Ultra wideband technology, which has sort of fallen by the wayside ever since the effort to define a single standard fell through a while back, may have gotten some much-needed momentum with the approval by the European Commission's Radio Spectrum Committee to allow UWB to be used on the continent.
Despite a number of issues raised by some groups who argue that UWB has the potential to interfere with other wireless services because it transmits low power over a wide band of spectrum, the EU says it will allow supporters and manufacturers of UWB-enabled products to move forward to eventually introduce it into the marketplace sometime next year.
Of course, after all of the battling to define a single standard, it remains to be seen if in the long run UWB can gain any sort of niche in the wireless arena. Even though the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has seen fit to align itself with UWB supporters, it may not be enough to sustain it over the long haul. But, we'll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.
