A new group consisting of personal computer, telecommunications and consumer electronics companies is developing a protocol for wirelessly connecting home appliances to PCs.
The Home Radio Frequency Working Group’s mission is “to enable the existence of a broad range of interoperable consumer devices by establishing an open industry specification for unlicensed RF digital communications for PCs and consumer devices anywhere in and around the home.”
The group appears to be focused in the near-term on providing such a service through cordless handsets due to their affordable price points, said Brian Cotton, industry manager for wireless communications at Frost & Sullivan. Whether the group eventually will integrate the service with cellular and personal communications services networks is unclear. “I would suspect they are investigating that possibility very closely especially given the forecasts of the proliferation of mobile phones,” said Cotton.
Motivated by the observation that PCs are underused, the group began working on an open specification for home wireless communications-the Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP)-which it plans to publish later this year.
SWAP will operate in the 2400 MHz Industrial Scientific Medical band. The protocol incorporates key elements of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 standard for high data rates and the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications standard for quality voice connectivity.
Core members of the group include Compaq Computer Corp., Ericsson Enterprise Networks, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Motorola Inc., Philips Consumer Communications L.P., Proxim and Symbionics.
“We believe that by establishing a wireless communications specification for the home, a new industry will be created that results in unprecedented interoperability between intelligent devices in the home,” said Ben Manny, chairman of the group and engineering manager for residential networking at Intel’s Architecture Labs.
The group took into account cost, availability and functionality when developing marketing requirements for a protocol. SWAP also is specifically designed to work around the biggest source of interference in the home-microwave ovens.
The group’s vision for the protocol includes applications such as being able to set up a wireless home network to share voice and data between peripherals, PCs and new devices such as portable, remote display pads; review incoming voice, fax and e-mail messages from a small cordless telephone handset; intelligently forward incoming telephone calls to multiple cordless handsets, fax machines and voice mailboxes; access the Internet from anywhere in and around the home from portable display devices; and activate other home electronics systems, such as a home theater, by speaking a command into a cordless handset.
The first commercial products are expected during the second half of 1999.
