The origins of UWB date back to Heinrich Hertz's experiments at the end of the 1890s. The technology has been widely used by the military for applications such as radar, surveillance and sensor applications, but it didn't start gathering momentum until early in 2002.
That's when, after a long battle, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to make available unlicensed spectrum in the 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz frequency band for commercial use by UWB devices.
The FCC ruling included serious constrictions on power consumption, which means UWB's best chance for widespread adoption is the wireless personal-area network (WPAN). That's because UWB offers impressive bandwidth but a relatively short range.
The 802.15.3a Task Group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) has been deliberating on the best technical solution on which to base UWB's short range, 480 Mbps standard. The group whittled 23 proposals down to a pair.
One proposal called for multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). This proposal was backed by Intel, Texas Instruments and by virtually all major consumer electronics manufacturers.
The new HPE Aruba 730 series Wi-Fi 7 access points tout high performance, enhanced security, location tracking capabilities, and more.
Verizon is demoing crowd analytics technology that uses 5G along with AI and mobile edge computing to give stadium operators insights into the flow of fans throughout a venue.
As we move closer to fully realizing the potential of Wi-Fi 7, it becomes evident that the RF, signaling, and throughput tests are not merely procedural checkpoints but the pillars of excellence in wireless communication.
