Thoughts on Trends in Mobile and Wireless Talk

Speaker: Dr. Nambi Seshadri, CTO Mobile and Wireless at Broadcom

Date: 5/13/2009

Summary:

Dr. Seshadri pointed out the trends and technologies that shaped the first three generations of wireless, then he discussed the trends that will shape the fourth.

1. 802.11 FH/DS-SS, Analog Voice
   
   
   
   • Frequency Reuse
   
   
   • Handoffs
   
   
   • cell splitting
   
   
   
   


2. 802.11/a/b/g, bluetooth, Digital Voice, SMS, GPRS
   
   
   
   • Digital communication over fading channels/Viterbi Algorithm
   
   
   • Digital speech compression (CELP)
   
   
   • VLSI
   
   
   
   


3. 100-600 Mbps WLAN, 480-1000Mbps WPAN, 802.11n MIMO, MMS, EDGE/WCDMA, EVDO/HSDPA
   
   
   
   • CMOS RF
   
   
   • Java/browsers/email/sync
   
   
   • camera/mp3
   
   
   • open OS (Symbian, Windows mobile, LiMo, Android)
   
   
   
   


4. >1Gbps WLAN/WPAN, Broadband Multimedia/Video
   
   
   
   • Ubiquitous broadband
   
   
   • Convergence on "Open" platform
   
   
   • Industry transformation: OS free (Android/Symbian), Make money from Content/service/apps/advertising

Then he talked about technologies shaping M 4.0 (mobile 4th gen) and he mentioned computing power, sensors, positioning, open OS, security, high BW connectivity, alternative power sources (inductive power), health monitoring...

Then he talked a while about Ubiquitous positioning using Assisted GPS: Using GNSS satellites, Wifi hotspots, CDMA towers, NMR/MRL measuring Rx power, Cell ID, Digital TV towers...

Multimodal (multiple wireless modes) chips are driving cost down.

In all, it was an OK summary, nothing that sparks fantasies or that has any depth.