Confusion, Not Competition
The press loves controversy, but the contrived battle between UWB and 802.11n – the next generation of the 802.11 wireless LAN – is just causing confusion. The simple fact of the matter is ultra wideband (UWB) and in particular, TZero’s UWB solution, for wireless video networking has no serious competition
Trying to use 802.11 to stream high-definition (HD) video is like trying to make a bird fly with a large boulder on its back. WiFi simply isn’t designed to ensure a HD video experience. WiFi’s narrowband, limited-spectrum technology suffers from fading, and normally works at very high (several percent) packet error rates. That’s fine for data, but if you’re video signal drops out every 10 to 15 seconds, how’s your television watching experience going to be?
UWB meets the link reliability and packet error rate requirements specified by consumer device makers Panasonic, Philips, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony, ensuring a error-free video experience. WiFi solutions are subject to interference from a variety of common devices, including cordless phones, microwave ovens, and even other WiFi networks. Tzero’s UWB solution offers far greater resistance to in-band interference even when the interferer is as much as 10 times stronger than the ultra wideband signal. Finally, 802.11n does not provide real Quality of Service (QoS) or guaranteed bandwidth allocation because of the need to support legacy devices, while UWB can integrate a full video-capable QoS as specified by the WiMedia Alliance.
There may be competition and perhaps controversy as more vendors adopt UWB. But 802.11 will stay where it belongs – a data networking solution.
Let me know what you think – will UWB become the standard for the home entertainment network?
