Can Bluetooth ever be cool?

And what did real people say about Bluetooth at the IncisorTV Bite-Back event?


That is a question that must be troubling technology marketeers across the world, including the makers of headsets and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, and the organisation that manages Bluetooth technology – the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).

Bluetooth has been around since 1998, and actual Bluetooth devices started appearing a couple of years later. The very first commercially available Bluetooth product was from Ericsson, as reported in Incisor in November 1999.



From that day forth, promoters of Bluetooth have hoped that there would be a global wave of enthusiasm for the technology from consumers. But it just hasn’t happened. Despite the fact that legislation in a number of countries forces us to use Bluetooth headsets if we want to talk on a cellphone in our cars, Bluetooth daily usage is apparently going down, not up. Research company Strategy Analytics says by as much as 40% in the USA over the last year.

Here at Incisor we think that a big part of the problem is that nobody, but nobody has managed to make wearing a Bluetooth headset cool. Instead, the words ‘Bluetooth’ and ‘naff’ are heard together on far too often a basis. Only taxicab drivers and people who wear leisure suits made from synthetic materials (ok, they are often the same people) seem to think it is OK to be seen walking around wearing a Bluetooth headset.

The web is loaded with anti-Bluetooth humour, including this. Bluetooth-mocking movies are even being used as a device by companies marketing products. Check this commercial out for Keystone Light Beer. Even the vendors of Bluetooth equipment are doing it – thanks, Philips, for this one.

Some claim to be working to try to make Bluetooth cool, and have been using the old chestnut of celebrity endorsement. Courtesy of Plantronics’ marketing machine, we learn that P Diddy, Eva Longoria and Brooke Shields apparently all use Plantronics headsets. Bluetooth headsets have even made their way into music videos – Motorola product placement is at work as we watch this one for Fergie’s Big girls don’t cry. This is one of the better ones – check out that car, that girl, that track, and the headset is OK too.

But it is not working! Or else, why are all of those iPod users still walking around with their tacky white plastic headsets? Why would we want to use wired headsets when there is a huge range of wireless headsets on the market now for similar money?

And surely this must be holding back the more widespread deployment of Bluetooth technology in other consumer electronics devices?

With some justification, the Bluetooth SIG and big-name consumer electronics (CE) companies that are supporting Bluetooth will point to the fact that billions of Bluetooth chips have been shipped, and have been built into many products that are in the hands of consumers all over the world. That is true, but it doesn’t mean that these people are using Bluetooth, or that massive chip sales means that Bluetooth has become aspirational (like, dare we say it, an iPod) or, to use the word again, cool.

So, what is the problem, and is it too late? Can Bluetooth regain the momentum it had in the early years, when people actually criticised the Bluetooth trailblazers for creating too much publicity and too much pent-up demand and hype (‘bet they’d like some of that back now!)? What would it take?

We have theories, but we want to hear from the big wide world. So we have been promoting a ‘Can Bluetooth be cool?’ blog via all of Incisor’s channels, including Twitter, Facebook and business networking sites such as LinkedIn. There have been a great number of contributions from people all over the world – some constructive, and some taking the opportunity to share some web ‘humour’. You can read all of the many, many comments by clicking on the link above, and read it at the Incisor site.


IncisorTV takes to the streets

And we took our investigation a stage further. On the 26th of September Incisor staged a public event called Bite-Back (Bluetooth/Incisor – Bite-Back – geddit?) at a venue in the UK where there was live music and – the main point – lots of young people. We took the IncisorTV cameras, a bunch of Bluetooth products and we interviewed people and asked them for their views. These can be seen by clicking on this link and watching the IncisorTV movie. As with the blog comments, there was a broad selection of views, some less than complimentary, but listening to these people’s views, thinking and responding is better than maintaining a head in the sand attitude. All of the marketeers at all of the Bluetooth consumer device companies may think they know what the consumers want, but there is nothing like hearing it from the consumers themselves.

Incisor is committed to looking for ways to Make Bluetooth Cool and plans to roll out the Bite-Back event programme, staging live events in the US, Scandinavia, Europe and maybe even Asia. The Bite-Back concept seems to have struck a chord. Headset company Jabra supported the first event, and Bluetooth SIG exec director Mike Foley suggested on Twitter that it would be good (cool?) to stage the event on the SIG’s home turf in Seattle.
So, we talked about it and we have confirmation of support from the Bluetooth SIG for the next Bite-Back event, which will take place in Seattle at the end of October.

We can’t do this on our own, so in order to do make the Bite-Back programme work as well as it can do, we need support from companies that want to be – and are brave enough to be ( ) - part of the programme. If you are interested, contact Vince Holton.

The evolution of GPS - why Google maps and Twitter are just the tip of the iceberg

By Martin Reidevall, Marketing Manager, Handset Business Unit, CSR


Recently Twitter announced that it is incorporating a new API that will enable users to tag tweets with latitude and longitude information. While on its own this isn’t exactly groundbreaking stuff, it does illustrate how navigation is becoming less about simple location data, and more about the services that are offered around it.

GPS has evolved from a luxury feature available in only the very high-end portable devices, to something that many people are increasingly coming to expect as standard in a new phone, PDA or even a laptop. Simply pulling up Google maps to tell you where you are is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what location data can offer. According to a report released by ABI earlier this year, mobile location-based services (LBS) will generate annual global revenues of $13.3 billion by 2013, up from $515 million in 2007.

Having location data readily available opens up a whole new range of potential services and features to both the consumers and the device manufacturers. Some devices are already taking advantage of this data, the numerous applications available for the iPhone being the obvious example. Telling you where the nearest restaurant, railway station or café is already exists in plenty of different applications. This sort of information can also be tied into advertising to allow restaurants to advertise on the application when you are in their area, and the same for shops when you’re in the appropriate shopping centre. This simple use of the location data provides additional revenue for the network operator through advertising, and, properly implemented, will offer the consumer useful, targeted information.

Thanks to the latest generation of low power chips such as CSR’s SiRFStarIV, location data can be obtained without draining the battery of the device, which had previously made LBS somewhat impractical. By being able to regularly fix your location, more applications can take advantage of LBS technology.

Social networking sites in particular are a prime target for LBS as a way of letting users know where their friends or followers are. Twitter’s recently announced API is a great example of the direction in which social networking is heading, knowing where your friends and followers are will allow you to easily arrange meetings and even plan for future events. Geo-tagging photos is already a popular feature with over 50 million manually geo-tagged photos on Flickr at the end of 2008 and a further 3 million are added every month.

Looking ahead, another market that will make good use of location data is sports and fitness. These markets are already taking advantage of LBS to help people keep track of their fitness regimes. Many people already take their phones running to use the music player, and now the navigation data provided by technology from CSR can help track their progress much more accurately over weeks or months.

Location data is already built into many new cars and there are a myriad of separate satellite navigation devices being used by drivers every day. These platforms are another good example of the extra services location data can offer, with most units now capable of providing additional options such as traffic and weather updates to allow drivers to plan the quickest route. They also provide information on local restaurants, tourist attractions and transport links, and there’s no reason why these sort of services won’t make it into phones and PDAs – updating people on delays with their usual train to work and if it’s raining at the office if it’s sunny at home.

A key issue with all of these potential applications will be privacy. There have been plenty of unfounded scare stories in the tabloid press about criminals using your Twitter info along with Google’s Street View to work out how and when to break into your home, and the idea of having your location broadcast to the world raises a lot more of these concerns. Realistically though, your location will only be available to those you choose and the applications that utilise this data require you to ‘opt in’ rather than automatically broadcasting your location data to anyone who wants it.

LBS are now really starting to make the most of location data and so far we’ve only seen a small part of their potential. As location information becomes more ubiquitous we are no longer likely to see companies striving to create a ‘killer’ LBS app. Instead we are seeing companies adding location awareness to all applications making LBS a major part of our lives providing useful information on our surroundings and daily routines.

www.csr.com

Self-powered wireless is the key to intelligent green buildings

By Graham Martin, Chairman and CEO, EnOcean Alliance

Intelligent building automation is the key to green buildings, cutting the costs of operation and purchases, as well as substantially reducing the energy consumed in buildings. Temperature controls for single rooms, hot water on tap and lighting on demand are in the meantime indispensable in modern building management. Building automation technologies enable control and regulation of a number of components and communication systems in one overall system. That means a variety of application possibilities, both in commercial buildings and in private households. A drawback of the different components and communication systems, however, has been the many cables and numerous remote controls needed for all the devices. Today, the sensors and switches should be self-powered, requiring no power cables, no batteries, and no maintenance.

Self-powered wireless technology enables flexibility

Wireless technology not only greatly simplifies the cabling of a building, it also enables more flexible room planning because no new cabling has to be laid if you need to change the room arrangement later on. For this purpose EnOcean supplies an innovative basic wireless technology which draws its power from tiny amounts of ambient energy found in its surroundings – such as light, temperature change, movement, rotation and vibration - to transmit signals of an astonishing range.

EnOcean modules feature efficient energy converters, ultra-low-power electronic circuitry and a highly reliable wireless protocol. The wireless signal is transmitted in the 868 MHz or 315 MHz license free frequency band, which means it can be employed in solutions worldwide. The wireless telegrams are just one millisecond long – up to one hundred times shorter than the signal of a conventional wireless switch.

To prevent transmission errors, a telegram is randomly repeated a further two times in the space of about 30 milliseconds. Transmitting data packets in random intervals makes the probability of collision extremely low. Installation and parallel operation of hundreds of wireless switches and sensors in restricted space is no problem at all.

The typical range of EnOcean wireless sensors is 300 meters in the open and up to 30 meters inside buildings. Each EnOcean module comes with a unique 32-bit identification number to prevent any possibility of overlap with other wireless switches.

Radiation levels of a building are also reduced using EnOcean wireless sensors. According to a survey by the ECOLOG Institute, the radiation given off by an EnOcean wireless switch is far lower than that of a conventional wired switch because no breakaway spark is produced during operation. Additionally, with less cabling in the wall, low frequency 50/60 Hz radiation is also reduced.

One technology for many different surroundings

Self-powered wireless modules from EnOcean are suitable for use in many different surroundings. EnOcean Alliance members have created more than 350 products for applications ranging from room thermostats with preset temperature through to maintenance-free wireless window contacts and window handles. All products enabled by EnOcean technology are entirely interoperable.

Products and systems incorporating EnOcean technology are easily to integrate into common building automation systems - regardless of whether these communicate by LON, KNX, BACnet, TCP/IP or Ethernet. Sustainable energy management concepts can therefore be implemented with very little effort or outlay.

Cost-effective entry to energy-efficient building automation

The expected return on investment when automating a building naturally depends whether the user is to derive financial benefit from reduced energy consumption. The technology that is used will hardly make sense if investment or operating costs eclipse the savings potential that it presents.

The use of EnOcean technology in building automation means a sharp reduction in both operating and acquisition costs. Employing energy converters instead of batteries is a unique approach, cutting system error rate and maintenance costs considerably, especially in large installations. In addition, wireless solutions enhance energy efficiency in residential and functional building.

1430 EnOcean sensors ensure energy savings and maximum comfort

The EnOcean technology has been successfully deployed in over 100.000 building projects. One example is the General Vocational College in the Swiss city of Basel. The college campus, designed in the 1950s and in the meantime a listed property, was brought right up-to-date in the course of extensive technical refurbishment. EnOcean's self-powered wireless technology was selected to satisfy the objectives set by Basel Corporation for energy efficiency, sustainability, comfort and convenience.

The basic demand was that everything should run smoothly, without disturbing or hindering the daily teaching schedule. Furthermore, Selmoni AG, the responsible TAC (a Schneider Company) system partner, was set demanding targets – economically and ecologically – in terms of energy efficiency. Investment costs and the scale of any changes to the actual construction of the buildings were naturally expected to be reduced, and the result was to be a modern and comfortable educational environment. Another major requirement was flexibility when it came to possible modifications of the buildings in the future.

The necessary measures were split into two stages to disturb the ongoing teaching schedule as little as possible. A major share of the work was carried out during the college vacations, for example.

To optimise comfort and convenience in the working environment, more than 300 classrooms were fitted with individual room controllers for heating, lights and shade. The technology is planned and implemented to allow later adaptation to room use simply, speedily and cost-effectively.

Timetables are held centrally in the TAC Vista management system for every single room, determining automatically whether a room is in an energy-saving mode, or in a normal mode where its climate is then automatically controlled matching outside conditions. In this way room conditions satisfy all requirements for a perfect teaching environment, and as soon as students enter the room. The energy savings achieved amount to approximately 15 percent. In parallel, within this solution, manual operation of all functions is of course also possible.

To substantially reduce installation cost and effort, and thus optimise the cost of the project overall, all switches, window contacts and room temperature sensors are linked to an LON network by EnOcean wireless receivers. A total of 1430 EnOcean sensors and 200 receivers were installed.

Flexibility made to measure

Self-powered wireless technology from EnOcean – the only wireless standard developed especially for battery and maintenance free operation - is gathering pace in building automation. Besides simplifying the cabling of a building, it allows faster response to the need for changes in how a building is internally configured. Plus these sensors do not require any kind of regular servicing. The occupants of an office have more freedom of movement and increased convenience because, if no batteries have to be replaced, they are not restricted in where they can install something.


EnOcean Alliance - The wireless standard for sustainable buildings

Leading companies from the building sector came together and formed in 2008 the EnOcean Alliance in order to develop automation solutions for sustainable and energy-efficient buildings. The Alliance aims to standardise and internationalise EnOcean wireless technology, and is dedicated to creating interoperability between the products of OEM partners. Self-powered wireless components are already in use in over 100,000 buildings worldwide. The technology is currently undergoing standardisation by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). At present more than 120 companies belong to the EnOcean Alliance.

Texas Instruments: Encouraging innovation and blue skies thinking

The pace of activity in the Bluetooth low energy market is heating up. As we move into the busiest part of the year, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group is promoting a series of conferences to promote the Bluetooth low energy concept, as well as running the Bluetooth Innovation World Cup contest. This competition sees the Bluetooth SIG looking for new applications and products using Bluetooth low energy technology, with a particular focus on sports, fitness and healthcare applications.
Back in the June issue of Incisor we talked Bluetooth low energy with Karl Torvmark of Texas Instruments Norway. TI is undoubtedly one of the companies at the sharp-end of developments in the low-energy market, and so it made perfect sense for us to seek Torvmark out again for an update on developments that have taken place over the last few months.

In this second interview, Torvmark makes it clear that Texas Instruments sees a great future for Bluetooth low energy, and believes it has the growth potential to create a market bigger than that for classic Bluetooth semiconductors.


VH: Can you give us a quick re-cap of the Bluetooth low energy concept, and how this fits into the WPAN ecosystem?

KT: Bluetooth low energy is intended to take short-range wireless forwards into new markets, leveraging the 1 billion node Bluetooth ecosystem and addressing new use cases that are not covered today.

Power consumption will be the main factor. Most current Bluetooth devices are powered by rechargeable batteries, while Bluetooth low energy opens the door to multi-year battery life using alkaline and lithium batteries. Actual battery life depends on the application, but a healthy average of 1-3 years is expected. We really want to limit the number of devices that a consumer has to keep charging. It’s all about making life simpler for consumers who are typically using multiple WPAN devices today.

Are there any negative aspects? Not really. Bluetooth low energy is in fact quite different from legacy Bluetooth, and it is true that there will be a break in backward compatibility with legacy Bluetooth devices, but by developing dual-mode Bluetooth we can continue to support both new and old platforms. Of course, Bluetooth’s profile model means that a device will only be used with another appropriate device that supports the same profile/s, so, in practice, there are unlikely to be problems related to this lack of backwards compatibility.

Looking forward, Bluetooth low energy is about new applications, not the established, high-volume applications such as handsets/headsets. Bluetooth low energy will become standard in the hub devices. It will take a few years to complete the transition, but in handsets, which tend to be changed quite often, this could come quite quickly. Overall, it will expand Bluetooth’s reach into new kinds of applications.



VH: What is the latest news on the Bluetooth low energy spec adoption timeline?

KT: Well, TI is actively involved in the development of the Bluetooth low energy spec, so I have a pretty good understanding of the timeline. The spec is nearing completion and at the moment it is looking most likely that the ratification of version 1.0 will happen before the end of 2009. The actual development work is all done, so at this stage it is all a case of completing the paperwork.

As with any development programme there has been a little slippage here and there. There is no doubt that in this example, dual-mode Bluetooth low energy is complex for the chip vendors, but from the user’s point of view it just works. There have been a lot of companies involved, too, although in this case there I am pleased to say that there has been little politics holding things back. This has been a relief and has smoothed the process. Inter-company politicking has previously held back standard development for other technologies - take the DS-UWB versus MB-OFDM debate in the world of Ultra-wideband, for example. The process for Bluetooth low energy has been quite straight-forward by comparison.


VH: Bluetooth low energy will be implemented in two versions – dual- and single-mode. Can you please give us an overview of the likely applications for dual-/single-mode?

KT: Dual-mode will be used in ‘hub’ devices such as PCs, mobile phones, access points and personal navigation devices (PNDs). These are typically the type of devices where Bluetooth is implemented today.

Single-mode Bluetooth low energy is for the peripheral devices that typically operate using button cell or alkaline batteries, and which connect with the hub. Examples include wireless sensors and proximity tags. I think that rather than being able to predict the breadth of applications, we’re likely to be surprised by what turns up. It is quite possible that the ‘golden application’ might not be what we are expecting!

The health and medical industries, for example, are very interested in developing around Bluetooth low energy, and it is quite possible that once these markets start to expand, the applications that they develop could exceed consumer applications. The health industry can see that Bluetooth low energy can help improve care standards and reduce costs. In these application areas it is possible that there could be some crossover with ZigBee, but not much. That’s because Bluetooth low energy is unique in that it allows you to communicate with a cellphone, and therefore out into the wider world. Bluetooth low energy is a WPAN technology, ZigBee is WLAN. Of course, this is not an issue for TI, as we are well-represented in both the Bluetooth and ZigBee markets!


VH: Texas Instruments will offer both dual-mode and single-mode Bluetooth low energy silicon - how unique a proposition is this?

KT: TI announced that it would support both Bluetooth low energy solutions as far back as 2 years ago, and up until recently we were still the only company to be doing so. Our strategy is to offer a broader portfolio of wireless technologies than most semiconductor companies. Again, a good example of this is our support for both Bluetooth low energy and ZigBee.

This policy means that we always have the right solution to meet our customer’s needs, rather than having to try to adapt an existing solution that has been designed for something else. It also means that TI has a lot of experts across many disciplines, and this can be extremely useful to customers as they develop their products.


VH: What do you see as the likely split in take-up between the dual- and single-mode?

KT: I think it is inevitable that dual-mode will be implemented first; it will be integrated into existing ‘hub’–type devices - cellphones tend to dominate here.

In the longer term, sales of single-mode devices will pick up substantially. After all, in a typical application, the quantity of sensors is most likely to outnumber the quantity of host devices.

As a general point, think about the fact that Bluetooth, which would be considered to be a high-volume business, has succeeded in what are mainly vertical applications – handset to headset, for example. Bluetooth low energy can expect to be implemented in many more generic markets, and so its potential ‘reach’ is greater. Sales could end-up exceeding those of classic Bluetooth.


VH: What is the silicon timeline, then, and when are we likely to see chips?

KT: TI has had working Bluetooth low energy silicon since April this year, and we were able to play a movie of a working Bluetooth low energy demo at the Bluetooth All Hands meeting in Japan. At that point we started sampling our biggest customers, and that is where we are today.

We can’t get around the fact that the profile specification is running a little behind the protocol spec, and so this sampling phase is likely to continue for a few months more. The sampling phase has an additional benefit as it allows customers to dip their toes in the Bluetooth low energy water. It is quite normal not to want to get too deeply involved until the spec is finalised and adopted.

That said, most of the companies that are trialling at the moment have been in the Bluetooth market for some time and so have a lot of experience. This has meant that things have run smoothly and there have been no major issues. Maybe problems could show themselves when the technology extends out into the mass-market, but we think not. That is because Bluetooth low energy will be relatively simple to implement, and customers will only have to interface with the technology at a high level.

These factors will all work in Bluetooth low energy’s favour, as will the fact that Bluetooth low energy is not completely new, unlike when Bluetooth first hit the market. So there is a solid platform of experience and awareness to build from. Also consider that we have reached the stage when consumers actively want wireless technology, so we are experiencing ‘pull’ as well as traditional market ‘push’. We are seeing a culture change, and these sorts of thing take a while to happen.

Once the sampling phase is complete and the spec has been published, we expect to make Bluetooth low energy silicon generally available in the first half of 2010.


VH: Why is the Bluetooth Evolution World Cup important to TI?

KT: The biggest drivers for Bluetooth low energy are the concepts that are dreamed up that then become applications for low-energy technology. It is about much more than just removing cables – in fact, we think that Bluetooth low energy will be at the heart of many applications that cannot work without a wireless link.

So, when this competition to encourage application development around Bluetooth low energy was announced, TI thought this was a very clever initiative, hence the decision to sponsor the Evolution World Cup and to work alongside the Bluetooth SIG.

TI wants to get as many people as possible thinking about what applications can be devised around Bluetooth low energy. The goal of the Bluetooth Evolution World Cup is to have three winners with great application ideas. These will be announced at the end of the competition at this major sports and fitness event. They will get plenty of publicity and so will Bluetooth low energy!


VH: Over the coming months there is a series of Bluetooth conferences in Munich, Beijing and the USA. I know that TI is participating, so what is the overall significance of events like these to TI and to the Bluetooth community?

KT: All of these conferences are organized by the Bluetooth SIG, and that is very important. If a technology is to succeed on the world market it needs to have a powerful standards body behind it, one which will evangelise for the technology as well as manage the standard.

The people who will think about how to use Bluetooth low energy are as much of a target for this series of conferences as those who will develop the technology. This means that many end-product companies have been invited to make presentations. Bluetooth technology is already an established concept in many end-product companies, but it needs many, many more companies to buy into the idea of integrating Bluetooth. Typically, these companies don’t know a lot about wireless technology, so there is a big task ahead of us to help them. A programme such as this series of conferences is a very good starting point.

The process will be helped by the fact that – unlike high speed Bluetooth, which has a smaller number of use cases – Bluetooth low energy potentially touches many more applications and many more markets. Bluetooth low energy is of interest and importance to mobile operators, system integrators and the medical and home monitoring communities. In most of the scenarios that these powerful players will devise, there will be a desire to move data off the local platform and out to the Internet. A dedicated access point is not ideal – on a cost basis apart from anything else – but the mobile phone is everywhere, ubiquitous even.

So, as we go forward, the goal is to address people far beyond the traditional device manufacturer market, and to devise ways to help them get data on and off the Internet without having to rely on the presence of a Wi-Fi connection.

The Internet of Things is a concept that is generating a lot of publicity today. Here at Texas Instruments we feel that Bluetooth low energy will be a very important enabler of this concept.

www.ti.com

Can You Spot the Difference: 802.11n Has Been Ratified?

It’s here ...!

No, not that poltergeist thingy – you know, 802.11n: the IEEE Task Force have finished! The specification formerly known as 802.11n Draft N (or the IEEE’s draft 2.0 of the specification) is now a fully-fledged ratified standard! And yes, we’ve been a little exuberant and somewhat excessive here and, to be perfectly honest, it was absolutely crazy in the office during our celebration of its final arrival. Moreover, we all became a little incessant, as we mulled over the numerous applications that would follow – streaming video over a wireless connection – yikes, it could really happen! Admittedly, the alcohol was flowing steadily over several hours, as we sat back and mused over the years of an Indiana Jones high-speed wireless adventure and dismissed several unrealistic blue-sky notions, whilst the alcohol took effect. The IEEE 802.11n Task Group have now fully ratified the standard after what may have seem to be an eternity, albeit seven years or so in its formation. Nonetheless, what joy, as it surely translates into consumers benefiting from true high-speed wireless connectivity – something which has beleaguered Bluetooth over the last few years or so. Now let’s continue with this exclusive story!

The awakening
So, as we sat and wondered how to share our insight and experiences surrounding 802.11n and, of course, the foretold promises of amazing data rates of up to 300Mbits/s (possibly more) – we suddenly awoke from our stupor with a deep sobering realisation.

In our awakening, as we started to examine more closely at what 802.11n would do for the wireless telecommunications industry along with its many adopters, a cold and sobering thought entered our minds. Our thoughts became a little clearer and we unravelled and finally rested on the single notion that both manufacturers and consumers alike have already been enjoying 802.11n for a couple of years now, as ‘Draft N’! You must surely recall that the Wi-Fi Alliance (wi-fi.org) offered an interim certification for a feature subset of the future 802.11n standard back in 2007. Crikey, what’s new then? Furthermore, it seems the Wi-Fi Alliance (the certification group) assures its member companies and consumers that nothing will change and that products supporting Draft N will coexist with the new 802.11n ratified standard.

The only agenda
Following seven years of waiting, it may be easy to forget that an interim solution was offered during 2007. In fact, the Wi-Fi Alliance offered its member companies an opportunity to manufacturer 802.11 Draft N products and still receive that all important certification! Presumably, the only agenda was to sustain a stagnant PC market, enabling consumers to receive an intermediate revision of the future 802.11n standard and, as a consequence, consumers would ultimately benefit from increased data rates following the success and popularity of 802.11b and 802.11g.

On the other hand, there have been many manufacturers who backed away from incorporating such an immature technology, due to the simple fact that it wasn’t finished. Richard Edgar, Product Manager for Wi-Fi at Cambridge Silicon Radio confirmed, “there has been a reluctance to commit to 802.11n because it was in draft,” he continued to suggest that many vendors felt it was always subject to change. Nevertheless, Edgar was confident that many manufacturers would now embrace the ratified standard, not just the PC industry, but many mobile phone manufacturers too. Edgar suggested that although mobile phone manufacturers have patiently waited for the ratified standard, some of the antenna technology may have been too cumbersome to integrate it into a small form factor. The additional features offered within the ratified standard, however, provide support for multiple antennas for improved performance and reliability, but this will inevitably have an impact on cost, battery life and so on. It will certainly be interesting to follow-up on how mobile phone manufacturers integrate 802.11n into their products.

So, what are the differences?
As we touched upon earlier, Draft N was a subset of the proposed ratified standard, where a number of basic features were introduced into Draft N-enabled products. Nevertheless, with this in mind we wondered whether the ratified version would offer further enhancements. As such, to feed our effervescent curiosity, we eventually caught up with the Wi-Fi Alliance who offered us a better insight, as to what consumers can expect from 802.11n. The most obvious visual changes are to the Wi-Fi logo, as we can see in Figure 1 – the ‘Draft’ supplement is no more!

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Figure 1: The obvious first change made to the Wi-Fi logo is the omission of the Draft status.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has also provided two additional Wi-Fi logos, which shall indicate to the consumer what feature set or functionality they can expect from a new 802.11n product; these are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Primarily, the feature sets will “deliver a significant boost in performance,” according to the Alliance. The new taglines that occupy the sample logos will be offered to manufacturers as long as their equipment is successfully certified for the additional features. It is suggested that devices that conform to the “multi-stream n” certification may offer up to 10x the throughput and wider service range when compared with legacy Wi-Fi devices.

Sean – insert <> here
Figure 2: A sample of the updated logo to include the tag line “dual stream n” (courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance).

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Figure 3: A sample of the updated logo to include the tag line “multi-stream n” (courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance).

Better performance and reliability
Essentially, the IEEE’s ratified 802.11n standard offers existing functionality that ensures backward compatibility with Draft N products, but also with other 802.11b-, 802.11g- and 802.11a-enabled products in a mixed-mode context – it is envisaged that a mixed-mode operation will inevitably impede performance for most devices. In an optimum environment 802.11n devices will interoperate with other 802.11n devices offering the best performance in a Greenfield context. The Alliance suggests that the new features offered by the newly ratified standard are optional but, when implemented, will deliver a better connectivity experience and increase performance. Likewise, the new features will also provide increased reliability in unfriendly neighbourhoods by utilising multiple antennas.

In looking towards the future of the 802.11n standard Richard Edgar, CSR, disclosed to us that the IEEE has initiated two new task groups, namely 802.11ac and 802.11ad. Edgar explained that the former standard would offer various enhancements to 802.11n and the latter would take the technology to the much sought after 1Gbps data throughput. But he suggested that these improvements are several years away at the moment. Of course, Ultra-wideband theoretically offers consumer data rates comparable to the 1Gbps threshold now! However, Edgar declined to comment when pressed about the future of the technology and how he envisaged the future of Wi-Fi applications when compared with Ultra-wideband. Similarly, we were also curious about 802.11n support within the Bluetooth Alternative MAC/PHY (AMP) layer. Edgar explained that current support for AMP was limited to 802.11g, but he expected support for 802.11n early next year (2010).

A certain future
The Wi-Fi Alliance is incredibly confident and rightly so. Nonetheless, consumers may not immediately benefit from increased performance, as there is a large Wi-Fi technology base consisting of legacy technologies (802.11a/b/g) and it may take several years (if not more, perhaps a decade?) to witness 802.11n operating in full Greenfield mode, where consumers will truly benefit from a very tangible 1Gbps data throughput. Likewise, the Wi-Fi Alliance and CSR for that matter don’t expect all these new features to be incorporated and certified overnight, and it may be a few more years before we witness increased data rates. In fact, current testing highlights consumers realistically witnessing 110Mbps or so with existing 802.11n products; it was suggested that we would begin to see new features circa 2013 to 2015.

It may not have escaped the keen wireless technology observer that Wi-Fi seems to be creeping into an application space that’s normally privy to Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband. Nobody at the moment seems to want to share their thoughts and some are keeping their cards close to their chest. But for the keen observer, Wi-Fi is broadening its application reach. With the initiation of the two new standard groups, that is 802.11ac and 802.11ad, we can be assured of a sustainable and certain future for Wi-Fi technology. And on a final note provided by the Wi-Fi Alliance, “The good news is that the extensibility, flexibility and robustness of 802.11n guarantees [it] a long, long life”.


Dean Anthony Gratton.

New IncisorTV movie - Real people talk about Bluetooth at Bite-Back event

Can Bluetooth ever be cool is a question we have been asking for more than a month now. There has been an extensive blog debate here.

We had theories, but we wanted to hear from the big wide world. So we have been promoting the ‘Can Bluetooth be cool?’ blog via all of Incisor’s channels, including Twitter, Facebook and business networking sites such as LinkedIn.

IncisorTV takes to the streets

But we took our investigation a stage further. On the 26th of September Incisor staged a public event called Bite-Back (Bluetooth/Incisor – Bite-Back – geddit?) at a venue in the UK where there was live music and – the main point – lots of young people. We took the IncisorTV cameras, a bunch of Bluetooth products and we interviewed people and asked them for their views. These can be seen by clicking on the link to the Bite-Back movie here. As with the blog comments, there was a broad selection of views, some less than complimentary, but instead of being industry views, these were real consumers, and listening to these people’s views, thinking and responding is better than maintaining a head in the sand attitude. All of the marketeers at all of the Bluetooth consumer device companies may think they know what the consumers want, but there is nothing like hearing it from the consumers themselves.

Incisor is committed to looking for ways to Make Bluetooth Cool and plans to roll out the Bite-Back event programme, staging live events in the US, Scandinavia, Europe and maybe even Asia. The Bite-Back concept seems to have struck a chord. Headset company Jabra supported the first event, and Bluetooth SIG exec director Mike Foley suggested on Twitter that it would be good (cool?) to stage the event on the SIG’s home turf in Seattle. So, we talked about it and we have confirmation of support from the Bluetooth SIG for the next Bite-Back event, which will take place in Seattle at the end of October.

We can’t do this on our own, so in order to do make the Bite-Back programme work as well as it can do, we need support from companies that want to be – and are brave enough to be - part of the programme. If you are interested, contact Vince Holton.