Wave Report

Narad Networks, a broadband IP services infrastructure company, has announced the Narad Ultra Broadband Modem (UBM) chip set, which they claim will enable full-duplex Gigabit Ethernet transmission (1,000 million bits per second) on the coaxial portion of the existing hybrid fiber coax (HFC) plant by leveraging previously unused spectrum in the HFC plant between 860 MHz and 2 GHz.

The Narad UBM chip set implements an ultra broadband data modulation scheme at RF frequencies between 900 MHz and 2 GHz, leaving existing cable modem applications less than 860 MHz completely unaffected. It also uses analog signal processing techniques at Gbps speeds while performing all modem functions in the analog domain, resulting in minimum cost, space and power usage.

Manufactured in silicon germanium (SiGe), the UBM chip set is just one part of Narad's Virtual Fiber architecture, which includes broadband access technology and a service delivery software platform. SiGe technology, a derivative of silicon technology developed by IBM Research enables increased performance at high RF frequencies and at lower costs than alternative technologies.

Narad Networks is entering into field trials of its Virtual Fiber solution in Q4 2001 with product availability slated for Q1 2002.

http://www.naradnetworks.com

Find out more about the existing cable plant and Narad Network’s solution at:

http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/Narad.htm

***Philips Semiconductors and Embedded Internet Solutions Provide One-Chip Solution for Digital Convergence Market

(August 13)

Philips Semiconductors has announced its plan with Embedded Internet Solutions (EIS) to provide a one-chip solution for the digital convergence market. EIS, a provider of embedded software for Internet appliances, will provide Philips Semiconductors customers with software design and development services for its TriMedia TM1300 series of one-chip solution processors. EIS' iPanel MicroBrowser is architectured for embedded systems with special considerations towards portability, resource usage, and hardware requirements. As a browser engine, iPanel supports application plug-ins and is in compliance with the latest open standards such as HTML 4.0, JavaScript 1.3, HTTP 1.1, SSL 2.0/3.0, MIME and XHTML.

http://www.philips.semiconductors.com

***Fakespace Systems and Alias|Wavefront Announce Effort to Provide Interactive Visualization Solutions

(August 14)

Fakespace Systems, a provider of immersive visualization systems, and Alias|Wavefront, an SGI company and provider of software for computer-aided industrial design (CAID), announced that they are collaborating to advance interaction in design and virtual environments. The relationship will focus on the development and marketing of technologies to support intuitive interaction with computer-generated models in large-scale visualization environments such as the Fakespace Systems WorkWall and CAVE.

On August 14-16, the companies will have a public demonstration of the stereoscopic viewing feature of StudioTools 9.7 3D software operating on a Fakespace Systems flat wall display. The demonstration, in Fakespace Systems' booth at Siggraph, will illustrate true stereoscopic visualization in industrial design and modeling.

http://www.aliaswavefront.com

http://www.fakespacesystems.com

0137.2 Story of the Issue

***Tauzin-Dingell, Good Legislation or a Threat to the US Economy?

By Amanda Rogos

(August 14)

The Bill

On April 24, 2001, Representatives W.J. Tauzin (R.-La.) and John Dingell (D.-Mich.) introduced the “Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act” (H.R. 1542) in the House of Representatives. The bill proposes an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 that would prohibit the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and individual states from regulating an ILEC’s (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier’s - Verizon, SBC, Qwest and BellSouth) entry into the long distance data services market. Current regulation requires that the ILECs prove that they have provided UNEs (Unbundled access to Network Elements) and high-speed data services at wholesale rates to competitors, before entering the long distance market. In the bill, both requirements would be lifted.

Since its introduction, the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which voted their approval 32 to 23. On May 24th, it was passed to the House Committee on the Judiciary, which gave the bill an unfavorable recommendation, and asked that anti-trust approval be required before allowing ILECs to offer long-distance data services (June 18th). The bill has been cosponsored by 112 other representatives. Among the bill’s other supporters is the US Industry Internet Association.

Tauzin-Dingell

A statement on Representative Dingell’s Web site claims that H.R. 2420 (now 1542) would give consumers the opportunity to choose their broadband provider, a freedom which has been denied due to, “The rapid consolidation of ownership in both the cable (AT&T) and Internet backbone (MCI WorldCom/Sprint) industries…” Representative Tauzin agrees, claiming that the Bell companies need a friendlier regulatory environment in order to compete with cable operators. An estimated 70% of broadband consumers use cable modems for access.

Proponents of the bill hope that dropping restrictions for the Bell companies (ILECs) will result in an increased investment in broadband technologies. This, in turn, could facilitate the expansion of backbone hubs into all areas, a critical step given the fact that 60% of States have only 2 or 3 backbone hubs, and several lack any backbone structure at all.

Opposition

Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) are opposed to Tauzin-Dingell, claiming that their future depends on the shared infrastructure of the ILECs – an arrangement that would be eroded if FCC regulation is terminated. But since CLECs are new to the market, most do not have the financial resources that help ILECs apply lobbyist pressure in Washington. To their benefit, though, CLECs have found support with long distance providers such as Worldcom and AT&T and cable companies like AOL Time Warner. These allies have partnered in opposition to the bill’s passage.

Representatives Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) also oppose Tauzin-Dingell and have introduced a bill entitled the American Broadband Competition Act of 2001 (H.R. 1698), which would support CLEC efforts in two ways. First, it would overturn a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals case, which found that anti-trust laws do not apply to the telecommunications industry due to the enforcement measures inherent in the Telecom Act itself. Second, it would prohibit the co-marketing of advanced services with traditional telecommunications services by the providers.

Other groups have gotten involved as well. One such group, Tech Central Station, has published several reports evaluating the impact of the Tauzin-Dingell bill on the US economy. Their latest report, “Competition in Telecommunications and Economic Growth,” claims that by decreasing competition in the data services market, the bill could cause, “A reduction of gross U.S. economic output of between $57 billion and $88 billion by 2006.”

The report points out that the bill’s introduction and consideration has already damaged efforts by existing CLECs to find adequate funding and to provide affordable services to consumers. In fact, according to the report, the market value of CLECs declined 84% between March 2000 to May 2001. In addition, a Telecommunications International report claims that increasing ISP failures have resulted in a smaller Internet population Q1 2001.

According to the report’s authors, this trend is not only of concern to the telecommunications industry, but would also affect the entire IT industry by decreasing investment and eliminating competition, which could increase prices and slow broadband development. In addition, if competition is stalled long-term, the reverberations would be seen in the US GDP (Gross Domestic Product). As mentioned earlier, the author’s estimate that this reduction in IT capital might result in a decrease in the total GDP of between $57-88 billion.

http://www.techcentralstation.com

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html (search for HR 1542 or 1698)

0137.3 Wireless

***Matsushita to Offer Slim Speaker for Mobile Phones

(August 9)

Matsushita Electronic Components and Matsushita Electric Industrial said they have jointly developed a receiver speaker named the "SS (super slim)" for mobile phones and personal digital assistants. Matsushita Electronic Components started shipping samples in August, and plans to begin volume production of 2 million units a month in September.

The receiver adapts Matsushita's original rectangular magnetic circuit structure, but reduces the receiver size to 6mm long, 15mm wide, and 2.5mm high. The current size is 10mm in diameter and 2.6mm high. The receiver weighs 0.49g, compared with 0.52g for the current version. As a result, its mounting area is reduced to 90mm, while the current area is 102mm.

Matsushita also changed the shape of its voice coil to a rectangular structure, which has an aspect ratio of 3, from the conventional circular ones, and has attained the high output sound pressure level of 111dB/1mW at 1kHz signal.

As for the receiver diaphragm development, Matsushita has attained several characteristics: 1) low resonance frequency in spite of keeping the same thickness of its diaphragm, 2) equal shock-resistant ability to the conventional circular diaphragms through development of new diaphragm materials, and 3) adaptation of the receiver diaphragm called "high-linear diaphragm" being developed through CAD simulations to optimize the shape of the receiver diaphragm.

http://www.maco.panasonic.co.jp/maco/index.html

***Iospan Wireless and Stanford University Help Standardize Definition of Non-LOS

(August 13)

Iospan Wireless, a provider of fixed wireless broadband multiple antenna technology, has announced that the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards has unanimously accepted the Channel Models for Fixed Wireless Applications submitted by a group of industry participants led by Iospan Wireless and Stanford University. This action provides fixed wireless service providers and vendors of broadband wireless access equipment with a standardized industry definition of Non-Line-of-Sight (Non-LOS).

By defining the problems that all fixed wireless solutions must be built to solve, these channel models will have an effect on service providers who are deploying next-generation broadband systems. One US carrier already has the capability to test to these benchmarks in lab conditions, and was a co-contributor for these models.

The Channel Models for Fixed Wireless Applications were ratified at the 802.16.a’s session number 14, held last month in Portland, Oregon.

http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/meetings/mtg14/report.html

http://www.iospanwireless.com

0137.4 3D and Siggraph Announcements

***X3D to Bring 3D to Web and Broadcast Applications

(August 8)

ParallelGraphics, a provider of Web based 3D technologies, has announced that it has joined forces with the Web3D Consortium and a number of browser companies, including Blaxxun, OpenWorlds and Nexternet, to develop the X3D open standard as a successor to VRML, bringing real-time 3D graphics to the Web and broadcast applications.

X3D ("extensible 3D") is being developed under the Web3D Consortium's standardization process that provides open access to the specification to all interested companies, and eventual submission to the International Standards Organization for ratification. The X3D standard enables the creation and deployment of 3D graphics, including small, lightweight Web clients with advanced 3D capabilities, and the integration of 3D into broadcast and embedded devices.

X3D has adopted a component-based architecture that breaks the areas of functionality into discrete components enabling compact 3D clients. This consists of a lightweight "core" X3D component compatible with VRML97. Extensions are being added to the core to further enhance the functionality of X3D and meet the demands of vertical applications.

The Web3D Consortium is working with the MPEG-4 group and the X3D standard is intended to form the core of MPEG-4's ongoing 3D integration activities. The Consortium is also working with the W3C to integrate X3D with XML. The X3D standardization work includes an extension registry to be maintained by the Web3D Consortium to enable any company to ship extensions to X3D and innovate within a standard framework. The aim is also to encourage and enable multiple companies to agree on common extensions to guarantee widespread content inter-operability.

http://www.web3d.org/x3d

***Real-Time VR for max 4

(August 15)

Tree C Technology BV has announced the release of VR4MAX, a real-time, interactive virtual reality (VR) environment that can be used to view, check and distribute 3ds max 4 models. VR4MAX is a joint development between Tree C Technology and Calibre.

VR4MAX is an OpenGL based VR environment that provides navigation through a 3D virtual environment using a desktop mouse and workstation monitor. Its bi-directional interface enables the export of all 3ds max geometric objects, shapes, cameras and lights as well as other volumetric objects like particles. Used within max, the system supports the export of texture and environment mapping. Peripherals including Stereographic’s Crystal Eyes and 3D input devices like LogiCad3D’s SpaceMouse are also supported.

Player versions are available for distribution together with the exported max model to enable production clients to evaluate and annotate work in progress.

http://www.vr4max.com

***Raindrop Announces Geomagic Studio 4

(August 14)

Raindrop Geomagic has announced Geomagic Studio 4, a release of the company’s 3D photography software. Geomagic Studio 4 includes features for registering and processing multiple scans and color data; automatic color, texture and bump mapping; boolean polygon editing; and macros that simplify sequential tasks. The software provides multi-threaded operations and wrapping algorithms that are faster than previous methods. Geomagic Studio 4 is scheduled for release in October.

The Geomagic Studio 4 suite includes Geomagic Capture, software introduced in June that simplifies processing of any kind of point data from 3D cameras, digitizers and coordinate measurement machines (CMMs). The availability of Geomagic Capture in the suite provides a link between line-of-sight scanners and Geomagic Studio. It also enables access to multi-threaded operations for handling large datasets.

All of the Geomagic Capture functionality including global and partial registration, support of native scanning data formats, multi-threaded operations, automatic small-hole filling, and fast wrap triangulation is now part of Geomagic Studio 4.

Media support is now included by default in Geomagic Studio 4. If input data includes color information (x,y,z,r,g,b), true 3D color and bump maps are created to generate textured 3D models with all the visual attributes of the original part or object. Texture mapping is captured and processed on the fly, eliminating post-processing.

Geomagic Studio also provides boolean operations for both solid and open-surface polygon models. A CAD part can be imported into Geomagic Studio 4 and merged with the scanned polygonal model, producing a ready-to-prototype part with all of the mathematical accuracy of the CAD part.

Geomagic Studio 4 allows users to create their own macros for performing different functions in sequence. The interface for the macro program works like a tape recorder, allowing novice users to automate regularly performed tasks without programming.

Other features within Geomagic Studio 4 include:

· smoother NURBS surfaces

· automatic patch layouts

· text engraving onto polygon models

· curvature hole filling for large holes

· best-fit geometric primitives such as circles and cylinders

· interactive polygon editing

· improved mesh optimization

***Cambridge Animation Systems to Offer Animo 4.0 for Mac OS X

(August 14)

Cambridge Animation Systems has announced a version of its Animo 4.0 software for the Mac OS X. The Animo cartoon animation system has an installed base of more than 3,000 seats in over 50 countries worldwide. Animo 4.0 for Mac OS X is scheduled to ship in September.

Macromedia Flash output in Animo 4.0 allows users to take advantage of Animo’s scene graph, exposure sheet, drawing window, filters and effects to create animations. Controls such as disabling filter nodes and disabling animation of any bitmap image are also available to reduce the sizes of Flash files for the low bandwidth of the Internet.

Features in Animo 4.0 for Mac OS X include:

·Scanning and image processing to digitize and vectorize hand-drawn line artwork.

·Tools to scan painted backgrounds and overlays.

·Color modeling, with color correction tools.

·Fast ink and paint application.

·Graph-based compositor with special effects.

·High-resolution output for TV, HDTV or film.

·Output to files, movies, digital disk recorders or Macromedia Flash (.swf) output.

http://www.cambridgeanimation.com

***ExpressionTools Supports Kaydara FBX Format

(August 14)

Kaydara and ExpressionTools announced support in Shade for Kaydara's FBX authoring file format. ExpressionTools will integrate support for FBX into upcoming versions of its Shade line of 3D products. Common customers of Shade and Kaydara FiLMBOX will now have a pathway for the acquisition and authoring of mixedmedia content, wherein 3D animation, video, and audio elements are unified in one workflow.

Support for FBX in Shade will provide users with a data interchange format that gives them access to Alias Maya, NewTek LightWave, discreet 3d studio max, RealViz Matchmover, and Softimage|3D data. Thanks to compatibility between Shade and FBX format, users of other packages will also have access to a volume of content already created in Shade. This means they can produce more content in less time, reducing production costs and improving the quality of their content.

Through its support of the FBX initiative, ExpressionTools users will also be able to integrate 3D content from companies such as Motek, Turbosquid, Viewpoint, and Zygote, who have also announced their support of Kaydara's centralized working file format.

Expression Tools will begin worldwide shipment of the English version of Shade v5 later this year.

http://www.kaydara.com

http://www.expressiontools.com

0137.5 Semiconductor

***Agilent Technologies Ships 30 Millionth Optical Mouse Sensor

(August 9)

Agilent Technologies has announced that it has shipped its 30 millionth optical position sensor since release of the product in the fall of 1999. Optical sensor technology works by taking thousands of digital pictures per second with a resolution of 800 counts per inch (CPI) to determine the movement of the on-screen cursor. Optical mice offer more precise pointing and movement than mechanical mice. And because optical mice have no ball or cavity, no cleaning is necessary.

http://www.agilent.com/view/opticalnavigation

Find out more about Optical Mice at:

http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/OM.htm

***Rainmaker Technologies - Digital Video Transmission Over Wavelet Modulation

(August 10)

Rainmaker Technologies has announced the transmission of Digital Video over its epoch setting Wavelet modem system. The company is a fab-less developer and marketer of silicon modem solutions that will enable cable operators to deliver carrier-class fiber speeds over existing last mile broadband infrastructure.

http://www.rainmakertechnologies.com

For more information on Wavelets Theory go to:

http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/Wavelets.htm

0137.6 Benchmarks

***SPEC/GPS Groups Announce Viewperf Version and Benchmarks for SolidWorks 2001, Unigraphics V17 and 3ds max 4

(August 15)

SPEC/GPC’s OpenGL Performance Characterization (SPECopc) group has announced a version of its Viewperf performance evaluation software and a viewset based on 3ds max. The benchmark and viewset will be available for free downloads on the SPEC/GPC web site early this fall.

SPECviewperf 7.0 has been upgraded so that general state changes can be made during frames, bringing the benchmark much closer to how applications behave in the real world. Data traversal, facet color processing, and display of lighting and textures can now be changed from frame to frame.

The 3ds max viewset has been designed to take advantage of the features within SPECviewperf 7.0. The viewset’s frames are based on traces of graphics commands made while running 3ds max. As a result, vendors and users can tune their graphics subsystems to the 3ds max viewset and see performance improvements in the actual application.

The 3ds max viewset is based on an existing SPECapc benchmark. Although the models might be the same, SPECviewperf and SPECapc benchmarks serve audiences that tend to have different benchmarking needs, according to Bill Licea-Kane of ATI, SPECopc’s chair.

SPECviewperf measures the 3D rendering performance of systems running under the OpenGL application programming interface (API). Viewsets are the test files that run under SPECviewperf. Developed for the SPECopc group by independent software vendors (ISVs), viewsets represent the same mix of graphics rendering and manipulation found in actual applications or a class of applications.

In a similar announcement SPEC/GPC’s Application Performance Characterization (SPECapc) project group announced benchmarks for SolidWorks 2001, Unigraphics V17, and 3ds max 4. SPECapc for SolidWorks 2001 is available for free downloading on the SPEC/GPC web site; SPECapc for Unigraphics V17 and SPECapc for 3ds max 4 are scheduled for release before the end of September.

SPECapc for SolidWorks 2001 is an upgrade of the original SolidWorks 99 benchmark developed by SolidWorks and later enhanced by SPECapc. The benchmark represents typical working patterns of a SolidWorks 2001 CAD/CAM user. Features include a model of a Suzuki engine that contains 2.25-million vertices, replicated models to increase complexity, and an increase in resolution to 1280 x 1024 and in color depth to 24 bits per pixel.

SPECapc for Unigraphics V17 is a new benchmark developed by UGS that reflects functionality and features in the latest version of the CAD/CAM application. Models include an engine assembly containing more than 400,000 vertices, and an intake manifold assembly containing more than 200,000 vertices. Both models are larger than those used in SPECapc for Unigraphics V15.

SPECapc for 3ds max 4 is an updated benchmark that runs on the latest version of the 3D animation package. It uses the same models and scenarios as the 3ds max benchmark that SPECapc introduced last year. The benchmark was developed by CAT Production, a German computer animation and special effects studio, and updated by SPECapc.

Both SPECopc and SPECapc are project groups of the Graphics Performance Characterization (GPC) Group, which in turn is part of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC). SPEC is a non-profit corporation formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of relevant benchmarks that can be applied to high-performance computers. SPEC’s membership includes computer hardware and software vendors, and leading universities and research facilities worldwide.

http://www.spec.org/gpc

http://www.CAT-zentrum.de