Mobile handsets now provide Internet applications like e-mail, web browsing, and Instant Messaging. Going forward, even more performance, memory, and functionality will be integrated into handsets. Because so many consumers carry a mobile phone, it is clearly on the way to living up to one service provider's marketing slogan: "It's my life in there." To realize this potential, however, next-generation handsets will need to integrate short-range, high-speed wireless capabilities that can seamlessly connect with a variety of existing and emerging communications methods. The answer may lie in ultrawideband technology, which provides standards-based, high-bandwidth, multi-protocol capabilities. UWB also provides the flexibility for auto-discovery and connection with a variety of peer-to-peer and/or local server-based networks.

To help lower cost while increasing integration for UWB products, Staccato Communications (San Diego, CA) developed a single-chip, all-CMOS solution. That development was followed by the announcement of reference designs and a Mini Card combining Bluetooth and certified Wireless USB technologies. The Ripcord family is based on the WiMedia Alliance's UWB common radio platform and the Certified Wireless USB specification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). Ripcord is implemented in a complete system-in-package (SiP) using 110-nm digital CMOS process technology. At less than $10 per node in volume, it was spawned to provide a complete, fully integrated solution for the first commercial applications of high-speed UWB at 480 Mb/s based on Certified Wireless USB.

The inspiration for a CMOS UWB solution came to Staccato early on. According to Mark Bowles, the company's co-founder and vice president of business development and corporate marketing, "From the beginning, Staccato's vision was to dominate the UWB silicon space by having a superior solution for our customers. We realized that this meant building a single-chip CMOS product because of the inherent benefits in cost, power consumption, and form factor. As we expected, this is an extremely difficult task in UWB because the radio has to operate at up to 10 GHz, each channel is more than 500 MHz wide, the ADC and DACs are extremely high-speed, and the transmit power is very low."

The Ripcord family includes devices that target the host wire adapter (HWA), device wire adapter (DWA), native Secure Digital I/O (SDIO), a physical-layer (PHY)-only solution, and three production-ready reference designs. The SC3501, for example, operates in the 3.1-to-4.8-GHz spectrum. By integrating the media access controller (MAC), baseband, and RF, it provides a complete single-chip solution for Wireless USB HWA designs or embedded designs requiring a Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 device interface. The SC3501 supports all mandatory and optional Wireless USB data-rate modes from 53.3 to 480 Mb/s. In addition, it supports all data communication over a secure wireless link using 128-b Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware encryption. The device features a 32-b RISC processor core, internal SRAM, and external Flash or EEPROM support. Aside from USB HWA designs, it can support Certified Wireless USB modes like embedded host, embedded device, and dual-role device. Through device firmware upgrades and the Protocol Independent Kernel (PIK) design, it also can simultaneously support additional protocols including Bluetooth 3.0 and WiMedia's WiNET IP.

Although the SC3502 has much of the same features and occupies the same spectrum, this solution targets Certified Wireless USB DWA designs. A DWA promises to transform any existing USB peripheral into a Certified Wireless USB product with no or very few design modifications. Developers may either implement an external DWA or embed it within an existing design. Wireless USB promises to provide secure wireless communications, the same speed as wired USB (480 Mb/s), low cost, low power, and backward compatibility with wired USB products. It targets the applications that currently rely on USB to transmit data, such as digital still cameras and camcorders. A Ripcord DWA design kit also is available. The SC3223R single-port DWA daughter-card is intended for integration in peripherals that already support the wired USB 2.0 device interface.

In terms of features, the SC3503 differs very little from its siblings. It provides a solution for embedded Certified Wireless USB designs that require an SDIO 1.1 device interface. The SC3503 enables personal-computer, Windows CE, and mobile-product designers to embed Certified Wireless USB functionality into their designs. Because the SC3503 also comes with the PIK, it can support Wireless USB as well as Bluetooth 3.0 and WiMedia's WiNET IP. The company offers development and reference-design kits in support of the SC3503. In addition, a fully abstracted software library, dubbed the Ripcord Control Library, is available to simplify the integration and porting effort to multiple embedded platforms.

The Ripcord family was behind SK Telecom's decision to partner with Staccato in order to deliver the first worldwide mobile deployment of UWB wireless-personal-area-networking (WPAN) mobile-phone services. After the initial launch in Korea, the services that will be developed and launched by SK Telecom and Staccato will be standardized and offered worldwide. With this introduction of UWB WPAN mobile-phone services, customers will have expanded options and bandwidth for entertainment-content delivery to their mobile devices. They will be able to connect mobile phones to larger displays (PC, TV, auto) as well as to the PC ecosystem (see figure). Through personal-area social networking (PASN), they also will be able to share profiles and content from one user to another. Specifically, mobile social networking will allow users to communicate directly with other mobile users or from kiosks at 480 Mb/s. As a result, individuals will be able to connect based on one another's proximity.

The WiMedia Common Radio Platform is the foundation for the project. Yet SK Telecom and Staccato are developing applications using several protocols. This benefit is enabled by Staccato's PIK MAC technology, which enables the simultaneous operation of Certified Wireless USB, WiNet, Bluetooth 3.0, and other potential protocols at speeds up to 480 Mb/s. Initially, products will launch with WiMedia radios using spectrum below 6 GHz (band group 1, band 3). Above-6-GHz operation will be added when the WiMedia Alliance completes the certification process for these bands.