1999-08-27 , S/IC-2078/34
Business News From Philips Semiconductors

IFA 99 demonstration makes wireless multimedia home networking a reality

Philips Semiconductors, a global leader in wireless home networking, baseband, semiconductor and networking technology, along with Wi-LAN, a technology leader in the wireless Internet/data communications sector, today announced a demonstration of wireless transmission of IEEE 1394 at 2.4 GHz using Wi-LAN's patented Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (W-OFDM) technology. The industry's first demonstration of wireless IEEE 1394 will take place at the Hotel Berlin from 30 August to 3 September in Berlin, Germany during the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) 1999. This latest development establishes W-OFDM, the most bandwidth-efficient wireless transmission technology, as the only technology capable of providing data rates necessary for in-home multimedia networking.

"The combination of IEEE 1394 and OFDM is ideally suited for wireless in-home multimedia networking environments," said Scott McGregor, senior vice president and general manager emerging businesses, Philips Semiconductors. "We're excited to achieve this significant milestone with Wi-LAN, and look forward to continued advances in home networking."

At IFA, the Wireless IEEE 1394 Demonstrator will feature an MPEG-2 data stream generator, which feeds a multiple transport stream into a Philips Semiconductors Set Top Box (STB). The STB converts this signal to an IEEE 1394 data stream and applies it to the Wi-LAN W-OFDM radio system. The Wi-LAN radio transmitter then sends the IEEE 1394 data stream over the air to the corresponding W-OFDM receiver. On the receive side, the IEEE 1394 signal is demodulated and sent to two STBs, which display the content of the different MPEG-2 data streams on two separate TV monitors. Using IEEE 1394 as the interface for the wired part of the network optimizes the entire system for transmission of isochronous information (voice, live video) and provides an ideal interfacing to multimedia devices in the home. W-OFDM technology is inherently immune to the effects of multipath.

"The recent advances in the semiconductor industry and particularly in digital signal processing make W-OFDM the technology of choice for future high-speed wireless data communication applications," said Hatim Zaghloul, CEO and president, Wi-LAN, Inc. "The IFA demonstration marks the first time W-OFDM technology will be used to transmit high data rates over the air for consumer multimedia applications and Wi-LAN's step forward to the networked home of the future."

Like all modulation schemes, OFDM encodes data inside a radio frequency (RF) signal. Radio communications are often obstructed by occurring noise, stray and reflected signals. By sending high-speed signals concurrently on different frequencies, OFDM technology offers robust communications. OFDM-enabled systems are highly tolerant to noise and multipath, making wide-area and in-home multi-point coverage possible. Additionally, as these systems are very efficient in use of bandwidth, many more high-speed channels are possible within a frequency band. W-OFDM is a cost-effective variation of OFDM that allows much larger throughputs than conventional OFDM by using a broad frequency band. W-OFDM further processes the signal to maximize the range. These improvements to conventional OFDM result in the dramatically increased transmission speeds.

OFDM technology is becoming increasingly more visible as American and European standardization committees are choosing it as the only technology capable of providing reliable wireless high data rate connections. European terrestrial digital video broadcasting uses OFDM and the IEEE 802.11 working group recently selected OFDM in its proposed 6 to 54 Mbps wireless LAN standard. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute is considering W-OFDM for the ETSI BRAN standard.

Wi-LAN, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, delivers wireless data/Internet communications products that provide infrastructure and high-speed networking equipment for public and private wireless data networks. Wi-LAN's recently launched I.WiLL™ 30Mbps access point is based on its patented W-OFDM technology and carries unprecedented speeds in its industry class. The company's Hopper™ and Hopper Plus products have been sold in more than 50 countries on six continents. Wi-LAN is the 1999 recipient of the CATA Alliance Award of Distinction for Emerging Technology. Wi-LAN™ shares trade on the Alberta Stock Exchange under the symbol WIN. Detailed information on Wi-LAN can be found on the Web at  http://www.wi-lan.com/

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be obtained by accessing its home page at http://cdrom.semiconductors.com/.