An embedded network transport device using UWB

It would be to the advantage of VLab, to license existing code, to be integrated in the development of a project.

VLab's expertise and code relates to networking transport, and specifically to the multicast transport of data on local area networks.

Ultra Wide Band is a technology development, that presents a market advantage in the field of local area wireless data transport.

Low power, bandwidth, and the ability to support multiple channels, are features that are ideal for the implementation of device to device multicast.  VLab's multicast client is modular and scalable, and is suited to device to device applications.

The automatic configuration of network addresses is able to be accomplished with Piconet, implemented at the level of  an Integrated Circuit.  The automatic configuration of network services is able to be accomplished through IETF Zeroconfig protocols. Both Piconet and Zeroconfig complement the capabilities of UWB.

Ultra Wide Band Companies Index - Links

802.15.3 and UWB

Ultra Wide Band circumvents the need for licensed radio spectrum, for data transport radio channels. At this time there is some contention around the  802.15.3 specification defining transport protocols and device compatibility. This provides a window of market opportunity, regardless of the outcome of the protocol process. This is because UWB has been approved for use at a given level of radio frequncey emmission by the FCC, effectively opening the north American Market.

This bandwidth is available for short range communication, without the limitations placed on licensed carrier frequency.
 

Ultra Wide Band Advantages

The advantages that Ultra Wide Band has as a radio protocol, relative to frequency carrier radio are;  robustness of signal, in the cost of manufacturing, power consumption, and bandwidth.

Ultra Wide Band does not use a carrier frequency as does conventional packet radio.  UWB is based on very short low power pulses that are coded to appear as radio noise to conventional radio devices.  The receiving and transmitting devices have a map or when to sample for the expected signal, and so can obtain a far more precise sampling of the transmitted energy.

By dividing the signal into very short pulses, the physical limits for the transport of information are optimized, allowing more range for data.  The current 802.11 packet radio protocol has a theoretical upper limit of 70 mbs, whereas proposed UWB implementations have a  limit of 480mbs.  This technology now obtains a bandwidth of up to 110 mbs within 20m.

The coding used for UWB is robust , and can support thousands of simultaneous channels in a given radio spectrum space. This is possible while remaining within radio frequency emission limits, and without interfering with conventional devices.  In a very noisy environment with as much as 20 db of radio noise, this technology will still perform, scaling back to hundreds of possible channels.

All the signal processing for this transport can be accomplished on silicon.  This avoids the cost of the integration of analog radio circuits and filters, that also consume substantial amounts of power.  UWB makes use of very low power pulses, and consumes little power, providing an advantage for portable applications.

This combination of factors;  robustness of signal, in the cost of manufacturing, power consumption, and bandwidth, represents a significant market advantage, over carrier frequency packet radio.

A trailing edge system, such as , an embedded 486, with a 900mhz radio, or an 802.11 wireless card, could have a lower price point.  These will still have the disadvantages of limited bandwidth, network saturation, and higher power consumption.  Piconet as a protocol is optimized to reduce power consumption, and so can provide an advantage to carrier frequency based devices.  802.11 specifies that there be a contoller for every thirty channels, and that there may be as many as three controlers in a given range.  802.11 discrete spread spectrum, as a transport protocol, does not maintain bandwidth well, while negotiating multiple connections.  It is not a transport protocol that is ideal as a foundation for the multicast of multiple data streams in local area networks.

The Automatic Configuration of Network Connections

Piconet has been implemented as part of thee 802.16.3  specification.  This configures networks as nodes of up to eight devices, to bridge to another node any of these devices can become a controller device, the protocol also defines the hand-off exchange between controllers as network topologies change.  An overview of Piconet is avaiable here, and this pdf will provide more detailed information. The configuration of the transport layer for local area networks is automatic, and will scale with subnets supporting up to 248 addresses.

The Automatic Configuration of Network Services

The configuration of applications, services, and devices, can be automatic using the IETF Zeroconfig protocols.  Zeroconfiguration makes use of multicast to enable the automatic configuration of local area networks.   This protocol emphasizes the peer to peer nature of network services, an mDNS responder is all that is necessary for the configuration of services.

A device implementing Zeroconfig, can provide a platform for distributed computing.   Computers or a furnaces, will become things that will automatically provide their services to a network.  Computing services will persist within networks.

User Interface

 The User Interface for a multicast UWB device, could be configured through an HTML connection, or using a Java Applett, it could be be configured to push, pull or share, certain file types.  A multicast appliance would when connected, would publish a service or file type or list to the network, to stream a service it would broadcast a Session Announcement Protocol.  Any client devices would receive and transport the stream.  Code for automating the announcment of a multicast is available open source as Mini SAP Sever from the VideoLan project.

By only transporting recognized file types this device would innately provide a fashion of security. Mini-html server code is available through the Linux Devices Project.

Requirements

The implementation a self configuring local area network multicast client UWB would require;

A UWB chipset, an embedded processor (example1,example 2, example3),

a transport interface such as firewire with power, or ethernet,

and the graft of the Zeroconfig protocol with a VLab multicast client.

The presented concept is the most simple and effective configuration for multicast enabled wireless local area networks. Vlab should pursue this crucial market space, and be prepare to offer a license proposal, for a build package.

Digital Rights, Quality of Service, and Market Desire

Media compression, storage, routing, and copy protection are beyond the scope of this proposal, but they are logical extensions to such a design.  This design will create a foundation for very large ad-hoc networks, and can support p2p file sharing on networks that may be distinct from the internet.

 There is reason to consider the implementation of a voluntary participation in copyright, alongside of encrypted file sharing, as is presented by the Creative Commons Copyright, or by digital tipping and micro payment schemes.  Creative Commons is devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others to build upon and share.  Encrypted channels could also be implemented at the level of an embedded configuration.  This issue of routing is of secondary relevance to local area network multicast streaming, given the bandwidth capability and channel scaleability of UWB.

Though caching and routing services could improve the quality of the network service.  An open source example of embedded code for a bridging and routing function on a wireless network is the Mesh AP project.  It is not clear how routing systems will scale for quality of service in large mesh networks.  A commercial initiative devloped out of the US Military research into Mobile Ad Hock Networking is .

Any of these options could be implemented over the course of years, on the market success of a simple, multicast enabled network appliance.
 

Competing Market Spaces

3G network services, with bandwidth in the mbs, infrastructure costs in the billions, and monthly subscription fees, present a degree of reliability, and a relatively poor performance at a high price point.

 UWB network device will be able to provide excellent file transfer bandwidth, with no subscription fee; this, free bandwidth combined with multicast is the basis for new paradigm of network communications.  The issue of copy protection, particularly for video sharing on the internet, will be a driving force for p2p wireless file sharing devices.
 
 

References

Open source Piconet code
To implement an ad hoc multihop routing protocol for IPv4 on Linux 2.4 which will allow a
dynamic network of mobile and handheld devices to be self-organizing and self-configuring.

Bluetooth

The 2.0 spec will support gross rates of 4, 8 and 12 Mbits per second.
Bluetooth 2.0 is expected to operate with the same power consumption of the current Bluetooth.
The distributed protocol used in Bluetooth 2.0 is designed to alleviate the problems of the present Bluetooth's master/slave-based Piconet, which drops the Piconet when a master leaves. Bluetooth 2.0 dispenses with masters and makes any device on a Piconet a supervisor, so devices on the Piconet can continue to communicate.

Ad Hoc Routing

In a multihop mobile ad hoc network, broadcasting is an elementary operation to support many applications. It is shown that naively broadcasting by flooding may cause serious redundancy, contention, and collision in the network, which we refer to as the broadcast storm problem. Several threshold-based schemes are shown to perform better than flooding in that work. However, how to choose thresholds also poses a dilemma between reachability and efficiency under different host densities. In this paper, we propose several adaptive schemes, which can dynamically adjust thresholds based on local connectivity information. Simulation results show that these adaptive schemes can offer better reachability as well as efficiency as compared to the results. (ORL).

IP Telephones

A Relevant competing market spaces to assess is IP telephony using 802.11.  Industry analysts estimate the total international telephone traffic via Internet gateways will be between 25 percent and 40 percent of all traffic by 2004 at a market value of US$19 billion.  This is likely the value of the data transported as it relates to telecommunication fee structures.  What this indicates is a growing market for voice over local area network devices.