Wireless Technology

NFC stands for Near Field Communication. It is a protocol which enables devices like smart phones and portables to communicate in short range with minimum setup time. The idea of NFC is to enable sending and receiving information with other NFC devices to enable identification or content delivery. RFID is the most prominent of NFC, and the concept of NFC was taken from it. It is meant as a substitute for ID bar tags. RFID allows a tag to be linked so every item can then transmit or receive information whenever needed. The tag does not need to be in the line of sight of the reader and just needs to be within transmitting range of it.

The global market for rapidly growing RF technologies was worth $200 billion in 2010. That value is projected to be $416 billion in 2015, after increasing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7%. The global market for rapidly growing RF technologies can be broken down into seven segments – HDTV, advanced cellular, GPS, wireless networks, RFID, digital radio, and RF plasma. RF technologies use electromagnetic radiation or energy in the 15 kHz-to-300 GHz range to accomplish a wide range of objectives, including broadcasting, two-way communication, manufacturing applications, and security and access control. These technologies are important not only from an economic standpoint but from regulatory, health, environmental, and national security perspectives as well.

It has been a decade since technologists first talked about the “Internet of Things.”  Although there are many definitions and perspectives on what this means, it is clear that smart objects will become the largest part of the Internet’s addressable space in the future.  The question has been:  How do we connect with the virtually limitless smart objects that will and are being provisioned in personal area networks (PANs), home area networks (HANs), WLANS, LANS, WANS, etc.?  That question has largely been answered with IPv6/6LoWPAN and ON World’s latest report analyzes the potentially disruptive impact and how ZigBee and 802.15.4 are energizing this expanding ecosystem.

World market for RFID technology is projected to reach US$12.7 billion by the year 2015. RFID technology which has numerous medium to long-term benefits stacked in its favor, has managed to stay afloat, and perform remarkably well even in the dismal economic scenario, riding on demand from organizations seeking to enhance their efficiency levels and simultaneously save costs. Over the years, incremental development of a wide range of reader and sensor technologies, such as active and passive RFIDs, mobile devices, environmental sensors, and RTS opened up new business application possibilities for RFID and sensors. The technology has already gained wide prominence in applications such as supply chain management, cargo tracking, asset management, document tracking, contactless payments, library systems, and even human implantation.

US businesses are expected to spend close to $27 billion on wireless data in 2010.  To fuel data spending, US operators are expected to spend $1.4 billion on subsidizing smartphones for US businesses in 2010.  Overall, US operators will spend close to $1.7 billion on handset subsidies for US businesses. “Wireless data revenue has been the engine that is driving ARPU growth for US operators,” according to Greg Potter, Research Analyst.  “Smartphones are the key for data usage.  As a result, the wireless operators are willing to invest in smartphone subsidies. Smartphone subsidies, though, will decline through the forecast period as competitive pressures reduces smartphone ASPs.”

Overall, the market for Wi-Fi chips is very diverse and encompasses many different areas.  Traditionally the automobile industry was one market where Wi-Fi chips hadn’t been adopted, but that is rapidly changing.  Taking their cue from OnStar, automotive companies have discovered that in addition to selling the device, there are profits to be made from selling services as well. It is believed that more manufacturers will incorporate mobile hotspot features into cars whether users opt for them at purchase time or not, driving automotive application Wi-Fi chipset revenues to eclipse $100 million by 2015.