By Alan Gatherer, Texas Instruments
Imagine for a moment that the year is 2012 and you have the good fortune to be in London for the Olympic Games. Although taking a front row seat at the world’s most prestigious sporting event is already a fortuitous opportunity, you also have the chance to experience the new wireless communications capabilities that will be available at the games.
Alan Gatherer, Texas Instruments
By Alan Gatherer, Texas Instruments
Imagine for a moment that the year is 2012 and you have the good fortune to be in London for the Olympic Games. Although taking a front row seat at the world’s most prestigious sporting event is already a fortuitous opportunity, you also have the chance to experience the new wireless communications capabilities that will be available at the games. In a digital world that never ceases to stop evolving with new, innovative wireless equipment, this fictitious scenario forces us to imagine: what will you be able to do in the wireless world of 2012?
Today in 2007, the great ambition of the wireless industry is not only to make the various types of voice, video and data applications available through all types of connections, but also to make access transparent to the end user. Essentially, all telephone calls, the Internet, TV and data services can be accessible for users to enjoy on their PC, mobile phone, PDA or any other wireless device that may eventually appear. If the rapid pace of the technology industry has set any precedent for the future, it is certainly not too soon to consider the applications and capabilities that will be available just five years down the wireless road.
In 2012, wireless developments that are just beginning to appear today will be in full deployment and technical issues such as compatibility and bandwidth requirements will likely be resolved. Today, the various interactive networks compete rather than complement one another and multiple, voice-and data-centric wireless networks exist. The most significant change to the overall wireless network in the next few years will be the merger of these two networks into a single data network. The application-agnostic world of IP delivery will be tempered with a desire to support multiple applications such as real-time language and video translation, some of which will have no real time constraints in a wireless environment.
So, let us once again visit the Olympics scenario and consider a few wireless applications that will be ubiquitous by 2012. You begin the day on your 4G cell phone/PDA by confirming the schedule of events and activating your electronic tickets so you can use the express line at the security gate. You’ve used your PC to check the weather and searched for the least-congested route to Wembley Stadium in London. The satellite-tracked site you view gives 15-second updates in any area of the city and constantly shows you the suggested route to bypass traffic.
Once inside the stadium, you have a variety of wireless access points available to enhance your enjoyment of the spectacle. The stadium network provides ongoing close-ups and replays, as well as several channels that are broadcasting events taking place at other sites in and around London’s Olympic venues. At any time, you can direct your attention to worldwide news or other programming that is broadcast on the Internet. And since every portable unit has a hard drive with huge capacity, you can record your favorite TV show for later viewing while you watch a live event.
The premise of the wireless world of 2012 is constant connectivity with highly advanced applications, all at your fingertips. At the heart of such integrated technology are digital signal processors (DSPs) and analog radio components, which continue to offer higher performance with lower power consumption at affordable costs. DSPs make it possible to compress, decompress and reformat highly encoded audio, video and voice data – all in real time. Getting from today’s individual digital equipment to tomorrow’s converged communications devices will not require a network revolution – just a steady evolution based on DSP technology. Eventually all air interfaces will support general voice, video and data applications. Range, bandwidth and available service offerings will make the difference as to which type of network works best for a specific use. Though the networks probably won’t be fully merged by 2012, they will definitely be well on their way. One thing is certain however, the wireless services available in 2012 will undoubtedly be more advanced than what was available in Athens in 2004, and even from what will be available in Beijing in 2008. It certainly goes without saying that the fierce competition, talented athletes and advanced technology will keep the world of wireless users on the edge of our seats
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For some details on TI's wireless infrastructure thrust, click here: wireless infrastructure
Alan Gatherer, chief technical Officer, Communications Infrastructure at Texas Instruments is responsible for all strategic development of TI’s digital baseband modems for 3G wireless infrastructure. He joined TI in 1993 and has worked on various digital modem technologies including cable modem, ADSL and 3G handset and basestation modems. Alan has authored seven journal papers and 22 conference papers and regularly speaks at communication equipment conferences.
Contributing to this blog is Sandeep Kumar, business manager, growth infrastructure markets at TI. Sandeep hasserved a variety of product and strategic marketing roles within TI's communications infrastructure group including product manager for wireless infrastructure and as a key leader in CI WiMAX and third party alliances. Most recently, he was the marketing team lead with market assessment and product definition responsibility, along with driving product messaging and positioning.
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