DRAFT: 5/5/05
Contact:
Patrick Kinney, Chair, IEEE 802.15 TG4a
+1 724-575-2469, pat.kinney@ieee.org
or
Karen McCabe, IEEE Senior Marketing Manager
+1 732-562-3824, k.mccabe@ieee.org
ULTRA-WIDEBAND/CHIRP TECHNOLOGY SELECTED AS
BASELINE FOR A NEW LOW-DATA-RATE WPAN RADIO
Alternative Radio Technology to Extend IEEE 802.15.4
Low-Data-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks
PISCATAWAY, N.J., May __, 2005 – The IEEE has announced that Task Group 4a in
the IEEE 802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) has
agreed on a combination of ultra-wideband (UWB) and chirp technologies as the
technical basis of an alternative PHY layer for the IEEE 802.15.4™ WPAN standard.
The new PHY will extend the capabilities of the standard, which enables low-data-rate
wireless sensing and control in applications that call for low complexity and cost and that
must operate for months or years on small batteries.
The decision paves the way for WPAN applications requiring either mobility or
the robust performance and precise ranging of UWB. The task group considered 26
formal proposals submitted in January. Proposal teams focused on high-level issues and
global regulatory realities to create the common ground upon which to build a single
merged proposal that addresses the needs of target applications. It is expected that the
draft standard for the alternative PHY will be completed in early 2006. Final approval is
targeted for the end of 2006.
The baseline proposal for the new radio PHY blends the strengths of wideband
chirp technology in the 2.4 GHz ISM band with those of UWB technology in the 3.1 to
10.6 GHz band. This combination yields a variety of benefits, including precision
ranging, enhanced transmission distance, improved multi-path performance in harsh
environments, communication between devices moving at relative speeds in excess of
100 mile per hour, maximum worldwide deployability, and excellent coexistence with
other radio frequency spectrum uses.
UWB is a wireless technology that spreads an extremely low power signal over an
ultra-wide swath of radio spectrum and recovers it efficiently to provide superior
coexistence with existing radio devices. In addition, UWB devices can precisely define
the range to other devices, so a network can determine the location of each device.
Chirp spread spectrum is a wireless technology that uses both time spreading and
frequency spreading techniques. Used for years in radar, it is now being applied to
communications. Research has shown that combining both spreading methods can yield
greater robustness and extended range compared to modulations based on a single
spreading method.
The IEEE 802.15 Working Group develops personal area network standards for
short-distance wireless networks that allow portable and mobile computing devices, such
as laptop computers, personal digital assistants, cell phones and pagers, to communicate
and interoperate. For more information on this working group, visit:
http://ieee802.org/15.
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