High-Speed Wireless Personal Area Networks: An Application of UWB Technologies

Abstract

Recently, a large number of wireless networks are being developed and deployed in the market. According to the communication range, wireless networks can be classified into wireless wide area networks (WWANs), wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs), and wireless body area networks (WBANs). With the advances in wireless technologies, latest generation of WPANs can provide a data rate of hundreds (or even thousands) of Mbps at a distance of less than 10 meters. Ultra-wideband (UWB) is an emerging technology that offers distinct advantages, e.g. high bandwidth and small communication ranges, for WPAN applications (Park & Rappaport, 2007; Chong et al., 2006; Fontana, 2004; Intel, 2004; Porcino & Hirt, 2003). One of the ‘killer’ applications of high-speed WPAN is wireless video area network (WVAN) that offers wireless transmission of high-definition videos (several Gbps) within a small communication distance (Singh et al., 2008; Wirelesshd 2009; Whdi 2009). This chapter provides a comprehensive summary on the latest development and standardization progress of high-speed WPANs. There are seven sections in this chapter. The first section describes the background of WPANs and introduces the IEEE networking standards for WPAN. The second section discusses characteristics of UWB signals and explains why they are particularly suitable for high-speed WPAN applications. The third section discusses technical challenges and standardization issues. The fourth section reports on the latest development of high-speed WPANs. Standards or systems to be discussed in this section include Certified Wireless USB (WUSB), Bluetooth, TransferJet, WirelessHD, Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), Wireless Gigabit (WiGig), and ECMA-387. The fifth section discusses possible research directions of high-speed WPANs. The sixth and the seventh sections are conclusion and references.