Ecma Releases Standard Based on WiMedia UWB Common Radio Platform

December 16, 2005

Ecma International released its standard for ultra-wideband (UWB) technology based on the WiMedia ultra-wideband common radio platform. Ecma will submit the standard to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for fast-track approval.

Members of WiMedia Alliance and Ecma submitted the WiMedia UWB platform specifications to Ecma in early 2005. Working in Ecma, experts completed the ECMA-368 standard: the physical (PHY) layer and the media access control (MAC) layer specifications. Separately, the ECMA-369 standard specifies the MAC-PHY interface.

Based on multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) technology, the WiMedia UWB platform is optimized for complementary wireless personal area network (WPAN) technologies such as Bluetooth, Certified Wireless USB, Wireless 1394 and Wireless IP. The solution enables short-range multimedia file transfers at data rates of 480Mbps+ with low power consumption, and operates in the 3.1 to 10.6 GHz UWB spectrum.

Jan van den Beld, secretary-general of Ecma, suggested that industry will use the new standards to implement low-cost wireless personal area network (WPAN) devices such as wireless USB.

Source: WiMedia Alliance.