Nokia Unveils "Wibree"
After five years of brain storming research and headwork Mobile market leaders Nokia finally unveiled a new short range wireless device, which they claim is more efficient than the much popular Bluetooth.
Launched in Helsinki in Finland, the device is named as “Wibree”. The new radio technology can work along side Bluetooth connections but uses only a fraction of the energy that Bluetooth consumes. "It's up to 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth," Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia Research Center, told a news conference.
The technology aims to be a lot more power-efficient than Bluetooth (approximately 10 times), which means it could be used in smaller and less costly devices. It can also use the same radio and antenna components as Bluetooth, helping keep costs down further.
Bluetooth has inherent power limitations because it includes a fixed packet-size and frequency-hopping technology, Iannucci said. Wibree uses a different modulation technique that does a better job of avoiding interference, which helps reduce its power requirements, he said.
Because of their small size and low energy consumption, Wibree radio chips will make it possible and efficient to connect phones and other electronics devices to low-power watches or sports sensors and health monitors. Like Bluetooth used to link cell phones with headsets, computers and printers to transfer calls, calendar items, documents, songs and pictures, Wibree provides a radio link of up to 10 metres, transferring data at 10 MBPS between devices.
Wibree could also have interesting features for consumers in watches, sports goods, toys etc. sensors can be placed in a gold club and used to upload data on the internet about the player’s swing and again via a mobile phone where an instructor can guide the player.
Nokia plans to bring this product in market by the second quarter of next year for full scale commercial operations.
“Our aim is to establish an industry standard faster than ever before by offering an inter-operable solution that can be commercialized and incorporated into products as quickly as possible," Iannucci said.
Nokia would now put it through a standardization process along with a number of other wireless technology firms. When Wibree has become a standard, the technology would be available to anyone at the same reasonable terms.
Obviously, the stakes are quite high here, as there is always an expectation among the public for high quality products from Nokia even if it means shelling out some extra money. Lets wait and watch how well Wibree goes with the consumers.
