An enhanced very high data rate UWB airinterface based on the WIMEDIA standard - An European View -

The existing UWB standard based on OFDM developed by the WIMEDIA industrial consortium can support data rates up to 480 MBit/s for a distance of up to 2m. The initial focus and key application driver of the WIMEDIA standard implementation will be the replacement of USB 2 cables in PC peripherals using the certified wireless USB protocol. Typical usage scenarios for this implementation will be the connection of a PC to hard disk drives, digital cameras, printers, etc. For future deployments of UWB technologies in multimedia and network centric consumer electronics applications higher data rates are needed. The goal of work package WP2a in the PULSERS II project is the definition and evaluation of an air interface and the corresponding building blocks that can provide data rates in the range 3GBit/s over a distance of around 2m. In order to achieve this goal the OFDM based air interface of the WIMEDIA system will be upgraded in an evolutionary manner with strong considerations for the backward compatibility of the future devices. This paper will give an overview of the state of the definition of this enhanced air-interface developed in the PULSERS II project. The concepts and the evaluation results coming out of this activity should be used as an input to the future standardization activities in the WIMEDIA group starting in 2007 with an initial step towards a IGbit/s enhancement of the air interface.