Wireless Systems Design UPDATE January 11, 2005

============================== Wireless Systems Design UPDATE PlanetEE - www.planetee.com WSD - www.wsdmag.com January 11, 2005 ==============================

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Today's Table of Contents: 1. Disaster Victims Rely On Wireless Aid 2. Chip Set Is Tailored For Portable Drives 3. Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Preserves Small-Town Charm 4. Joint Project Yields Economical 3D Fab 5. Service Connects Mobile Users With Their Digital Homes 6. HSDPA Outdoor Trials Showcase Superior Speed 7. Microwave Technology Approved In China 8. Happenings - Conferences

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************* 1. Off The Cuff *************

Disaster Victims Rely On Wireless Aid By Lisa Maliniak, Contributing Editor

Wireless technology has found a humanitarian niche in providing aid to disaster victims. As demonstrated during the southeast Asian tsunami catastrophe, wireless technology has the reach and immediacy to help aid, rescue, and recover disaster victims. The Associated Press reported that with the use of cell phones, thousands of people in the disaster zone were able to send text messages to newspapers and television stations to get word to their loved ones. In addition, family and friends sent text messages across continents to find those who were missing.

On a broader scale, Swedish telecom companies sent text messages to all Swedish-registered phones in Thailand asking subscribers to call their families or the Swedish Embassy. Even the government authorities in tsunami-ravaged countries were using cell phones to track people's whereabouts.

Cell phones also played a key role in the September 11th tragedy. Who can forget the poignant last cell-phone calls made by doomed victims on 9/11? The wireless calls made from the jetliners and towers helped authorities assess the dangers of that horrible day.

In fact, cell-phone use was so critical on 9/11 that it helped generate fresh debate about the Enhanced-911 (E-911) system used to identify a cell-phone user's location in critical or emergency situations. E-911 was proposed in 1996 as a two-stage process. Phase two will pinpoint a cell-phone caller's location to within 100 yards. The FCC has proposed to have Phase two implemented by the end of this year.

Mobile devices can also serve as warning systems before emergencies or disasters occur. A recent story in the New York Times reported that Short Message Service (SMS) could be used to breathe life into the governments' warning networks. The idea of governments using mobile messages to communicate with citizens is beginning to take hold. In April 2003, Hong Kong's government sent out a text message to 6 million mobile phones to quash a rumor that Hong Kong had been designated an "infected city" for SARS. The Netherlands is also building a text-message network that will allow the government to issue alerts to mobile-phone users nationwide or within an area of a few city blocks.

Cell phones can help warn, rescue, and recover disaster victims. As wireless technology continues to advance and proliferate into more remote areas of the world, such uses for cell phones and other mobile devices will only increase.

********* 2. News ********* Chip Set Is Tailored For Portable Drives

Targeting the demand for high-capacity storage in portable consumer electronics, Agere Systems unveiled its TrueStore consumer-electronics (CE) chip set for developing small-form-factor disk drives from 1.8 in. down to 0.85 in. The TrueStore ICs are tailored to the power savings, small size, and low cost required to create storage devices for music players, digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs, notebook PCs, and other portable consumer electronics. Each chip set includes read-channel, preamplifier, motor controller, and hard-disk controller functionality. Read and write speeds top 350 Mbps to support today's current storage capacities of 4.0 GB in a typical 1.0-in. drive. Future generations of drives will flaunt capacities up to 12 GB and beyond. In addition, TrueStore consumes only about 400 mW of total power under normal operating conditions, extending the battery life that's vital to handheld consumer-electronics designs. Pricing for the entire chip set including firmware and support begins at $10 in sample quantities. Agere Systems ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BAe20Aw

********** 3. News ********** Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Preserves Small-Town Charm

Airpath Wireless, Inc. and Summit Technologies are bringing Wi-Fi Internet access to Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, while preserving the historic city's rural character. The project is being conducted in partnership with MontpelierNet, a community Internet cooperative and SoVerNet, a Vermont-based Internet service provider. The initial Wi-Fi deployment will be done in the 146-year-old Vermont State House. The State House network will provide Internet access to 180 legislators, staff, and members of the general public. Because the State House is a historic building, installation of the wireless equipment was done in close consultation with the building's curator. The link to the State House is part of a larger point-to-multipoint wireless network developed by MontpelierNet to serve the city of Montpelier and local businesses. With a population of just over 8000 people, Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the U.S. Nevertheless, city officials and local community leaders recognize the importance of technology and view the MontpelierNet project as an essential tool to enhance economic development in the region. Airpath Wireless, Inc. ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN8t0AW Summit Technologies ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN8u0AX

********** 4. News ********** Joint Project Yields Economical 3D Fab

A multi-project run program for sophisticated 3D MEMS and microdevice fabrication aims to boost innovation in 3D microdevice design. Microfabrica, specialists in microdevice and microsystem fabrication, has partnered with MOSIS, a low-cost prototyping and small-volume production service. Together, they will introduce EFAB Access, the first multi-project run service to offer Microfabrica's 3D micromanufacturing technology. EFAB Access gives companies, universities, research labs, and individuals the ability to design three-dimensional MEMS and microdevices. They also can have their prototypes produced economically through MOSIS. The multi-project run service allows multiple, typically unrelated projects from multiple designers to be fabricated at the same time as part of the same semiconductor or MEMS wafer. This setup offers lower-cost access to advanced fabrication processes than a dedicated run. EFAB Access participants can submit their designs to MOSIS, which will then prepare the multi-project run layout for Microfabrica. The deadline to submit designs for the first multi-project run is March 21, 2005. EFAB Access ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN8v0AY or http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN8w0AZ

********** 5. News ********** Service Connects Mobile Users With Their Digital Homes

As consumers accumulate a vast array of digital media content, they need a fast and easy way to access their home-based digital content from a mobile device or location outside the home. That's why Netgear, Inc. and Orb Networks, Inc. are teaming to deliver an innovative service that provides a simple way for consumers to view, hear, and control all kinds of home-based digital content from virtually any Internet-enabled device anywhere in the world. Using Netgear's line of wireless-home-networking solutions and Orb's service, users can stream their live television, music, videos, photos, and other digital content to a cell phone, PDA, or notebook. Netgear's wireless routers provide users with a simple and reliable way to stream digital content from the home to wherever there is Internet access. Orb's technology determines the best format, codec, bit rate, display capabilities, and network bandwidth available for a particular cell phone, PDA, or laptop to view or hear the content. The media is streamed securely and directly from the user's home PC to the user's mobile device. Netgear, Inc. ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN8x0Aa Orb Networks, Inc. ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN8y0Ab

********************** 6. International News ********************** HSDPA Outdoor Trials Showcase Superior Speed

Motorola, Inc. recently released initial data from the high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) outdoor trials that it performed with five major European operators. Speeds of 2.9 Mbps were recorded at the edge of an outdoor universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) cell using a single HSDPA device. The trial system matches the capabilities of the commercial HSDPA infrastructure set for launch in the second half of this year. With HSDPA, operators will benefit from increased operating efficiency, greater user capacity, and improved customer satisfaction. During the trials, services ranging from e-mail, video streaming, music downloads, and web-browsing were tested for speed, capacity, and data quality from normal to high-traffic conditions. In particular, Motorola is looking for areas where performance can be enhanced further. Overall, HSDPA will transfer data between three and ten times faster than UMTS. Motorola, Inc. ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0HtD0AW

********************** 7. International News ********************** Microwave Technology Approved In China

Yet another company is looking to position itself in the explosive Chinese wireless market. Harris Corp. announced that TRuepoint, the company's next-generation microwave radio, has been homologated and approved by China's Ministry for Industry Information (MII) for use throughout China. With more than 250 million cell-phone users in 2004 and an estimated compound annual growth rate as high as 16.5%, China is widely viewed as the largest single wireless communications market in the world. But without homologation from China's MII, wireless vendors cannot sell microwave products for use within China. TRuepoint, a universal platform for point-to-point digital communications in the cellular-backhaul market, is currently being deployed by multiple service providers in China. It is already operating in networks nationwide. Its modular, software-selectable architecture is able to switch between PDH and SDH applications. It can deliver service from 4 to 180 Mbps at frequencies ranging from 6 to 38 GHz. Harris Corp. ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BN2p0AM

******************************* 8. Happenings - Conferences ******************************* DesignCon Jan 31 - Feb 3, 2005 Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn05cn0Ac

EclipseCon Feb 28 - Mar 3, 2005 Hyatt Regency, Burlingame, CA http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn08hD0A3

ARMMS RF & Microwave Society Conference April 18-19, 2005 Milton Hill House Hotel, Milton Hill, Oxfordshire, UK http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BIUw0Ax

Read past issues of Wireless Systems Design UPDATE e-Newsletter: http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eitR0JtlqC0Emn0BOAG0Av

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