Technologies

Short range communications are characterized by several properties, operation at short range defined by tens of meters and less, data transfer at rates of tens to hundreds MBps and low power transmitting in the milli watt ranges. Additional characteristics of such communications include operating in an environment of multiple systems operating under various standards (coexistence), high capacity (data transfer rate per area unit), and in certain cases operating at frequencies that do not require licensing.

Currently several technologies support high rate short range wireless communications:

• UWB (Ultra Wide Band) technology permits operating at high data transfer rates while utilizing high bandwidth and low transmission power.
• WLAN MIMO technology permits operating at high data transfer rates while integrating a large number of antennas that facilitate solving multichannel, coexistence and ISM band (free frequencies) interference problems.

Other technologies are available, such as millimeter waves permitting high rate short range wireless communication.

Consortium activity also affects activities in ZIGBEE, 802.15.4, Bluetooth and other standards. Such standards deal with short range communications, and since some topics covered by these standards are relevant to the consortium's activities, these therefore also focus on developing these standards.