Ultra-Wideband Technology as Early as the Holiday Season

Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) is the first company to receive Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification for its Ultra-Wideband (UWB) communications solution. With this certification, Freescale can begin commercial shipments of its XS110 chipset immediately. This enables Freescale’s customers to design UWB technology into their consumer electronics applications for unlicensed operation anywhere in the United States.

UWB allows consumers to create a hometheater environment without cables. It also provides instantaneous, wireless transfer of images from a digital camera to a PC/laptop or television. Employees can connect laptops and projectors without wires and music fans can transmit multiple megabytes of MP3 audio from laptops to MP3 players. Initial consumer applications are expected to include large screen displays (plasma, LCD), digital video recorders and set-top boxes, with mobile applications such as portable hard drives and digital cameras to follow later in 2005.

“By working closely with the FCC over the past two years, we felt confident that our direct sequence UWB (DS-UWB) approach would comply and enable coexistence with other wireless technologies,” said Martin Rofheart, director of UWB operations for Freescale. “With the FCC’s action, we’re now focused on delivering UWB product to our consumer electronics customers so their products will be able to reach the U.S. market as early as the holiday season.”

The XS110 chipset uses the DS-UWB approach, which is currently a leading candidate for the IEEE 802.15.3 standard for high-speed wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Using DS-UWB, the chipset achieves over 110 megabits per second (Mbps) data rates and consumes minimal power, making it ideal for multimedia applications requiring the wireless distribution of audio and video.

Source: Freescale Semiconductor