“Supports continued development of Bluetooth”
CSR voiced its support for the Bluetooth special interest group’s (SIG) move, announced today, to integrate ultra-wideband technology (UWB) into the Bluetooth specification. The new Bluetooth standard will be an ideal fit with existing Bluetooth technology but will bring a new dimension to short-range wireless communications by adding the option of a much higher rate UWB physical layer (PHY) onto Bluetooth. Bluetooth is the world’s most successful and proven short-range wireless standard for personal and battery powered devices.
CSR will continue to work within the Bluetooth SIG to help finalise the new Bluetooth standard. CSR has updated its roadmap and will launch a Bluetooth product supporting UWB after the new Bluetooth standard is ratified by the Bluetooth SIG.
The new Bluetooth standard with UWB will provide much higher data transfer rates than standard Bluetooth and so be perfectly positioned to target home entertainment applications such as high-definition (HD) video streaming. Such applications require very high speed, stable transmission of extremely large data packets over a relatively short distance, such as from a set-top box to a plasma screen.
By using the same established Bluetooth communications protocol stack and profiles above the new UWB PHY, the new Bluetooth standard will allow devices to interoperate at very high data rates when deployed in different end equipment. It will not be necessary to invent a new protocol stack for UWB and the debugging work involved in establishing real-world interoperability will not need to be repeated. Using the common, established Bluetooth protocol stack and profiles allows the new Bluetooth standard to be operated in modes fully backwards compatible with products already equipped with Bluetooth, making up the world’s largest installed base of products with embedded short range wireless technology.
“The Bluetooth SIG has proved that the success of a standard depends on the close cooperation of the key silicon and software design companies,” commented Tom Siep, CSR. “The new Bluetooth standard with UWB will be subject to Bluetooth’s rigorous qualification process and standardisation procedures, factors that go into making Bluetooth the stable and widely accepted standard it is today.”
Representatives from companies involved in the new Bluetooth standard with UWB will be able to discuss this new standard in an open forum and then find neutral territory in the form of the UnPlugFest events to test their products and ensure interoperability and coexistence, prior to final testing and qualification. By bringing UWB into the Bluetooth fold, products will qualify to a proven standard and move to market much faster thanks to the extensive testing and qualification process.”
CSR is the world leader in Bluetooth technology, with its BlueCore silicon featuring in more than 60% of all Bluetooth-enabled product designs. James Collier, CTO and co-founder, CSR noted, “As a company, we are committed to enhancing the wireless world and with this aim in mind, are constantly researching wireless technologies that we think have potential. We have been working on a high-speed UWB PHY for some time and welcome the Bluetooth SIG’s announcement. The combination of Bluetooth’s complete communications system with the UWB PHY allows real working products with very high data rates to be brought to market much more rapidly, without suffering further delays in the standardisation process.”
CSR recently demonstrated UniFi-1, its first 802.11b/g single-chip for handheld consumer electronic devices, to the public at London’s WLAN event. The company continues to build on its competitive lead in the Bluetooth market, following the successful adoption of its enhanced data rate (EDR) BlueCore4 chip family. BlueCore4 continues to be the only EDR silicon shipping in volume.