Wireless USB is a short-range, high-bandwidth wireless radio communication protocol created by the Wireless USB Promoter Group. Wireless USB is sometimes abbreviated as "WUSB", although the USB Implementers Forum discourages this practice and instead prefers to call the technology "Certified Wireless USB" to differentiate it from competitors. Wireless USB is based on the WiMedia Alliance’s Ultra-Wideband (UWB) common radio platform, which is capable of sending 480 Mbit/s at distances up to 3 meters and 110 Mbit/s at up to 10 meters. It was designed to operate in the 3.1 to 10.6 GHz frequency range, although local regulatory policies may restrict the legal operating range for any given country.
The Wireless USB Promoter Group was formed in February 2004 to define the Wireless USB specifications. In May 2005, the Wireless USB Promoter Group announced the completion of the Wireless USB specification.
WUSB performance at launch will provide adequate bandwidth to meet the requirements of a typical user experience with wired connections. The 480 Mbps initial target bandwidth of WUSB is comparable to the current wired USB 2.0 standard. With 480 Mbps being the initial target, WUSB specifications will allow for generation steps of data throughput as the ultra wideband radio evolves and with future process technologies, exceeding limits of 1 Gbps.
The specification is intended for WUSB to operate as a wire replacement with targeted usage models for cluster connectivity to the host and device-to-device connectivity at less than 10 meters. The interface will support quality delivery of rich digital multimedia formats, including audio and video, and will be capable of high rate streaming (isochronous transfers).
Wireless USB is used in game controllers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, MP3 players, hard disks and flash drives. Kensington released a Wireless USB universal docking station in August, 2008. It is also suitable for transferring parallel video streams, while utilizing the Wireless USB over UWB bandwidth.
The WUSB architecture allows up to 127 devices to connect directly to a host. Because there are no wires or ports, there is no longer a need for hubs. WUSB host capability can be added to existing PCs through the use of a Host Wire Adapter (HWA).WUSB performance at launch will provide adequate bandwidth to meet the requirements of a typical user experience with wired connections.
The main disadvantage of wireless USB that it has no major drivers for W-USB.
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