The brewing battle for the fast home digital media network is mainly focused on Wi-Fi and the UltraWideBand technologies, with a couple of left field candidates such as 60GHz (see separate item). Another of these contenders is start-up Radiospire Networks, which is creating chips for in-home WiMAX networks optimized to stream high definition television.
Radiospire claims to retain wired image quality with its high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) chipset, which enables wireless HDTV connectivity without compressing the video signal. The technology supports 720p, 1080i and 1080p HDTV formats with industry-standard HDCP encryption. Radiospire says compression-based wireless products, such as those based on WiMedia UWB or 802.11n fast Wi-Fi, present encryption challenges that limit their ability to handle copy protected content. Throughput is up to 3Gbps for 1080p formats.
“Wireless home theater connectivity is becoming a necessity, but until now the solutions available have had major drawbacks because of the use of compression,” said Tandhoni Rao, CEO of Radiospire.
The new chipset solution consists of a SiGe RF transceiver chip, ADC/DAC, and a CMOS baseband device. It operates in the 3.1-4.8GHz range to avoid interference with Wi-Fi and other signals in 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 720p/1080i configuration is sampling now with 1080p to follow in the second half of the year.
Another company focused on indoor applications of WiMAX is chip designer Cygnus Communications, which last year demonstrated a software defined platform for 802.16 at the SuperComm show, designed to compete with fast Wi-Fi.
In a 5GHz Lan environment, many of WiMAX’ characteristics will be similar to those of the OFDM-based variants of Wi-Fi, such as 802.11a and future releases. However, over LAN distances it will boast higher data rates than ‘a’, though not necessarily than the upcoming 802.11n, which could reach several hundred Mbps in its second generation.
The main attraction in unlicensed spectrum will be its quality of service mechanisms, which Cygnus believes are far better than those of the planned QoS extension to the 802.11 standard, called 802.11e, or the interim solution proposed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, WMM.
And then, WiMAX has the licensed spectrum options too, and so could offer a solution to spectrum holding service providers - as they start to bundle indoor media LAN facilities with other broadband offerings - that they could control.
Enhanced QoS will be important for streaming video around the home and to multiple devices such as televisions, laptops and handsets. An operator could use licensed WiMAX to deliver access and in-building LANs, by bundling a low power base station suited to indoor use with the normal WiMAX receiver.
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