Alereon recently demonstrated for the government an Ultra-WideBand (UWB) Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) comprised of multiple off-the-shelf military devices.
Working with partners and Army labs, Alereon showed the viability of connecting existing soldier-carried devices using short-range, difficult-to-detect UWB links that carry a wide range of protocols from high-bandwidth video to low-bandwidth serial data.
At the center of the network was a Samsung Note II smartphone. The smartphone was able to simultaneously feed screen video to a head-mounted display, collect position data from a laser range finder and GPS, exchange network data with an off-body radio, and exchange audio with a headset.
The Alereon radios comprising the WPAN interacted to create optimal data scheduling while minimizing power and avoiding interference. The WPAN demonstrated the ability of Alereon’s radios to transfer high-bandwidth real-time video while interacting with very low-bandwidth and low-power serial, I2S, and USB devices.
Using scheduling that optimizes sleep and hibernation, the Alereon radio can operate a low-bandwidth device with as little as 60 milliWatts of power.
