UWB FORUM MAY BE HOPELESSLY SPLIT ON KEY TECHNICAL STANDARD

Sources told us there is a clear deadlock between the 2 sides, reflected in a vote last week at the 802.15.3a task group in which the DS-UWB Forum edged out its rival in what some viewed a clear victory for Motorola’s proposed standard. The Motorola-led coalition won 74-73 at the meeting in N.M. but fell well short of the 75% that is required for confirmation. With a critical meeting scheduled for Sept. in Berlin, sources say the IEEE forum may not make a decision for some time.

Meanwhile, sources disagreed whether FCC’s pending 2nd report and order on UWB will help resolve the fight between the rival groups. Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Edmond Thomas said in June the report on the whole will be anti-climactic, but could contain some guidance on frequency- hopping, a major issue in the conflict at the IEEE. FCC has been doing testing on UWB devices but has tried to steer clear so far of trying to influence the IEEE process.

A regulatory attorney who has worked for one of the rival technologies said the significance of the task force’s eventual decision is huge. “It’s more likely if you get your device into the standard that your device will win,” the attorney said. “You're more likely to be able to license your product. It’s a huge issue. It’s almost as important as the regulatory process.”

One industry official, whose company designs technology that could work with either technology, said the conflict could take many months to resolve. He noted that the fight over a similar standard -- IEEE 801.11 A&B -- was resolved after 2 years of deadlock.

“This group is deadlocked and they have been deadlocked,” the source said. “Both sides are getting tired of this whole situation and they're not being as aggressive as they were because of the deadlock. People are getting frustrated and they're not sending people to the meetings.”

The official said that while the 2 technologies have had their problems some have grown disenchanted with the Intel- Texas Instrument group, which missed a deadline in May to release functional specifications for its technology and hasn’t unveiled a fully functional receiver-transmitter.

“A lot of people signed up for the MBOA because of the promise of Intel and Texas Instruments partnering on this,” the source said. “A lot of that isn’t coming to pass.”

Jeff Ross, exec. vp of Alereon, a supporter of the MBOA proposal, accused Motorola of hiring 20 or so consultants to stack the vote against his side. He conceded his side had been caught “flat-footed” but said the vote was a “wake-up call.” Ross also said that his side was close to releasing functional specifications and some members effectively have product ready for release at the proper forum, such as the next Consumer Electronics Assn. show.

The “down-select” vote established the Motorola-backed standard as the model before delegates. Ross said his side would be back in Berlin with enough votes to change the balance once again.

“The real story here is [that], if you look at the IEEE, the MBOA is going to continue to work in that forum, but it’s becoming less relevant,” Ross told us. “My personal opinion is it will continue deadlocked. The MBOA companies will start shipping product that will be certified under the MBOA [special interest group]. Once they start shipping product, companies will bring it back to the IEEE.”

But Martin Rofheart, dir. of UWB operations at Freescale, a division of Motorola, said the Ore. vote was a turning point for the IEEE forum. He pointed out that more delegates attended the last meeting than previous forum meetings.

“What really is important is the huge momentum shift that took place” against MBOA, he said. “You went from a group that thought it had a huge majority to a group that ended up in the minority. It was a credible meeting.” Rofheart predicted that his side could get the 75% vote need for approval as a standard as early as Berlin.