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Smell The Coffee:
Disruptive technologies on the 2002 horizon

by brad smith
January 7, 2002

Can you have a cellular phone system without cell sites and towers? How about self-configuring high-speed wireless networks virtually anywhere?

Those are the promises of a couple of futuristic wireless technologies that are commercially still on the drawing boards. If their proponents are correct, though, 2002 could be one of those watershed years. These technolgies have proven themselves in real-world – read that "military" – situations. But, as with a lot of technologies, it is the business case that will decide if they succeed.

One of these technologies is being developed by MeshNetworks Inc. of Maitland, Fla. MeshNetworks' proprietary technology is called quad-division multiple access or, generically, "ad hoc peer-to-peer networking." The other is an open standard called ultrawideband, on which several companies are working.

QDMA and UWB both are fascinating from a technical point of view and potentially disruptive to the wireless communications industry.

The FCC, which has had UWB under consideration for several years, is expected to approve that technology for commercial use in February. UWB spreads very low power signals over such a broad swath of bandwidth that it is compared to background noise. UWB promises data rates of 100 megabits per second. Among the companies champing at the bit to use UWB are Time Domain Corp. of Huntsville, Ala., and XtremeSpectrum Inc. of Vienna, Va.

Assuming the FCC approves UWB in February, XtremeSpectrum plans to have products out soon thereafter, including set-top boxes, PCs, laptops, DVDs, digital video recorders and cameras, MP3 players, personal digital assistants and high-end displays.

MeshNetworks expects to have PC cards available in April for a network demonstration using QDMA. MeshNetworks is basing its technology on work ITT Industries has done for the Department of Defense. The company is well-capitalized, with more than $27 million from investors and strategic partners that include ITT, 3Com Corp., BancBoston and Patricof & Co.

So, where does the idea of a cellular system without cell sites come in? That's the description of Craig Mathias, a principal in the Ashland, Mass., advisory firm Farpoint Group. Mathias defines a mesh network, such as the one MeshNetworks uses, as one in which the end node also can serve other users simultaneously – in other words, a cellular system without cells.

QDMA doesn't need any infrastructure to work, although access points eventually are needed to connect to the Internet. Packet-based, it can provide data speeds of up to 6 Mbps and also can be used for IP voice calls. Cell sites are unnecessary because the devices themselves are both routers and end-user handsets. MeshNetworks intends the first devices for unlicensed 2.4 GHz spectrum.

Mathias calls QDMA a fourth-generation technology because of its high bandwidth and says carriers could find the technology attractive if MeshNetworks can sell its business case to them.

Rick Rotondo, whose title at MeshNetworks is, appropriately, director of
disruptive technology and marketing, says the company's partners include
MapInfo, PacketVideo Corp., Go2 Systems Inc. and ITOCHU Corp. of Japan.

Other companies also are working on wireless mesh technology, although they are not necessarily similar to MeshNetworks. Among these, Mathias says, are Digital InterRelay Communications in Germany, IndraNet in Australia and New Zealand, Radiant Networks in the United Kingdom, CoWave Networks Inc. of Freemont, Calif., and Nokia.

These mesh networks are a "hot" technological arena and one that is important to the evolution of wireless communications, Mathias says.

Ramesh Bhimarao, marketing manager of wireless ASICs for Fujitsu Microelectronics America, which is making MeshNetworks' chips, says Fujitsu believes the technology has the potential to "break open the wireless broadband space." Fujitsu is making a system-on-a-chip solution for Mesh.

Which technology will succeed: UWB or QDMA? My hunch is that as an open standard, UWB might stand a better chance in the market. But Qualcomm certainly succeeded in establishing its proprietary CDMA technology, so don't count MeshNetworks out. [WIM]

Brad Smith is IP/Data editor at Wireless Week. His column is a monthly feature in Wireless Internet Magazine. He can be reached at bsmith@cahners.com.