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Originally published on 05/09/2002
I've been keeping an eye on ultra wideband (UWB) radio technology since I first met Ralph Petroff, the CEO of Time Domain, in Atlanta in March 1999. Ralph's explanation of his company's technology sounded unreal: UWB radios don't modulate a carrier wave on a single or a few frequencies like current radios do. Instead, UWB transmitters send precisely timed pulses over a swath of frequencies at once.
Fast Facts:
Time Domain
www.timedomain.com |
| CEO |
Ralph Petroff
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| HQ |
Huntsville, AL
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| Employees |
145
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| Market |
Ultra wideband technology
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| Funding |
$85M in three rounds
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| Profitable? |
Expected Q4 2003
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UWB radios transmit data much more quickly, and at much lower power, than current technologies. UWB proponents say it doesn't interfere with existing radio (apparently it just looks like faint background noise to anything but the intended receiver), and that it is inherently secure. The technology can also be used for radar and geolocation.
The FCC, founded in 1934, didn't foresee anything resembling UWB, and it took until April this year to designate a band of spectrum (3.6 to 10.6 gigahertz) to it. Now that UWB is legal, it's naturally getting more attention; the IEEE is also working on a related standard for short-range, high-speed data transmission (802.15.3).
Fast Facts:
Xtreme Spectrum
www.xtremespectrum.com |
| CEO |
Martin Rofheart |
| HQ |
Vienna, VA |
| Employees |
62 |
| Market |
Ultra wideband technology |
| Funding |
Amount not disclosed; currently closing C round |
| Profitable? |
Expected late 2003 |
But the FCC also limited the power output of UWB transmitters, which means it's a bit of a letdown how UWB will likely first be used commercially: companies like Time Domain and Xtreme Spectrum see it as a high-speed, short-range data cable (USB 2.0 and FireWire) replacement -- a faster Bluetooth. That's a rather ignoble debut for such a stunning technology.
However, if UWB manufacturers can really drive down the cost of this technology, its speed and low power consumption could push it into many different applications, from stereo interconnects to wireless networking. UWB could be the technology that ultimately unifies short-range radio, and while it is unlikely to threaten current 10 megabit/second 802.11b networking, it is a definite challenge to the higher-speed 802.11a and 802.11g standards.
- Rafe Needleman
email: rafe-needleman@catchoday.com
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