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The new "magic" - ultra-wide band - a seminar in London

Ever since the FCC's Valentine's Day bombshell - it issued a First Report and Order for UWB technology, which authorizes the commercial deployment of UWB technology - the Europeans have wondered what to do. Here's where to go: July 23rd, IEE, London.

The UK Government's Radiocommunications Agency, which decides which bits of the wireless spectrum can be used, is sponsoring a one-day colloquium on UWB technology.

The point about UWB, despite excited comments in popular magazines, is not that it can "see through walls." There may well be ways of using UWB to see through walls. What is interesting about it is the incredible low-power, high-speed bandwidth for cable-replacement.

Right now, the best speed you can get out of a standard "open licence" wireless link, is probably 802.11a or WiFi5 - around 50 megabits per second. That's less than half what the standard Ethernet cable system provides. Theoretically, you could go much faster, but you'd have to find another bit of unlicensed spectrum, and develop a standard. UWB offers the prospect of very, very low-power transmissions on every part of the spectrum from the bottom of microwave upwards, indistinguishable from background radio noise.

And it offers the prospect of 500 megabits, probably within five years, according to Intel - which is running away with the research bandwagon.

This event will present the state of the art in UWB, describe potential UWB applications and address implementation and regulation issues. This will be a full-day meeting and the registration fee will be low as a result of RA's sponsorship. Details will appear on the RA website.

The event will be supported by the IEE and the IEEE UK&RI Communications Chapter. There will be no charge for attending this meeting, but attendees should register in advance as places are limited.

The morning session will include speakers from industry, government and academia. After lunch, there will be an Open Forum where contributions from all attendees are welcome. At the end of the afternoon session, some future research directions will be explored. The expected programme will include UWB Technology, UWB Applications, Sharing and Regulatory Issues, Future Research. If possible, a practical demonstration will be given and there will be speakers from the FCC and CEPT.

Venue for UWB colloquium: IEE, Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL

Date: Tuesday 23 July 2002

All registration requests should be sent to Nicola Gallimore, at the RadioCommunications Agency - phone +44 (0)20 7211 0038.