Wireless USB is a new wireless extension to USB intended to combine the speed and security of wired technology with the ease-of-use of wireless technology. WUSB is based on Ultra Wideband wireless technology (802.15.3a, yet to be accepted), which operates in the range of 3.1 - 10.6 GHz.
The Wireless USB Promoter Group was formed in February 2004 to define the Wireless USB specification. The group consists of Agere Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, Philips and Samsung.
WUSB offers bandwidths of 480 Mbit/s at three meters, and 110 Mbit/s at 10 meters. WUSB uses topology of one host with several devices. One WUSB cluster can connect up to 127 devices. WUSB also supports so-called dual-role devices, which in addition to being a WUSB device, can function as a host with limited capabilities. For example, a digital camera could act as a device when connected to a computer, and as a host when transferring pictures directly to a printer.
WUSB will be used in devices that are now connected via regular USB cables, such as controllers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, MP3 players, hard disks and flash drives, but it is also suitable for transferring parallel video streams.
In May 2005, the Wireless USB Promoter Group announced the completion of the Wireless USB specification. The first WUSB products are expected to hit the market by the end of 2005.
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