Through recent advances in low cost broadband wireless technologies such as 802.11n, UWB and 60GHz, it is now possible to reach sustainable bandwidth north of 100Mbps across distances ranging from 30 to 100 feet or larger. With the path now cleared to reach HDTV screens, computer LCD monitors and projectors over a high speed wireless connection, the race is on to deliver solutions that can beam HD video and graphics wirelessly to the display.
The rapid growth in popularity of laptops and portable/handheld devices with HD multi-media playback capabilities means that connectivity to an HD display is more and more a supported feature on such devices. Especially on these gadgets cutting the video cord brings huge benefits to consumers, because of the ad hoc nature of their connectivity to an HD display.
Bluetooth enabled game pads are now also available for the PS3 game console. This creates a strong desire in consumers to have the display follow the game pad wherever convenient to play. Similarly, manufacturers of media hubs would benefit by allowing consumers to wirelessly control and view different content streams on any screen simultaneously in the home.
In enterprise applications cutting the video cord means no hassle with docking stations on the desk and no hassle with video cables to connect to a conference room projector.
Broadband radio technologies
At present there are a handful of broadband radio technologies competing for a wireless path to HD displays and projectors. These are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Broadband wireless technologies competing for wireless HDMI in the home
Table 1 is not intended to be exhaustive, but only lists the most notable ones. Furthermore, the bit rates in Table 1 are for the PHY and actual bit rates are usually lower due to MAC-layer overhead.
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