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Chapter 1

 

Introduction

Wireless Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 1.0

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1Motivation

The original motivation for the Universal Serial Bus (USB) came from several considerations, two of the most important being:

Ease-of-use

The lack of flexibility in reconfiguring the PC had been acknowledged as the Achilles’ heel to its further deployment. The combination of user-friendly graphical interfaces and the hardware and software mechanisms associated with new-generation bus architectures have made computers less confrontational and easier to reconfigure. However, from the end user’s point of view, the PC’s I/O interfaces, such as serial/parallel ports, keyboard/mouse/joystick interfaces, etc., did not have the attributes of plug-and-play.

Port expansion

The addition of external peripherals continued to be constrained by port availability. The lack of a bidirectional, low-cost, low-to-mid speed peripheral bus held back the creative proliferation of peripherals such as storage devices, answering machines, scanners, PDA’s, keyboards, mice, etc. Existing interconnects were optimized for one or two point products. As each new function or capability was added to the PC, a new interface had been defined to address this need.

Initially, USB provided two speeds (12Mb/s and 1.5Mb/s) that peripherals could use. But as PCs became increasingly powerful and able to process vast amounts of data, users needed to get more and more data into and out of their PCs. USB 2.0 was defined in 2000 to provide a third transfer rate of 480Mb/s while retaining backward compatibility.

Since then, USB has arguably become the most successful PC peripheral interconnect ever defined. In 2005, analysts predict there will be over 500 million USB products in use. End users ‘know’ what USB is. Product developers understand the infrastructure and interfaces necessary to build a successful product. USB has gone beyond just being a way to connect peripherals to PCs. Printers use USB to interface directly to cameras.

PDAs use USB connected keyboards and mice. The USB On-The-Go definition, provides a way for two hostcapable devices to be connected and negotiate which one will operate as the ‘host’. USB, as a protocol, is also being picked up and used in many non-traditional applications such as industrial automation.

Now, as technology innovation marches forward, wireless technologies are becoming more and more capable and cost effective. Ultra-WideBand (UWB) radio technology, in particular, has characteristics that match traditional USB usage models very well. UWB supports high bandwidth (480Mb/s) but only at limited range (~3 meters). Applying this wireless technology to USB frees the user from worrying about cables; where to find them, where to plug them in, how to string them so they don’t get tripped over, how to arrange them so they don’t look like a mess, … It makes USB even easier to use. Because no physical ports are required, port expansion, or even finding a USB port, is no longer a problem.

Of course, losing the cable, also means losing a source of power for peripherals. For self-powered devices, this isn’t an issue. But for portable, bus-powered devices, Wireless USB presents some challenges where creative minds will provide innovative solutions that meet their customers needs.

USB (wired or wireless) continues to be the answer to connectivity for the PC architecture. It is a fast, bidirectional, isochronous, low-cost, dynamically attachable interface that is consistent with the requirements of the PC platform of today and tomorrow.

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Chapter 1

 

Introduction

Wireless Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 1.0

1.2Design Goals

Wireless USB is a logical evolution of USB. The goal is that end users view it as the same as wired USB, just without the wires. Several key design areas to meet this goal are listed below.

Leverage the existing USB infrastructure. There are a large number of USB products being used today. A large part of their success can be traced to the existence of stable software interfaces, easily developed software device drivers, and a number of generic standard device class drivers (HID, Mass Storage, audio, etc.) Wireless USB is designed to keep this software infrastructure intact so that developers of peripherals can continue to use the same interfaces and leverage all of their existing development work.

Preserve the USB model of smart host and simple device. Even though wireless technology introduces complexity, the Wireless USB architecture continues to have a significant split in responsibility between host and device. Wireless USB is designed to keep devices as simple as possible and let the host manage as much of the complexity as possible.

Provide effective power management mechanisms. Without wires, many more traditional USB devices will have to run on batteries. Wireless USB is designed to allow devices to be as power efficient as possible, providing explicit times when radios need to be on so that radios can be in lower power modes otherwise.

Provide security. Wireless USB is designed to provide a comparable amount of security to that which users enjoyed with wired USB. This translates to mechanisms to assure the user that their device is communicating only with their intended host and vice-versa. All data communications between host and device are encrypted to ensure privacy.

Ease of use. This has always been a key design goal for all varieties of USB. Wireless USB is engineered to continue that tradition, while preserving strong security requirements.

Investment preservation. There are a large number of PCs that support wired USB in use. There are a larger number of wired USB peripherals in use. Wireless USB defines a new USB device class, the Wire Adapter device class, that allows existing PCs to be ‘upgraded’ to include Wireless USB support, and that same device class allows wired USB devices to have a wireless connection back to the host PC.

1.3Objective of the Specification

This document defines an industry-standard Wireless USB. The specification describes the protocol definition, types of transactions, bus management, and the programming interface required to design and build systems and peripherals that are compliant with this standard. This specification does not describe the underlying physical and MAC layers. These layers are defined in the PHY and MAC specifications, see [4] and [3]. This specification was written specifically targeting these sub-layer definitions, and the features of Wireless USB take specific advantage of the characteristics of the PHY and MAC Layer.

The goal is to enable wireless devices from different vendors to interoperate in an open architecture, while maintaining and leveraging the existing USB infrastructure (device drivers, software interfaces, etc.). The specification is intended as an enhancement to the PC architecture, spanning portable, business desktop, and home environments, as well as simple device-to-device communications. It is intended that the specification allow system OEMs and peripheral developers adequate room for product versatility and market differentiation without the burden of carrying obsolete interfaces or losing compatibility.

1.4Scope of the Document

The specification is primarily targeted to peripheral developers and platform/adapter developers, but provides valuable information for platform operating system/ BIOS/ device driver, adapter IHVs/ISVs, and system OEMs. This specification can be used for developing new products and associated software.

Product developers using this specification are expected to know and understand wired USB as defined in the USB 2.0 Specification. Specifically, wireless USB devices must implement device framework commands and descriptors as defined in the USB 2.0 specification. Product developers may also need to know and understand

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Chapter 1

 

Introduction

Wireless Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 1.0

aspects of the WiMedia MAC [3] and PHY [4] specifications depending on the type of Wireless USB product being developed.

1.5USB Product Compliance

Adopters of the Wireless USB specification have signed the Wireless USB Adopters Agreement, which provides them access to a reasonable and non-descriminatory (RAND) license from the Promoters and other Adopters to certain intellectual property contained in products that are compliant with the Wireless USB specification. Adopters can demonstrate compliance with the specification through the testing program as defined by the USB Implementers Forum. Products that demonstrate compliance with the specification will be granted certain rights to use the USB Implementers Forum logos as defined in the logo license.

1.6Document Organization

Chapters 1 through 3 provide an overview for all readers, while Chapters 4 through 8 contain detailed technical information defining Wireless USB.

Peripheral implementers should particularly read Chapters 4 through 7.

Host Controller implementers should particularly read Chapters 4 through 8.

Readers are also requested to contact operating system vendors for operating system bindings specific to Wireless USB.

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Chapter 1

 

Introduction

Wireless Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 1.0

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