 and USB development board.

“Offering three different ZigBee development kits givesOEMs and systems integrators the ability to scale theirdevelopment cycle according to the needs of theapplication,” said Brad Walters, President and CEO ofMaxStream. “The additional tools included with the newdevelopment boards will only speed the design of customRF networks and ensure reliability for full deployment.”

The new development kits have options for loading802.15.4, ZigBee or Freescale SMAC software, and willreplace the current XBee Development Kit in March 2006.

TDC expands wireless portfolioto include ZigBee product

ZigBee developers nowhave more options

Connection Section

25

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Connection Section

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Wireless industry calendar of events

29

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Further wireless industry events will be added to the calendar as soon as they are announced. See notes below regarding editorial submissions.

DATE EVENT LOCATION NOTES LINK

April 26-27 2006 DECT 2006 Conference ETSI HQ, The 10th Annual DECT conference http://www.informatm.com/dect Sophia Antipolis, will examine the challenges and France rewards that DECT to IP integration will bring, mapping issues, the role of DECT in future infrastructure and more

June 11 - 16 2006 UnPlugFest 24 Bangkok, - http://programs.bluetooth.org/upf/ Thailand

Oct 8 - 13 2006 UnPlugFest 25 St George’s Bay, - http://programs.bluetooth.org/upf/ Malta

Nov 28 - 30 2006 ID WORLD International Milanofiori - www.idworldonline.com Congress 2006 Congress Centre, Assago, Milan, Italy

Jan 8 - 11 2007 Pure Wireless Las Vegas, - www.pure-wireless.com Nevada Email: vholton@click.co.uk

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