> >The Federal Communications Commission is considering changing its >regulations to permit the use of a radical and controversial communications >technology that has the potential to make vastly more efficient use of the >increasingly precious radio spectrum. > > Known variously as ultra-wide-band radio and digital pulse >wireless, the new technology has a broad range of possible applications, >from wireless voice and high-speed data communications to land mine >detection and advanced radar systems that could permit law officers to see >through walls or could aid cars in avoiding collisions. > > Despite its potential, however, the technology is not in >widespread commercial use today > because it would run afoul of FCC restrictions that prohibit >radio transmissions in certain > frequencies set aside for civilian aviation and military agencies. > > That could change if the agency agrees to proposals made earlier >this month by three small > companies that are pursuing the technology for a variety of >commercial products. > > Unlike communications technologies that send information in >analog form, ultra-wide band uses a > digital transmission consisting of small on-off bursts of energy >at extremely low power but over > almost the entire radio spectrum. > > By precisely timing the pulses within accuracies up to a >trillionth of a second, the designers of > ultra-wide-band radio systems are able to create low-power >communications systems that are > almost impossible to jam, tend to penetrate physical obstacles >easily and are almost invulnerable to eavesdropping. > >Time Domain Corp., based in Huntsville, Ala., has petitioned the FCC for a >waiver so that by the middle of next year, it can begin selling a system >that will permit police officers and special weapons and tactics teams to >see through walls and doors to detect the location of people. The company >is also planning a covert communications system that will both carry voice >communications and display locations of a counter-terrorism or SWAT team's >members. > >the rest: >http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/biztech/articles/21time.html > >
--
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who don't, no explanation will suffice.