UWB Communications– A Standards War

12.4.2004 Eino Kivisaari

Helsinki University of TechnologyTelecommunications and Multimedia Laboratory

What is UWB (Ultra Wideband) all about

A Standards War at IEEE:

Motorola (Freescale Semiconductor)

vs.MBOA Alliance (Multi-Band OFDM Alliance)

MAIN GOAL

INTRO TO UWB Ultra Wideband Impulse Radio:

Radio transmission without RF carrier on a several GHz wide band

Sub-nanosecond pulses, very accurate timing & positioning

Theoretically Gigabit data rate over short distances

Interference with narrowband RF traffic can be avoided by using very low transmission power

UWB PROS

Very high connection speeds, up to 1 Gb/s

Spectrum reuse

Low power consumption

Enabler of new services and functionsCable replacementWireless USB, Wireless Firewire

UWB

Coverage

Mobility Bitrate

GSM UMTS WLANBluetooth LAN

UWB Compared toCellular, WLAN,Bluetooth and Ethernet

FCC Regulations for UWBThe Commission on February 14, 2002 adopted a First Report and Order in ET Docket No. 98-153 to amend Part 15 of the FCC Rules to permit the marketing and operation of certain types of new products incorporating ultra-wideband technology. UWB devices operate by employing very narrow or short duration pulses that result in very large or wideband transmission bandwidths. UWB technology holds great promise for a vast array of new applications that will provide significant benefits for public safety, businesses and consumers.

These applications include imaging systems that can detect objects beneath the surface of the earth or within and behind walls; vehicle radar systems for collision avoidance; and high-speed data communications devices.

February 2002 Available spectrum: 3.10 GHz – 10.6 GHz Low transmission powers Indoor usage, outdoors only peer-to-peer

Standards War A War over an IEEE standard for UWB

PHY (Physical Layer) specification, 802.15.3a

War started after the FCC rules had been out for 6 months

Two counterparts:

Motorola & Xtreme Spectrum (now acquired by Motorola)

MBOA Alliance (Multi-Band OFDM Alliance) Intel, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic,

Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, NEC, Fujitsu, Sharp, Mitsubishi, Olympus, TDK, Realtek, VIA etc. (90 companies as of April 2004 and growing)

MBOA was created when Multi-Band Coalition (MBC) approved Texas Instruments’ OFDM-based proposal (June 2003)

Technical differences

Motorola & Xtreme Spectrum Direct Sequence-CDMA

MBOA Alliance Multi-Band-OFDM

multiple +500 MHz wide bands OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) bands can be switched on and off (dynamical spectrum

usage) can be implemented with simpler CMOS technology than

impulse radio UWB

IEEE Process

Despite numerous attemps, the final decision has not been achieved

MBOA majority many times, but not 75% Process has been stalled for months

Alternative: ”Forget IEEE, form a Special Interest Group of your own!” MBOA has done this Will Motorola follow?

Jan 03Six UWBdevelopers formMulti-Band Coalition(MBC)

Oct 02Four UWBdevelopers discussMulti-Bandapproaches

Mar 03Majority of IEEEproposals based onMulti-Band

Texas Instrumentspresents MB-OFDM

Motorola andXtreme Spectrumteam on UWB

Jul 03IEEE down-selectsto MB-OFDM,which obtains 60 %of votes

Jun 03MBC, TI, Sony,Samsung andothers merge: MB-OFDM Alliance(MBOA) is formed

Nov 0335 companies inMBOA

Motorola buysXtreme Spectrum

Xtreme promisesroyalty-free IPR

IEEE voting: againno result

Mar 0490 companies inMBOA

Motorola: acompromiseproposal includingboth PHYs

Jan 04MBOA forms a newSIG (SpecialInterest Group)outside IEEE

Feb 04Intel backs upMBOA-based UWBfor Wireless USB

Classification of Standards Wars(Shapiro and Varian, 1999)

Your Technology

Rival Technology

Compatible Incompatible

CompatibleRival

evolutionsEvolution versus

revolution

IncompatibleRevolution

versus evolution

Rival revolutions

Key assets in a standards war (Shapiro and Varian, 1999)

Control over an installed base of customers Intellectual property rights Ability to innovate First-mover advantages Manufacturing abilities Strength in complements Reputation and brand name

Control over an installed base of customers

Not Motorola, not MBOA

Intellectual property rights

Key IPR are owned respectively by both parties, no decisive differences

Ability to innovate

Both Motorola and MBOA members have a good track record in making innovative products

However, MBOA wins 6-0 due to its sheer megnitude

First-mover advantages

Motorola & Xtreme Spectrum have had a time advantageMotorola’s strategy in IEEE has been seen as

a way to delay MBOA and strike first

MBOA has progressed rapidly

As a 90-company alliance, MBOA may not be as agile as Motorola

Manufacturing abilities

MBOA wins 6-0

Strength in complements

MBOA wins 6-0consumer electronics: Nokia, Samsung,

Philips, Panasonic, HP, TDK, Sharp, NEC, Toshiba, Olympus

motherboards: Intel, Via, Realtek

operating systems: Microsoft

Reputation and brand name

Motorola is alone MBOA wins 6-0

Conclusion (Confusion..??) Regardless of IEEE process, MBOA UWB will emerge as

the next big wireless thing Wireless USB Wireless Firewire

However, Motorola UWB may not die out: Recent demo: 1.3 Gb/s over 2 m distance Can survive, if becomes branded and aimed to different usage

scenarios than MBOA UWB

Aside the duel between Motorola and MBOA, the overall industry seems to have learned from past failures: a jolly good spirit of co-operation floats around the MBOA standard – a bigger cake for everyone Products in 2005?