The Bluetooth Special Interest Group said it will begin working with ultra-wideband developers, combining the strengths of both personal wireless area network technologies. The Bluetooth SIG said the partnership will extend its long-term roadmap of advancing Bluetooth technology with higher-speed capabilities and allow UWB developers to tap into Bluetooth’s market maturity, qualification program and brand equity.
“It has been apparent that members of the Bluetooth SIG would like to enable products with higher data rates,” explained Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “I feel that it is the responsibility of the industry to recognize synergies and limit fragmentation as much as possible. Joint development between Bluetooth technology and UWB is the fastest and most economical pathway for both technologies to meet the future demands of companies and end users.”
Foley added that the partnership includes working with the WiMedia Alliance and UWB Forum, though details were still pending final ratification of the UWB standard.
The Bluetooth SIG, which represents more than 3,400 member companies, updated its technology roadmap last fall with plans to triple transmission speeds up to 3 megabits per second, increase security and enhance service quality. Foley noted those plans were still being implemented in the Bluetooth 2.0 specification and that the UWB plans would not interfere with those initiatives.
“The one thing missing from our roadmap was a high-speed option,” Foley said. “But at that time we were not sure how to add that-whether to build or buy.”
Initial plans call for deploying a WPAN technology that would rely on Bluetooth for lower-speed applications to take advantage of the technology’s low-power consumption, including headset and other voice applications. The UWB technology then would be accessed for higher-bandwidth applications, including data transfers and streaming video content, taking advantage of UWB speeds up to 480 Mbps.
“Both technologies now stand to achieve greater things as we move together toward the ideal, easy-to-use products that allow customers to enjoy their content and devices without being physically tethered to a network,” added Stephen Weed, president of the WiMedia Alliance,
Foley noted that initial products probably would comprise separate radios and chipsets with software used to select the appropriate technology. The products also would be backward compatible with Bluetooth 1.1 specifications.
Despite using two separate radios, Foley said he expected the combined solution would continue to use the Bluetooth logo and still be referred to as Bluetooth.
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“It’s the next generation of Bluetooth,” Foley said. “Bluetooth has done a lot of the heavy lifting of what PAN can do, and we expect to capitalize on that work.”
Combined chipsets are not expected to be available for several years, with Foley noting that the current division amongst UWB supporters over what the final standard will look like needs to be solved before the partnership can make any meaningful advances.
The partnership gained support from Freescale Semiconductor, which is the only company shipping UWB silicon.
“We deeply value the expertise of the Bluetooth SIG and its learning in profile and applications for personal area networks,” said Martin Rofheart, director of the UWB operations at Freescale. “By marrying direct sequence UWB and Bluetooth through an industry-developed protocol adaptation layer, we will dramatically enhance existing applications and profiles and enable new wireless user experiences.”
Analysts generally were receptive to the announcement, citing the ability to leverage both technologies in targeting the same market for short-range cable replacement, though some cautioned the initiative could limit current and future WPAN technologies.
“Bluetooth implementing UWB could serve to limit interest in wireless USB, which also uses UWB as an air interface and targets a similar market, but is still very much unsettled with regard to software and authentication,” said Dan Benjamin, senior analyst at ABI Research.
Foley also downplayed notions that the move was forced upon the Bluetooth SIG as several competing WPAN technologies have begun making waves in the space, including Zigbee and near-field communications.
“I don’t see much competitive overlap between the different technologies,” Foley said.