UWB Forum

Last updated
UWB Forum
Successor UWB Alliance
Formation2004
Dissolved2006

The UWB Forum was an industry organization promoting interoperable ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless computer networking products from multiple vendors. It was founded in 2004 and disbanded around 2006.

Contents

History

The UWB Forum was founded in 2004, promoting acronyms such as DS-UWB and CSM. [1] Within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the IEEE_802.15.3a effort attempted to provide a higher speed ultra-wideband enhancement amendment to IEEE 802.15.3 for applications which involved imaging and multimedia.

That standardisation attempt failed due to contrasting approaches between the WiMedia Alliance and UWB Forum. On January 19, 2006 IEEE 802.15.3a task group (TG3a) members voted to withdraw the December 2002 project authorization request (PAR) that initiated the development of high data rate wireless standards. The IEEE 802.15.3a did consolidate 23 physical layer specifications into two proposals: multi-band orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MB-OFDM), supported by the WiMedia Alliance, and direct sequence - UWB (DS-UWB), supported by the UWB Forum. [2]

Major members Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor left the group in April 2006 and the UWB Forum disbanded. [3] Its website remained into mid-2007. [4]

UWB Alliance

On December 19, 2018, the UWB Alliance was officially launched to promote interoperable ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless computer networking products from multiple vendors. The founding members include: Hyundai, Kia, Zebra, Decawave, Alteros, Novelda, and Ubisense. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

IEEE 802.15 is a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE 802 standards committee which specifies Wireless Specialty Networks (WSN) standards. The working group was formerly known as Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEEE 802.11</span> Wireless network standard

IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication. The standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand and are the world's most widely used wireless computer networking standards. IEEE 802.11 is used in most home and office networks to allow laptops, printers, smartphones, and other devices to communicate with each other and access the Internet without connecting wires. IEEE 802.11 is also a basis for vehicle-based communication networks with IEEE 802.11p.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wi-Fi</span> Wireless local area network

Wi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer networks, used globally in home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, hotels, libraries, and airports to provide visitors.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEEE 802.20</span>

IEEE 802.20 or Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) was a specification by the standard association of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for mobile broadband networks. The main standard was published in 2008. MBWA is no longer being actively developed.

IEEE 802.15.4 is a technical standard which defines the operation of a low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN). It specifies the physical layer and media access control for LR-WPANs, and is maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group, which defined the standard in 2003. It is the basis for the Zigbee, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, MiWi, 6LoWPAN, Thread, Matter and SNAP specifications, each of which further extends the standard by developing the upper layers which are not defined in IEEE 802.15.4. In particular, 6LoWPAN defines a binding for the IPv6 version of the Internet Protocol (IP) over WPANs, and is itself used by upper layers like Thread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WiMAX</span> Wireless broadband standard

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wi-Fi Alliance</span> Non-profit organization that owns the Wi-Fi trademark

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEEE 802.16</span> Series of wireless broadband standards

IEEE 802.16 is a series of wireless broadband standards written by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE Standards Board established a working group in 1999 to develop standards for broadband for wireless metropolitan area networks. The Workgroup is a unit of the IEEE 802 local area network and metropolitan area network standards committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless USB</span> Wireless radio communication protocol

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">HomeRF</span> Wireless networking specification

HomeRF was a wireless networking specification for home devices. It was developed in 1998 by the Home Radio Frequency Working Group, a consortium of mobile wireless companies that included Proxim Wireless, Intel, Siemens AG, Motorola, Philips and more than 100 other companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WiMedia Alliance</span>

The WiMedia Alliance was a non-profit industry trade group that promoted the adoption, regulation, standardization and multi-vendor interoperability of ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies. It existed from about 2002 through 2009.

Pulse~LINK is a privately held fabless integrated circuit semiconductor corporation headquartered in Carlsbad, California, located just north of San Diego California, in the United States. Pulse~LINK commercializes ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, for both wireless and wired networks.

Alereon, Inc, is a fabless semiconductor company. It uses ultrawideband (UWB) radio technology to develop Certified Wireless USB and WiMedia Alliance-compliant UWB integrated circuits (ICs). Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Alereon also has offices in Korea and Hong Kong. Alereon was spun off from Time Domain Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama, in August 2003 taking with it a number of engineers, executives, and patents from its parent company. An early investor was Austin Ventures.

IEEE 802.11  – or more correctly IEEE 802.11-1997 or IEEE 802.11-1999 – refer to the original version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard released in 1997 and clarified in 1999. Most of the protocols described by this early version are rarely used today.

IEEE 802.15.4a was an amendment to IEEE 802.15.4-2006 specifying that additional physical layers (PHYs) be added to the original standard. It has been merged into and is superseded by IEEE 802.15.4-2011.

WiGig, alternatively known as 60 GHz Wi-Fi, refers to a set of 60 GHz wireless network protocols. It includes the current IEEE 802.11ad standard and also the IEEE 802.11ay standard.

The Wireless LAN Interoperability Forum (WLIF) was a non-profit industry organization founded in 1996 to promote and certify wireless LAN products. It was active from about 1996 through 1998 and disbanded in 2001.

IEEE 802.11ac-2013 or 802.11ac is a wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.11 set of protocols, providing high-throughput wireless local area networks (WLANs) on the 5 GHz band. The standard has been retroactively labelled as Wi-Fi 5 by Wi-Fi Alliance.

The FiRa Consortium (FiRa) is a non-profit organization that promotes the use of Ultra-wideband technology for use cases such as access control, location-based services, and device-to-device services. UWB offers fine ranging and secure capabilities and operates in the available 6–9 GHz spectrum. Founded on August 1, 2019, by ASSA ABLOY, Bosch, HID Global, NXP Semiconductors, and Samsung, the consortium aims to certify UWB products for conformity to defined standards of interoperability. In June 2020, the FiRa Consortium and the UWB Alliance announced their formal liaison to "accelerate the development and adoption of UWB technology".

References

  1. "UWB Forum - Home Page". Archived from the original on April 10, 2004. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  2. "UWB Forum and WiMedia Alliance Committed to Commercializing UWB: Response to IEEE® Motion to Withdraw Ultra-Wideband Standard Project". Press release. January 19, 2006. Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  3. Patrick Mannion (April 7, 2006). "Freescale, Motorola pull out of UWB Forum". EE Times. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  4. "UWB Forum". Old web site. Archived from the original on September 6, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  5. "Press Releases: UWB Alliance to Lead Industry Growth and Drive Global Standards". UWB Alliance. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
  6. "UWB Alliance to focus on interoperability, further boosting the UWB ecosystem". FierceWireless. Retrieved 2019-09-18.