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NEWS

Gigabit UWB for whole-house multimedia

From a Pulse~LINK press release dated 1 May:

"Pulse~LINK, Inc. announces the launch of its complete CWave® UWB solution for unprecedented whole-home distribution of HDTV content, high quality multi-channel audio and high-speed data across in-home coax and wireless networks.

"The CWave® chipset will be unveiled at CONNECTIONS: The Digital Home Conference and Showcase, May 2-4 at the Santa Clara [California, USA] Convention Center...

"CWave® provides a foundation for whole-home networking with up to Gigabit data rates and guaranteed quality of service. Coax, wireless, and even power line communications are all supported simultaneously from the same chipset radio. Benefits and applications include the ability to eliminate the 'rat's nest' of wiring behind today's home entertainment centers, as well as the ability to connect devices such as set-top boxes, DVD players, Personal Video Recorders, Home Theater Systems, TVs, PCs and more throughout the entire home.

"The ability to support multiple simultaneous HDTV streams from room to room with 'Trick-play' (for pause, fast-forward and fast-rewind capabilities) can require hundreds of Megabits of throughput and has not been achieved by any other coax or wireless networking technology.

"The CWave® signal traverses existing RF splitters, coexists with all legacy CATV, satellite and other signals already carried on the coax, and requires no changes to existing in-home coax cable wiring... By bridging its wireless and wired communications technologies, CWave® enables high data rate transmissions to be distributed throughout the home via coax then wirelessly connects peripheral devices in each room...

"The CWave® demonstration at CONNECTIONS® highlights several breakthroughs in performance and connectivity. The demonstration shows the simultaneous, bi-directional distribution of HDTV content using CWave® over more than 200 feet of coax, including two RF splitters. Using Smartbits® as a third-party throughput measurement tool, more than 400Mbps application layer throughput is validated at this distance. At one end of the coax connection, the same CWave® radio used in the coax demonstration wirelessly bridges the HDTV signal to a 50 [inch] plasma TV, showcasing the use of a single CWave® radio simultaneously supporting both wired and wireless communications.

" 'CWave® is an extremely powerful and entirely different use of UWB communications technology,' states Bruce Watkins, Pulse~LINK President and COO. 'While the predominant UWB industry focus has been on short-range wireless USB cable replacements and Bluetooth enhancements, CWave® has been optimized from the ground up for the distribution of multimedia content throughout the home using both wireless and wired media. We are pleased to launch the first UWB chipset to enable whole-home connectivity solutions for High Definition, multimedia-centric consumer electronics appliances...' "

[UWB: 2 May 2006]