UWB

Texas Instruments drops out of WiMedia Alliance

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:53 -0400

Texas Instruments has dropped out of the WiMedia Alliance, the group pushing ultra-wideband, and is throwing its support behind the 802.11n fast WiFi standard. The move follows the Bluetooth SIG's decision to link Bluetooth with WiFi to make it easier for users to transfer images and large data files such as music and video. UWB was supposed to fill that roll by now but isn't ready.

TI says it believes 802.11n gives the company the right technology to use until UWB matures enough to put in a handset.

To find out more about TI's 802.11n Bluetooth plans:
- check out this article from Techworld

Bluetooth SIG harnesses WiFi for high-speed transfer

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group is set to announce today plans to take advantage of the ever increasing popularity of WiFi-embedded handsets such as the iPhone. The Bluetooth SIG is linking Bluetooth with WiFi to make it easier for users to transfer images and large data files such as music and video.

According to Kevin Keating, senior marketing manager with Bluetooth SIG, consumers with WiFi-enabled handsets will get that same Bluetooth used for pairing devices but will also get a fast channel, via 802.11, for content. Users will be able to turn the WiFi Bluetooth channel on and off to preserve battery life.

The architecture, called 'Alternate MAC/PHY' by Bluetooth SIG members working on the specification, is taking on a two-phased approach as SIG member companies drive the specification forward.

Keating said the first devices that include the technology could be on the market by mid-2009. In 2006, the Bluetooth SIG committed to using ultra-wideband technology for such fast data transfer but the momentum has shifted in WiFi's favor.

"The market has changed," Keating told FierceBroadbandWireless. "We're still working on UWB but we expect to see 802.11 have the most time spent on it right now."

For more about the Bluetooth SIG's plans to incorporate 802.11:
- read this release

Related articles:
Bluetooth SIG embraces WiFi for transport Report
Bluetooth over UWB delayed Report

SPOTLIGHT: In-Stat: Ultrawideband taking off

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:59:52 -0500

In-Stat reports that the market for ultrawideband (UWB) silicon is finally taking off this year. Though the technology faces some regulatory barriers globally, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have shipped the first UWB-embedded notebook computers this year. Article

Bluetooth SIG embraces WiFi for transport

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:59:54 -0400

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has decided to create protocols that will enable Bluetooth to use WiFi as it waits for ultra-wideband technology to develop in handsets. The Bluetooth SIG decided in 2006 to use UWB as an optional high-speed transport for Bluetooth. UWB has theoretical speeds of 480 Mbps and uses less power than WiFi. But UWB devices are still about two years away so the Bluetooth SIG decided to use WiFi alongside UWB as a stopgap measure. The move makes sense as a number of handset players are incorporating WiFi in devices.

To find out more about the Bluetooth SIG's plans for WiFi:
- read this Techworld article

First UWB devices certified

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:59:54 -0400

The WiMedia Alliance, the group behind the ultrawideband high speed wireless technology, has certified the first chipsets for UWB. UWB will bring about wireless USB and next-gen Bluetooth. UWB is designed to deliver 480 Mbps over a few meters, making short range data transfer quicker. Not only is UWB faster, but proponents say it will help conserve battery life. The group certified chipsets from 12 vendors, including Intel, Alereon and Staccato.

For more on the new chipsets and UWB:
- read this article from PC World

Related articles:
UWB shows signs of life
UWB to pass WiFi

ALSO NOTED: Consortium wins Sacramento WiFi network build; Pulse Link sues Tzero over UWB patent; and much more...

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> Sacramento Metro Connect, a consortium of Azulstar, Cisco Systems, Intel and SeaKay, will build and operate a wireless broadband network for Sacramento. Article

> Pulse Link is suing Tzero Technologies for patent infringement associated with UWB technology. Article

> Proxim wireless solutions are connecting India's rural communities. Release

> AT&T is adding about 2,000 temporary employees to cope with the influx of shoppers it expects for the iPhone. Article (WSJ sub. req.)

And Finally... Toledo's WiFi director walked out of a weekly staff meeting after what she claimed was verbal abuse by the mayor over preparation for an upcoming meeting with the city council about MetroFi's proposal to build a WiFi network in the city. Article

UWB shows signs of life

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 19:01:34 -0500

We don't know whether or not 2007 will be the year of ultra-wideband (UWB), since we have heard it all before. Still, something is stirring. Unstrung, for one, has selected the technology as one of its hot 2007 technologies. UWB chips and hardware are being certified (for example, from Alereon, Realtek Semiconductor, Staccato Communications, Tzero Technologies, WiQuest, and Wisair), products are tested, companies are announcing new gear ready to ship, and UWB chip startups have been successful in raising money from VCs (for example, Alereon and Artimi announced they had raised funds from venture capital firms this month, while WiQuest said it had raised $18 million in March, and Wisair raised $20 million in January). The FCC has started to approve cable-replacement wireless products which use UWB chipsets that can transfer data over short ranges at speeds of up to 1 Gbps. The technology also has more companies lined up behind it as it is now the radio technology supporting both the Bluetooth 2.0 and Wireless USB specifications. It is not unreasonable to expect that several companies might contemplate using UWB to add speed to the wireless transmission of multimedia between portable MP3 and video players and a home PC.

And yet, and yet. As Katie Fehrenbacher writes: "Given that the UWB market is just starting to see products...investors seem to be thinking that its a good time to get into the UWB silicon market. It could be, but then again the market has been 'just around the corner' for years. Let's hope UWB turns the corner in 2007."

For more on the future of UWB:
- see Dan Jones's Light Reading discussion
- and Katie Fehrenbacher's GigaOM comments

Intel shows wireless UWB link MAC silicon

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:01:33 -0400

When you cannot point to big victories, then small ones will have to do, at least for now. This is the case with UWB technology: In February 2004 the FCC approved its use, with some limitations, in commercial applications, but in the nearly three years since then, UWB has been more conspicuous for what it has failed to deliver relative to its early promise--rather than for what it has delivered. Yes, at every consumer electronics show we are invited to impressive demonstrations of, say, an UWB-enabled HDTV and feats of sheer speed and resolution, but the total, so far, is less than the sum of the parts.

This is why we note the release by Intel of its Wireless UWB Link 1480 MAC silicon and reference design, aiming to enable UWB-based solutions. It is hoped that these solutions--compliant with the Certified Wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification from the USB Implementers Forum and the WiMedia Network specification from the WiMedia Alliance--will allow OEMs to embed UWB in the gear they manufacture, ushering in the era of UWB-based WLAN at home and at the office. Intel made a point of integrating its UWB host MAC with several third-party UWB PHY ports, thus allowing customers to choose different radio solutions.

For more on Intel's UWB 1480:
- see company's Web site

For more general background:
- see this page on Intel's Web site

Commercial UWB in Korea

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Ultrawide band (UWB) has known its ups and downs (mostly downs), so this must surely be good news for a technology which came on the scene with a splash more than three years ago, but as was the case with the Brazilian soccer team during the World Cup, never quite managed to deliver on that early promise.

The good news has to do with the distribution later this year by the Korean government of UWB frequency. The move will spur greater interest in semiconductor development by both local and non-Korean companies. Research group MIC estimates that the global UWB market will grow to more than $1.3 billion, with the Korean domestic market accounting for about 25 percent of that.

The distribution of frequency will allow the introduction of consumer electronics devices with embedded UWB by early 2007. UWB is a short-range (10 meters or so) technology capable of achieving up to 480 Mbps in bursts. Industry insiders say that by 2008 speeds of up to 600 Mbps will be available. This is all a bit theoretical because, depending on the frequency allocation, interference issues will have to be addressed.

For more on Korea's move on UWB:
- see Luz Park's report from Nikkei Electronics Asia

UWB standard group to disband

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 19:01:37 -0500

Remember Don Meredith? He was on the original team of Monday Night Football commentators, together with Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and Fran Tarkenton (and before that, a Dallas Cowboys quarterback in the 1960s). At the end of lopsided games, with his heavy Texas drawl, he would begin to sing: "Turn out the lights, the party's over." Meredith may well be in Hawaii now, singing that song to the IEEE 802.15.3a task group on UWB. It appears that after three years of agony, the group will agree to disband itself. This will be the only thing on which it could agree: Since it was formed in 2002, the group has been riven by a bitter debate over the UWB standard. At the beginning there were many proposals for the specifications of the 480 Mbps short-range technology, but eventually the number of proposals was reduced to two: Freescale Semiconductor's direct-sequence UWB and the WiMedia Alliance's multiband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) alternative (supported by TI, Intel, Staccato Communications, Wisair, and others). Since mid-2003, the battle between the two groups resembles the trench warfare of WWI: Accusations and charges lobbed in every direction, but no movement. Neither side has been able to gain the required 75 percent majority needed for confirmation, with each side going over the 50 percent, then falling behind, only to climb back again. While the stalemate continued, Pulse-Link came along and introduced its own form of UWB, based on Common Signaling Mode, which allows various forms of UWB to coexist. The WiMedia Alliance was adamant, insisting on a single UWB implementation. Now the market will decide, as it decided years ago between Beta and VHS.

For more on the UWB working group
-see Patrick Mannion's Commsdesigns report

Staccato shows single-chip, all-CMOS UWB solution

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 19:01:37 -0500

UWB came on the scene with much fanfare, but the words "rousing success" would not be the first ones to leap to mind when trying to describe the technology's market success to date. Still, there is movement on the UWB front. Staccato Communications is introducing its Ripcord family of products. Ripcord is the industry's first true single-chip, all-CMOS solution based on the WiMedia Alliance's UWB common radio platform and the Certified Wireless USB specification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). Ripcord is implemented in a complete System-In-Package (SiP) using 110nm digital CMOS process technology.

The Ripcord products include specific devices targeted for Host Wire Adapter (HWA), Device Wire Adapter (DWA), Native SDIO, a PHY-only solution, and three production-ready reference designs. The cost catches our eye: The company says that Ripcord provides a complete, fully integrated solution for the first commercial applications of high-speed UWB at 480 Mbps at less than $10 per node in volume. Ripcord consolidates all hardware and software components necessary to implement a solution based on Certified Wireless USB into a single 12x14.5mm package in a 120 LGA Pb-free SiP. In most product designs, customers would not need more than an external antenna for a complete node based on Certified Wireless USB.

"Staccato's choice of a single-chip, all CMOS-based design is important because, as history has shown, lowering cost and increasing levels of integration can significantly accelerate the adoption curve of new technologies," says In-Stat's Brian O'Rourke. "We expect the Certified Wireless USB market to begin in late 2006 with significant growth in 2007 and 2008. Overall, we anticipate the shipment of Wireless USB-enabled products will grow 193% annually from 2006 through 2009. We expect Staccato to be well-positioned in the market for Certified Wireless USB products."

Read more about Staccato's new design:
- in this press release

ALSO: At Macworld this week, Belkin, Gefen and Delphi show products based on UWB. Report

SPOTLIGHT: See mom, no cables

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 19:01:33 -0500

Freescale yesterday unveiled its strategy for a wireless version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) using UWB technology, backed by the first UWB products from Belkin and Gefen. The two peripheral manufacturers backed Freescale's new CableFree USB initiative, Freescale's response to the Wireless USB moniker adopted by the competing and incompatible Intel-backed UWB initiative. The Wireless USB coalition will use this year's CES to announce new products, but Belkin and Gefen moved first with UWB-based USB hubs. Article

ALSO NOTED: First also noted headline; second headline; and much more...

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 19:00:50 -0500

> For the first time, more people bought laptops than desktops (52 percent to 48 percent) during the week ending November 26, according to Current Analysis. Report

> UWB chips tops gigabit speeds. Article

> Proponents of UWB and WiMax are interested in getting their wireless products incorporated into UMA technology. Report

> Packet analyzer Narus signed an agreement with VeriSign to allow VeriSign to offer the entire suite of Narus' security, traffic analysis and lawful interception products. Article

And Finally... Two troubled technologies decided to get married in order to have a better future for both, but what do you know: Some of the problems which caused each to get into trouble to begin with now threaten to poison the marriage. Report

Freescale UWB pushes into consumer electronics

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:01:36 -0400

The UWB standard war is raging on, but that hasn't stopped one of the combatants, Freescale Semiconductor, from moving forward. The company has been active, with the help of Chinese consumer electronics giant Haier, in promoting its silicon in the consumer electronics market. Freescale's UWB technology is based on one developed by Xtreme Spectrum, which Freescale acquired (together with Xtreme's capable founder, Martin Rofheart) in late 2003. What used to be Xtreme's Trinity UWB is now sold by Freescale as the XS 110 chip set. This three-chip solution supports 110 Mbps at ranges of up to 20 m, consuming 750 mW. The XS 110 is priced at $19.95 in volume.

Freescale is working on improving both speed and power consumption. Its new two-chip UWB solution will offer about 500 Mbps with a 660 Mbps PHY.The new XS 660 chip set will be scalable, the company said, consuming roughly 1 mW for every megabit of data bandwidth: Thus, a 500 Mb data stream will consume roughly 500 mW, which Rofheart said is half the power required by the 802.11 WiFi technology.

Freescale plans to announce details of the XS 660 chip set next month, with sampling expected late this year and sales in 2006. The chip set was "retaped," Rofheart said, in order to take advantage of Freescale's 90-nanometer process, which required new libraries and other supporting design collateral. The XS 660 will add about $10 to the bill of materials of emerging applications, such as surround-sound stereo systems or automotive displays, he said. In parallel, Haier and Japanese company Silex Technology keep showing various implementations of UWB chips in consumer devices--HDTV, digital media servers, camcorders and more.

For more on Freescale's UWB:
- see David Lammers' commdesigns report

Bluetooth layered over UWB for 110 Mbps demo

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 20:01:37 -0400

So far, both Bluetooth and UWB have fallen a bit (perhaps more than a bit) short of the promise many saw in the two technologies. It was thus not much of a surprise when earlier this year the Bluetooth Special Interest Group and the two groups active in UWB, the WiMedia Alliance and the Ultrawideband Forum, said they would work to merge their wireless technologies. Now we can see the result. In an industry-first, Freescale last week demonstrated UWB silicon operating under existing Bluetooth software stacks. The demonstration took place at the WiCon Americas conference in Santa Clara, CA. Freescale collaborated with Bluetooth software vendor Open Interface to transmit UWB signals using Bluetooth protocols. A protocol analyzer from Frontline Test Equipment provided monitoring.

The demonstration had two laptops transferring the same data file over a conventional Bluetooth link and then over a UWB connection running Bluetooth protocols, contrasting the 1 Mbps Bluetooth transfer rate with the 110 Mbps UWB transfer rate. Open Interface's BlueTusk software employed the Bluetooth software stack while operating Freescale's XS110 DS-UWB radio. The Frontline protocol analyzer monitored the Bluetooth and UWB signals and the performance of the Freescale radios. "This demonstration shows the industry exactly how close to product readiness high-speed Bluetooth is by 'cutting the wires' and delivering exciting user experiences," said Martin Rofheart, Freescale's director of UWB operations.

For more on the Bluetooh-UWB demonstration:
- see Jeff Berman's EDN report

Pulse~LINK, Analog Devices show UWB HDTV

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 20:01:37 -0400

UWB has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, what with the impasse in standard specifications and such. It is good, therefore, to see a positive note for a change. Pulse~LINK, developer of CWave UWB, and Analog Devices, developer of high-performance semiconductors for signal processing applications, are teaming up to show the first wireless transmission of real-time HD video. The two companies will show side-by-side comparison of MPEG and JPEG2000 across Pulse~LINK's UWB wireless link at the DisplaySearch HDTV event in Beverly Hills, California, later this month.

ADI's ADV202 is the only single-chip implementation of the JPEG2000 standard, and combining Pulse~LINK's CWave UWB technology with it will allow for real-time wireless HD applications. MPEG degrades the original-source HDTV content during compression, but ADI's JPEG2000 is scalable for both mathematical and visual video encoding without degradation.

For more on the new UWB HDTV:
- see this Unstrung report
- and the websites of Pulse~LINK | Analog Devices

WiMedia, Ecma to push UWB standardization

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:01:39 -0400

Some stories have a happy ending. Such is the case with the 802.11n standard skirmishes which ended two weeks ago when the two competing coalitions ceased fire and began to work on reconciling their differences. Other stories end less happily, with an all-out war and real winners and losers. Such was the case in the late 1970s when home videocassette players hit the market. A war erupted between VHS and Sony's Betamax system. Beta had many advantages over VHS, but by the 1980s it had lost the war, and customers who had gambled on it had to switch to VHS, which became the standard.

The UWB situation is coming to resemble the Beta-VHS situation. The latest move was taken by the WiMedia Alliance. Earlier this week it announced that it was working with Ecma International to establish the WiMedia MB-OFDM UWB platform as the global UWB standard. Ecma, established in 1961, is a non-profit industry association of technology developers, vendors, and users. It is known for its development of DVD interchange standards, scripting languages, and other standards in information, communications technology, and consumer electronics.

WiMedia hopes that its work with Ecma will make it possible to complete the process of establishing a recognized international standard by the end of this year, which will correspond to WiMedia standard-based UWB product launches.

For more on the state of UWB standard war:
- see the WiMedia Alliance's website
- check out Ecma International's website
- read this press release

BACKGROUND: UWB sends a very low-power signal over a large portion of bandwidth. The weakness of the signal and the fact that it is sent in a brief pulse means that equipment operating in the spectrum for which the FCC has licensed UWB -- a 7.5 GHz band from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz -- is unable even to notice the UWB signal.

There are two competing UWB coalitions. One is led by Motorola-spin-off Freescale Semiconductor. Freescale's technology uses the full 7.5 GHz in one long stretch but with a filter that excludes the unlicensed 5 GHz band used by 802.11a. Freescale already has production chips and reference designs, but no products shipping yet. Chinese consumer electronic giant Haier will soon bring out a Freescale-based UWB HDTV.

The competing group is the WiMedia Alliance, which counts Intel, Kodak, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, and many other leading companies among its members. A few months ago, the WiMedia Alliance merged with the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA). It was a helpful merger as MBOA was formed to work on the PHY while WiMedia was established to work on the MAC layer. WiMedia divides UWB into several smaller bands, allowing some bands to be turned off (for example, a range in the 5 GHz to allow for 802.11a, or other swaths of spectrum to comply with regulations in other countries). OFDM is used within each band.

For an through analysis of the state of UWB:
- see Glenn Fleishman's MobilePipeline discussion

ALSO: UWB solutions developer Wisair said its UWB chipset development system had received FCC certification approval. This makes Wisair the first MBOA-based WiMedia Alliance member to receive FCC certification. Report

Trend: 60GHz band beckons

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 20:01:37 -0400

More than 150 years ago, James Maxwell wrote his famous equations (see below), and 30 years later, in 1895, physicist J.C. Bose channeled 60GHz signals in his laboratory (you can still see the equipment he used, including a Victorian polarizer, at the Royal Institution in London). Why this walk down memory lane? Because with the no-end-in-sight stalemate in which UWB has been mired, inquiring minds are beginning to take a serious look at 60GHz.

Several companies are already working in the space, including Sarasota, Florida-based xGtechnology and Sunnyvale, California-based SiBeam (the latter, though, is reluctant to be specific about what precisely it is developing, saying only that it is working on Gigabit wireless). The Berkeley Wireless Research Centre is developing CMOS chips for 60GHz. The IEEE has set up a task group, the 802.15.3c, to create a PHY standard for the frequency. The FCC has allocated a license-exempt band at the 57-to-64GHz band, sufficient for 2 Gbps throughput.

There are advantages to operating in the 60GHz band, such as reaching Gigabit speeds, but there are limitations as well, chief among them having to do with the propagation of electromagnetic radiation. Operating in 60GHz would be similar to operating with infra-red, requiring line-of-sight propagation. UWB, on the other hand, would offer a non-line-of-sight Gigabit propagation. If UWB finally fulfills its promise, 60GHz would be relegated to a supporting, "fast IRDA" role. But if UWB does not take off, and if 802.11n stays at about 500 Mbps in the existing 2.4Ghz and 5GHz, then 60GHz, with all its limitations, may become truly attractive.

For more on 60GHz activities:
- see Peter Judge's Techworld discussion
- the websites of xGtechnology | SiBeam

Background: Maxwell's equations represent an elegant and concise way to state the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism. The equations consist of a set of four fundamental equations which govern the behavior of electric and magnetic fields. They were written in complete form by the physicist James Clark Maxwell (1831-79), who also added the term displacement current to the final equation (although steady-state forms were already known).

For time-varying fields, the differential form of these equations in cgs is:

Where: is the divergence; is the curl; is the constant pi; E is the electric field; B is the magnetic field; is the charge density; c is the speed of light; and J is the vector current density.

Trend: Growing interest in 57-64 GHz band

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:01:36 -0400

Five years ago the FCC allocated 7 GHz in the 57-64 GHz band for unlicensed use. The opening of that spectrum and advances in processing and wireless communication technology now make this portion of the spectrum, hitherto perceived as the domain of expensive point-to-point links, of interest for next-generation WPANs and backbone nets. As Patrick Mannion writes, it is not immediately obvious why yet another IEEE standard should be developed and why more bandwidth for WPANs would be needed, especially in light of the availability of UWB and additional spectrum in the 5 GHz.

The ever-growing wireless multimedia distribution market, however, requires ever-higher data rates, and there is a need for bandwidths to enable these rates. UWB, operating over 7 GHz in the 3.1-10.6 GHz band, may one day deliver on its promise, but the standard is mired in a bitter sepcification battle with no end in site. Moreover, there is no escaping the fact that both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands see more and more traffic, and the problems of interference and disruption will only increase. The 57-64 GHz band, by contrast, remains untapped and is available worldwide, hence the growing interest in the higher frequencies.

There are problems in these high frequencies, however. Cost and the difficulties of modeling at high frequencies would likely be barriers, Farpoint Group's Craig Mathias says. "If UWB really does get down to $3 parts, I'm not sure [high-frequency radios] can compete. But it's still a fascinating area, and it might work if we can get the cost down with CMOS." And cost must come down, becasue 60 GHz radios have traditionally been made with expensive III-V materials, such as gallium arsenide. Costs may come down if production volume rises as a result of the work of the IEEE 802.15.3c task group, now developing a PHY standard around the 57-64 GHz band. This physical layer may then be married to the 802.15.3 MAC.

Higher frequencies suffer from propagation problems, but these frequencies also allow engineers to develop smaller circuits and antennas. These smaller antennas can be made to have high directional gain, or multiple antennas could be made to coordinate in beam forming, thus helping focus the emitted energy so as to overcome the path loss. We should note that the fact that the FCC's is allowing higher power levels for high-frequency radio than for WLANs or UWB (the limit is a very generous 40 dBm in the 60 GHz band) would also help overcome path loss.

For more on opening up the 57-64 GHz band:
- see Patrick Mannion's EE Times analysis

ALSO NOTED: First also noted headline; second headline

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:00:50 -0400

> David Burstein on the futre of DSL, cable, and everything in between. Interview

> SINE Networks selects Strix Systems for indoor/outdoor WiFi mesh access. Release

> PRISMIQ shows the PRISMIQ Mini-Fi, a WiFi compliant wireless USB2.0 adapter. Release

> PCTEL, Kyocera Wireless develop software for future 3G phones enabling IMS. Story

> Unstrung's Gabriel Brown says mobile WiMax will face a struggle. Story | Report

> Some, Brown among them, also say China's ZTE, already a leading WLL vendor in China, will likely be a dominant market force in WiMax. Website

> The future of WiMax. White Paper (pdf)

> UWB company Wisair is the first to introduce a WiMedia standard UWB chipset solution. Story

> The FCC has granted General Atomics approval for the company's Spectral Keying UWB radio solution. Report

> The total worth of the RFID industry is expected to grow from $1.95 billion in 2005 to about $26.9 billion in 2015. Report

> Reva System publishes open source RFID reader protocol. Release (pdf)

> Now Qualcomm is suing Broadcom (Broadcoam is already suing Qualcomm for patnet infringement). Story

And Finally... A St. Petersburg, Florida, man is facing stiff penalties for accessing someone's residential WiFi Internet connection while parked outside the victim's home. Story