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UWB is a promising technology in the short range or PAN domain. It promises very high data rates which will support a wide range of applications, for example the wireless distribution of high definition TV around the home.

UWB as a technology is well developed and has already been regulated in the US. It has already been the subject of a consultation document by Ofcom, considering its introduction in the UK and a number of studies have been undertaken and are underway to establish the impact introduction of UWB may have to various specific existing services, such as FWA, 3G and Radio Astronomy. These have included:

• An assessment of the economic value of UWB to the UK.
• An assessment of the impact of UWB on BFWA.
• An assessment of the impact of UWB on the 2.5-2.69GHz band.
• An assessment of the impact of UWB on radio astronomy.

These are available on the Ofcom website.

As the technology is relatively close to commercial reality we have not considered it further here, although as a theme it features in several of our R&D studies, for example the AIMS project discussed later which aims to measure the quality of the spectrum over a number of years and monitor the impact of technologies such as UWB.

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