The Times: The WiFi revolution arrives/Ultra wideband (UWB) technology
By David Rowan
Even before third-generation mobile phones arrive to deliver fast, permanent internet connections while we travel, a new type of cable-free IT network is sweeping across Britain.
It is called WiFi and it offers fast internet access using a wireless networking standard known as 802.11b. If you are within range of a local WiFi network, all your laptop needs is a wireless network card and an antenna to get online via radio signals that link to a base station near by.
Once you are within reach of a local wireless "node", you can surf at six megabits a second, fast enough for comfortable video conferencing, game-playing or MP3 streaming.
So convinced is Starbucks that customers will pay to use WiFi networks while sipping lattes that it is working with Microsoft to wire up every one of its US cafes and has recently started trials in London.
BT is building networks across Britain, after the Government recently allowed commercial exploitation of this part of the radio spectrum, and has pledged 400 of its own wireless "hotspots" by next June, with up to 4,000 sites by June 2005. Business travellers can already log on while sitting in airport hotels and motorway service stations.
But this communications revolution also has its grassroots side. From Bethnal Green to Bath, individual internet subscribers have been sharing their spare bandwidth with strangers through wireless neighbourhood networks. Many of these local networks were set up to allow groups of friends or colleagues to work away from their desks, but in a spirit of community scores of them are now available free to passing strangers to check e-mails or log on to the web.
There is even an evolving language of street markings, known as "warchalking", that uses chalked symbols to alert passers-by to a WiFi network near by.
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Another new wireless technology: Ultra wideband (UWB)
Controversy over the use of new ultra wideband (UWB) technology goes far beyond its potential to disrupt air safety systems. Of greater concern to privacy campaigners is its extraordinary ability to see through walls up to 8in thick, threatening householders with a 21st-century version of Superman's X-ray vision The promise of UWB lies in the fast, secure connections it offers computers and other electronic devices that are on the move. But the technology also has another great advantage: it can be used to track a person's movements through concrete, brick and steel.
Unlike conventional radar, which relies on high-frequency waves to produce fuzzy images, UWB uses lower-frequency pulses that can penetrate walls and produce clearly defined images. Commentators in the United States, where it was developed, are saying that widespread use of the technology will allow strangers to see "right into your bedroom". Some US police forces have been testing special UWB "torches" that can peer through walls to locate hidden criminals or weapons.
Companies developing such devices point out that they could help rescue teams to locate victims trapped under collapsed buildings, and even detect beating hearts in an earthquake zone. But the American Civil Liberties Union is more concerned that the technology will be misused by police conducting "a high-tech strip search".
Critics of UWB also claim that it could interfere with transmissions of the Global Positioning System (GPS) network of satellites, beyond the feared disruption to aircraft safety equipment. Concern has been expressed by meteorological organisations, the US military and air passenger groups, which point out that the GPS is extremely sensitive to interference.
But the technology also offers enormous benefits to the consumer, which is why those companies developing UWB devices, most notably the Time Domain Corporation of Alabama, have been lobbying hard for its widespread introduction. Unlike the next generation of internet-connected mobile phones, UWB does not require an expensive dedicated radio frequency or newly built infrastructure.
Instead, it sends short pulses of data across a wide range of the allocated radio spectrum, offering fast, powerful signals that are almost impossible to intercept. UWB signals can travel only about 30ft, far less than competing standards for wireless home networks.
But the signals are strong enough to carry high-quality video and audio, and cable- television firms are embracing UWB as a means of vastly increasing the bandwidth they can use.
According to the California analysts Advanced Strategies for Integrated Solutions, there will be 274 million UWB-based devices in use within five years. Such growth, if it occurs, will be led by IT firms such as Intel, which is considering incorporating UWB technology in its chips.
(The Times, September 2 2002)
Even before third-generation mobile phones arrive to deliver fast, permanent internet connections while we travel, a new type of cable-free IT network is sweeping across Britain.
It is called WiFi and it offers fast internet access using a wireless networking standard known as 802.11b. If you are within range of a local WiFi network, all your laptop needs is a wireless network card and an antenna to get online via radio signals that link to a base station near by.
Once you are within reach of a local wireless "node", you can surf at six megabits a second, fast enough for comfortable video conferencing, game-playing or MP3 streaming.
So convinced is Starbucks that customers will pay to use WiFi networks while sipping lattes that it is working with Microsoft to wire up every one of its US cafes and has recently started trials in London.
BT is building networks across Britain, after the Government recently allowed commercial exploitation of this part of the radio spectrum, and has pledged 400 of its own wireless "hotspots" by next June, with up to 4,000 sites by June 2005. Business travellers can already log on while sitting in airport hotels and motorway service stations.
But this communications revolution also has its grassroots side. From Bethnal Green to Bath, individual internet subscribers have been sharing their spare bandwidth with strangers through wireless neighbourhood networks. Many of these local networks were set up to allow groups of friends or colleagues to work away from their desks, but in a spirit of community scores of them are now available free to passing strangers to check e-mails or log on to the web.
There is even an evolving language of street markings, known as "warchalking", that uses chalked symbols to alert passers-by to a WiFi network near by.
++++
Another new wireless technology: Ultra wideband (UWB)
Controversy over the use of new ultra wideband (UWB) technology goes far beyond its potential to disrupt air safety systems. Of greater concern to privacy campaigners is its extraordinary ability to see through walls up to 8in thick, threatening householders with a 21st-century version of Superman's X-ray vision The promise of UWB lies in the fast, secure connections it offers computers and other electronic devices that are on the move. But the technology also has another great advantage: it can be used to track a person's movements through concrete, brick and steel.
Unlike conventional radar, which relies on high-frequency waves to produce fuzzy images, UWB uses lower-frequency pulses that can penetrate walls and produce clearly defined images. Commentators in the United States, where it was developed, are saying that widespread use of the technology will allow strangers to see "right into your bedroom". Some US police forces have been testing special UWB "torches" that can peer through walls to locate hidden criminals or weapons.
Companies developing such devices point out that they could help rescue teams to locate victims trapped under collapsed buildings, and even detect beating hearts in an earthquake zone. But the American Civil Liberties Union is more concerned that the technology will be misused by police conducting "a high-tech strip search".
Critics of UWB also claim that it could interfere with transmissions of the Global Positioning System (GPS) network of satellites, beyond the feared disruption to aircraft safety equipment. Concern has been expressed by meteorological organisations, the US military and air passenger groups, which point out that the GPS is extremely sensitive to interference.
But the technology also offers enormous benefits to the consumer, which is why those companies developing UWB devices, most notably the Time Domain Corporation of Alabama, have been lobbying hard for its widespread introduction. Unlike the next generation of internet-connected mobile phones, UWB does not require an expensive dedicated radio frequency or newly built infrastructure.
Instead, it sends short pulses of data across a wide range of the allocated radio spectrum, offering fast, powerful signals that are almost impossible to intercept. UWB signals can travel only about 30ft, far less than competing standards for wireless home networks.
But the signals are strong enough to carry high-quality video and audio, and cable- television firms are embracing UWB as a means of vastly increasing the bandwidth they can use.
According to the California analysts Advanced Strategies for Integrated Solutions, there will be 274 million UWB-based devices in use within five years. Such growth, if it occurs, will be led by IT firms such as Intel, which is considering incorporating UWB technology in its chips.
(The Times, September 2 2002)
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