Intel Corporation is continuing to drive development of a complete, standards-based, common platform for ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless technology. Updates include the completion of key technical specifications and the merger of WiMedia Alliance and Multi-band OFDM Alliance (MBOA) industry groups to drive the standardisation and adoption of UWB.

UWB is a wireless technology designed to transmit data within short range (up to 10 meters) at very high bandwidths (up to 480Mbits/s) while using little power. It is ideally suited for wirelessly transferring high-quality multimedia content, such as videos, between consumer electronic devices and computer peripherals. One of the main advantages of UWB is it does not interfere with other wireless technologies already in use, such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and cellular wide-area communications.

The Wireless USB specification is scheduled is expected to be completed at the end of March and the MBOA medium access controller (MAC) is scheduled is expected to be completed by the end of June. Wireless USB will be one of the technology implementations that will use UWB as the radio technology. The goal of Wireless USB is to bring the same ease of use and high speeds associated with USB 2.0, but without wires. To maintain the same usage and architecture as wired USB, the Wireless USB Promoter Group, of which Intel is a leading member, is defining the wireless USB specification. The first version of this specification will be completed by the end of this month. This will enable an easy migration path for today's wired USB solutions.

The MBOA's MAC layer specification v1.0. is expected to be finalised by the end of June, after their merger with the WiMedia Alliance. The WiMedia Alliance and the MBOA are industry groups that share a large portion of their memberships and have similar missions. Combining these groups will bring efficiency in developing the UWB standards and interoperabilty. After the groups merge they will maintain the current momentum to create a certification and interoperbaility testing program capable of addressing the entire UWB technology stack.

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