Freescale Semiconductor applauded the FCC’s decision on ultra-wideband (UWB), saying the historic decision would protect incumbent spectrum stakeholders and benefit all consumers. While the waiver request was originally made to modify the measurement procedure for multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) technology, the FCC delivered a technology-neutral waiver. Freescale said that under these rules, design choices of direct sequence UWB (DS-UWB) technology result in a 4x advantage for DS-UWB over MB-OFDM technology.
Freescale plans to expand its UWB product roadmap and hopes to introduce multi-gigabit products over the coming quarters.
Relative to the original rules, under this waiver, DS-UWB can now enjoy 4x greater data rate across a network, or deliver a stream using 4x lower power from the battery, or deliver the same data rate across the network but at double the distance and with greater robustness. The capability to burst at 4x data rate over the same range, and “sleep” more, generates significant additional battery savings for the already very low power DS-UWB solution, an ideal benefit for future DS-UWB applications such as cell phones, digital camcorders and portable hard drives. As important, with a simple firmware update, Freescale’s current UWB chipset, the XS110, can now be re-certified to take advantage of the benefits of the new waiver and deliver multiple HD video streams at double the distance — up to 20 meters.
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