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2008 is set to be an exiting year with almost every week witnessing the release of a CPE or WiMAX modem. This is a result
of years of standardization work, chipset development and the deployment of WiMAX networks at an unprecendented pace.
Mitsumi showcases WiMAX SD cards at Mobile World Congress
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Feb 2008
Mitsumi has showcased SD cards
which can be used to enable various mobile WiMAX devices with mobile WiMAX
connectivity. The Mitsumi SD cards, which are one of the many products to be based on this technology, use the WiMAX chipset
from Sequans. The Chipset comprises of Sequans’ SQN1130 Mobile WiMAX baseband chip and SQN1140 RF chip. Both the chips
are wave 2 ready; i.e. meet all the requirements and specifications of mobile WiMAX wave 2 certification including MIMO. The
WiMAX Forum certification is expected to follow later.
These and similar products
( see Chapter 8 of book “ Mobile Broadcasting with WiMAX”) are indicative of the types of devices which will be used with the rollout of WiMAX networks.
At present around 280 commercial
WiMAX networks are operational worldwide, but the number could grow manifold in the next two years.
WiMAX
enabling devices- PC Cards
PC cards which can enable personal computers and laptops have been the first to appear on the scene in the category
of enablers for Mobile WiMAX. The first products were for WiBro in Korea
following the launch of services in 2005. Subsequently these have become available progressively for Mobile WiMAX.
Telsima StarMAX™
PC Cards
Telsima Corp, USA is one of the
manufacturers of WiMAX PC cards based on IEEE 802.16e standards. Its cards are
available in both PCMCIA ( StarMAX 3210) and Express form ( StarMAX 3220) formats. The cards come with Windows Vista or Windows XP based clients which can be used to
set the operating parameters such as band of operation and bandwidth etc.
Accton™
WIMAX PCMCIA cards
Accton, Taiwan has a range of PCMCIA mobile WiMAX 802.16e compliant PC
cards for different frequency bands. Accton PCMCIA cards have a new two fold external antenna for a higher gain, polarization
support and a higher transmitted power of 23dBm.It has a 1TX, 2 receive
antennae and is Mobile WiMAX wave 1 compliant. The PCMCIA card is based on the use of BC-MSB120 MAC/Baseband chipset and MSR120
RF transceiver.
POSDATA announces the First WiMAX gaming
device
The World'd first online gaming device using WiMAX
as the connectivity medium has been introduced by POSDATA Korea. The new device G100 supports a 4 inch LCD and a "slide-out"
gamepad. The device has WiFi and blue tooth connectivity in addition to WiMAX.
WiMAX enabled devices now have matching software for real time streaming applications
CES, Las Vegas, Jan 2008
WiMAX enabled devices ( such as UMPCs,
Internet Tablets etc.) can now use software
which enables them to stream video over the WiMAX network. This solution is provided by PocketCaster™ software from
ComVu®. PocketCaster also provides GPS mapping enhancing its utility for people on the move.
A live demo of the software was available at the CES at Las Vegas
in Jan 2008. The software is likely to find widespread application with the launch of
mobile WiMAX networks such as XOHM by Sprint Nextel and that by Clearwire in 2008.
A number of WiMAX enabled devices are being announced for interface to the WiMAX networks. These include the ultra
low power UMPCs based on Intel’s “Menlow” chip family.
The PocketCaster can be used in multiple ways including streaming ( Unicasting) of stored
or live video and including its delivery to Web 2.0 enabled devices. While it has been available to operate via existing 3G
or WiFi networks( by using a range of handsets such as Nokia N73,N80,E65 etc) the
extension to WiMAX is an important development.
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