IDF San Francisco: Intel SHARP Switching Between 3G, GPRS, WiMAX, Bluetooth, Etc.
At IDF Intel introduced the new concept developed together with University of Washington. It is called "SHARP" (System for Human Activity, Recognition and Prediction).
Intel SHARP is a chip that enables to work in any wireless network, including 3G, GPRS, WiMAX and Bluetooth with smooth transition from one network to another.
The area of application is rather wide, since SHARP pretends to be universal. This includes PDA connectivity with other devices, monitoring devices and detectors, RFID sensors and scanners. In other words, any devices that require wireless connections. At that Intel promises simplicity of use, low deployment costs and "unobtrusiveness".
SHARP will be used to build wireless networks in which standards like 3G, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, UWB, Bloetooth, RFID will co-exist. And SHARP-based devices will, I´ll say it again, work independently on standards.
According to provisional information, the chip will operate at 2.4/5 GHz clock rates, consume ~170mW. Its core will be made using 90nm process.
The transparent switching between standards will be provided by IEEE 802.21.
Since this is only a concept, there´s no availability date. But we believe this will surely come in handy, if released.
Source: Our reporter at IDF
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