Widespread Adoption Looms

Lower-Cost Third-Gen WirelessHD Chips Due 2011, Sibeam Says at CEATEC

October 7, 2010 by Mark Seavy and Paul Gluckman|Top News

MAKUHARI, Japan -- Sibeam is developing third-generation WirelessHD chips that will drive adapter prices down to $49 to $79 by late 2011 and help clear the way for widespread adoption of the technology as an embedded feature in TVs, CEO John LeMoncheck told us at Wednesday at the CEATEC Japan show. Sibeam expects to demonstrate third-generation ICs at January CES that will be designed around a QFN-like package that allows a smaller footprint, thinner profile and light weight, he said.

WirelessHD chips will be reduced in size 40 percent, with the height of the receiver IC likely to be 9 mm, half that of the second-generation chip, LeMoncheck said. The number of millimeter-wave antennas the chip contains also will be “significantly” reduced from the current 32, LeMoncheck said. Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS) and other components will be integrated in the new chip, while the baseband processor’s core clockspeed remains at 300 MHz, LeMoncheck said. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will continue making the ICs using a 65 nanometer process, but could shift to 28 nanometers with the arrival of fourth-generation WirelessHD product designed for mobile devices, he said. “The total module solution will be very attractively priced and really start to be competitive with an access point or a cheap WiFi card,” LeMoncheck said. With adapters priced $49 to $79 it’s “throw-away money at that point,” he said.

While the third-generation chips promise better integration and will slash costs 40 percent, the existing crop of ICs -- the SB9221 network processor and SB9211 RF receiver chipsets -- are also driving lower retail prices. Best Buy, which invested in Sibeam, will launch sales this month of a second-generation WHD200 Rocketfish adapter containing four HDMI 1.4 connectors and packaged with a receiver at $249, down from the $599 charged for the original model. The original WHD100RF was being promoted on Best Buy’s website Wednesday at $299. The WHD200 is priced “to the point where it is trying to compete against cables” as a means for connecting CE products rather than being part of a more expensive custom installation, LeMoncheck said.

Vizio also has aggressive plans for deploying the technology. It will field a WirelessHD four-port HDMI 1.4 adapter that could be packaged with a receiver at $149. Vizio also is introducing WirelessHD-equipped 47- and 55-inch LCD TVs and a “broad range” of its sets will embed the technology in 2011, LeMoncheck said. Vizio officials weren’t immediately available for comment.

While LG Electronics dropped WirelessHD technology in favor of rival WHDI adapters compatible with its TVs, LeMoncheck is confident the company will return to the WirelessHD camp for embedded applications. And while Sibeam investors Panasonic and Samsung didn’t field WirelessHD gear this year, product plans are on the drawing boards. Panasonic shipped a WirelessHD-equipped 50-inch plasma TV, while Samsung hasn’t introduced devices.

Samsung believes when WirelessHD “becomes a must-have feature they will certainly have thrown it in,” LeMoncheck said. Sibeam has “lots of design activity” with Samsung, which is “poised and ready to go,” LeMoncheck said. Until now, Samsung’s focus has been on 3D and that’s “where they have spent all their engineering resources,” he said. Samsung officials weren’t available for comment. Toshiba also was to have included WirelessHD in its Cell processor-based LCD TVs that were scrapped in the U.S. for this year.

Other companies also have joined the WirelessHD roster in recent months, including Harman International and Epson. Harman and Epson haven’t disclosed WirelessHD-related product plans. But a WirelessHD-equipped front projector is expected to be demonstrated at CES, LeMoncheck said. Epson is a major supplier of LCD-based front projectors.

Sharp developed and is selling WirelessHD modules targeting TVs and AV receivers, LeMoncheck said. Sharp sold a first-generation WHDI adapter as an accessory in Japan priced at $825, but hasn’t brought WHDI or WirelessHD to its U.S. products. Other ODM suppliers for WirelessHD products are AzureWave (adapters), Abocom (adapters), Compal (notebook PCs), Foxconn (TVs), Gemtek (adapters) and LG Innotek (adapters). Cisco also was among the investors in Sibeam’s $36 million funding round earlier this year, but hasn’t detailed any product plans. Among Cisco’s brands are Linksys (routers and other PC devices), Pure Digital (digital camcorders, cameras) and Scientific-Atlanta (cable set-top boxes).

Sibeam also is facing competition from Broadcom, which is expected to release WirelessHD chips by year-end. LeMoncheck and Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor were scheduled to deliver back-to-back keynotes Thursday afternoon at CEATEC. Broadcom’s plans underscored that WirelessHD “is for real, will be supported by a wide variety of semiconductor companies and is not just one company,” LeMoncheck said. “It was very validating” for Sibeam to have Broadcom “be so firm” in its support of WirelessHD, LeMoncheck said. MediaTek also is said to be developing WirelessHD chips.

The Wireless Gigabit Alliance also is working with Sibeam to deliver a chip for a new spec it’s developing with the Wi-Fi Alliance for 60 GHz networking. The WirelessHD consortium earlier this year rolled out a new version of its technology promising throughput of 10-28 Gbps, leapfrogging the WiGig group’s 7 Gbps maximum data rate. Sibeam developed hybrid silicon supporting the WiGig and WirelessHD specs that’s expected to sample in 2011 with some products to follow the next year. The first devices may feature a “dual mode solution” for the technologies, LeMoncheck said. There are a “couple of” customers interested in the dual mode approach, he said. “They see some of the video shortcomings in WiGig,” LeMoncheck said. “They want to preserve the 802.11 momentum for data and have WirelessHD available to them for video,” LeMoncheck said. “They want that to bring a virtual docking type solution to market.”

CEATEC Japan Notebook

Besides the two models of glasses-free 3D LCD TVs that drew big crowds to Toshiba’s CEATEC stand (CED Oct 6 p1), the company also showcased a prototype of a glasses-free 3D laptop PC, but said it had no plans yet to commercialize the product. Unique to the prototype was its ability to display an upconverted 3D image picture-in-picture with a 2D image simultaneously, Toshiba said. “You can designate a window of your preferred size and your preferred position,” using technology called “partial 3D conversion,” placards at the stand said. It would give users, for example, the ability to view YouTube content in a window that’s upconverted to 3D while reading e-mail in the background, the company said.

Fujitsu is working to develop “thermal-to-electric energy conversion technology that harvests energy from the surrounding environment and converts it into electricity,” the company said in an “advanced technology” paper it distributed at CEATEC. Wireless ICT modules “that can harvest energy from their surroundings will be required” in a future networked society “because of the huge total power consumption and maintenance cost of the battery exchange,” the company said. It demonstrated an eco-friendly prototype “oxide micro thermoelectric device” that can safely convert temperature differences into electric voltage. One possible application is as a wireless sensor that can troubleshoot problems in planes, cars and factories using electricity “generated by the temperature differences between engine and air,” Fujitsu said. Heavy metals such as bismuth telluride have been used widely as thermoelectric conversion materials, but they're toxic and not environmentally friendly, the company said. “Such materials with large negative environmental impacts are not suitable for use in wireless ICT,” it said.

Hitachi demonstrated a microelectromechanical system-based (MEMS) front projector that could ship in 2011, a company spokesman said. The projector, about the size of a deck of cards, uses a frequency doubled 532-nanometer green laser to deliver 640x480 resolution and 30 lumens, while consuming three to five watts, the spokesman said. The projector is built around Xilinx’s field programmable gate array processor. Development work on the projector is “almost done, but we are trying to determine which application is the proper one” for the device, the spokesman said.