Cypress unveils WirelessUSB LS for October launch

By Alun Williams

Posted on 26 May 2012 at 06:50

Cypress Semiconductor has been previewing its WirelessUSB technology to journalists. It has already begun sampling its 2.4GHz radio 'system-on-a-chip' with availability for manufacturers expected in October.

With the promise to 'cut the cord' for USB devices, WirelessUSB LS, operating at 64Kbit/sec, will support two devices talking to the host through a single dongle-like USB plug-in (an EX version, at 200Kbit/sec, will support up to seven devices).

WirelessUSB can co-exist with Bluetooth devices and should have global coverage operating in the 2.4 GHz global ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band.

Cypress hopes that wireless peripherals will standardise around the USB approach, so that, for example, one proprietary wireless keyboard could share a USB connection with another proprietary mouse. While mice and keyboards are the early target for WirelessUSB LS, full scale gaming devices will eventually also be covered by the more powerful EX version.

USB is a point-to-point rather than networking standard. Avoiding the overhead of networking, as with standards such as Bluetooth or ZigBee, means improved power usage (no broadcasting involved) and better latency (no waiting for turns in the polling queue).

The latency, or response time, for WirelessUSB is quoted to be 4ms, which will be good for gaming. The expected battery life is 6-9 months, for standard (2) AAA battery powered devices.

Expect to see the technology in products from gaming hardware specialist Saitek. Cypress is also expecting far-eastern keyboard maker NMB to take up WirelessUSB (its products are branded by a range of other system builders). It's also hopes to have the product adopted by motherboard makers.

Cypress says the new technology is one of the first radio systems on a single chip, with the baseband and radio transceiver parts integrated.

The company already claims to have 50 per cent of the global USB chip market and to be the largest USB chip manufacturer.

More info can be found on the Cypress website, including a WirelessUSB FAQ.