FCC Proposal Could Boost Wi-Fi
The Federal Communications Commission last week proposed to nearly double 802.11as available bandwidth. The FCC proposal would add 80 percent (255MHz) to the 300MHz of spectrum currently available in the 5GHz band. The additional spectrum would reside in the middle band, from 5.470GHz to 5.725GHz. The bandwidth proposal would increase the number of channels 802.11a can operate on to 24. At present, IEEE 802.11b has three channels available; 802.11a has 11.
Read the full story on: InfoWorld
Wi-Fi Chip Prices Expected to Drop Dramatically This Year
Chip prices for Wi-Fi gear will drop dramatically this year, market research firm TechKnowledge Strategies said Tuesday. Prices are dropping so fast that total revenue from chip sales will decrease by 7.7 percent to $340.2 million from $368.7 million last year. The drop will occur despite a projected 83 percent increase in overall shipments to 41.3 million units from 22.5 million chips in 2002. The number of companies making Wi-Fi chips has grown dramatically over a short period of time. There are about 40 manufacturers today, with a dozen more expected to jump into the market soon, including Taiwanese companies that are introducing especially low-priced chips.
Read the full story on: CRN
Bluetooth Adoption Forecast For Cars
Nearly 20 percent of all new vehicles sold worldwide will contain embedded Bluetooth hardware by 2007, market research firm Allied Business Intelligence said. Bluetooth silicon costs run about $6, making it attractive to carmakers. Expected price drops will help drive adoption further, as well as Bluetooths proliferation into an increasing number of mobile handsets, Allied said.
Read the full story on: Techweb
Visa, Philips Team to Promote Contactless Credit Card
Visa International and Royal Philips Electronics unveiled an exclusive partnership agreement under which the two companies will jointly develop and promote the application of contactless chip technology for payment transactions. Using the technology, consumers could easily make payments to purchase goods or unlock services simply by waving a credit card equipped with a contactless interface at a reader. Work on new near-field radio communication technology, called Near Field Communication (NFC), initiated by Philips and Sony last fall, helped attract Visa as a partner. NFC can “talk” to two diverging contactless smart card interfaces–“FeliCa” developed by Sony and “Mifare” developed by Philips– and has been specifically designed to open opportunities for smart cards in the consumer market.
Read the full story on: EE Times
Radio ID Chips May Track Banknotes
Radio tags the size of a grain of sand could be embedded in the euro note if a reported deal between the European Central Bank (ECB) and Japanese electronics maker Hitachi is signed. Japanese news agency Kyodo was reportedly told by Hitachi that the ECB has started talks with the company about the use of its radio chip in the banknote. “RFID (radio frequency identification) tags also have the ability of recording information such as details of the transactions the paper note has been involved in. It would, therefore, also prevent money-laundering, make it possible to track illegal transactions and even prevent kidnappers demanding unmarked bills,” Frost and Sullivan analyst Prianka Chopra said.
Read the full story on: CNET News.com
Philips Teaming With Sony Ericsson On Smart Phone
Royal Philips Electronics last week revealed it was the development partner for the multimedia processor at the heart of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications P800 triband smart phone, and said it will make the chip available in early 2004 under Philips Semiconductors Nexperia media processor brand. Philips said its processor will go head-to-head with such high-profile solutions as Intels Xscale, Texas Instruments Omap and STMicroelectronics Nomadik. One of Philips biggest targets is Samsung Electronics, said Michel Windal, multimedia marketing director at Philips Semiconductors.
Read the full story on: CommsDesign