Wireless a multibillion-dollar industry

Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 30, 2007 at midnight

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It's becoming a world of wireless.

Cell phones aren't about voice calls anymore but about sending text messages to friends and family, sharing photos, downloading music, watching video.

Laptops can connect to the Internet from one's living room, favorite coffee shop, any Wi-Fi hot spot.

Portable, handheld wireless devices do everything from pinpointing a location to monitoring equipment remotely to detecting chemical warfare agents.

"There's a huge range of what wireless is capable of," said Tim Whittaker, wireless system architect for British-based Cambridge Consultants, which helps develop wireless medical devices and other technology. "At one extreme, it can travel across the Earth to a single home. At the other extreme, we can deliberately engineer wireless systems that cover only a couple of inches for privacy, security reasons."

Wireless technologies aren't without glitches, lack of uniformity or potential privacy implications - as in the recent case of microchips implanted in two workers to restrict their access to certain areas. But innovation is marching forward, with wireless touching every aspect of society.

And many Colorado companies are playing a role in the multibillion-dollar industry's development.

Just last month, FreeWave Technologies of Boulder received $113 million of venture capital to continue development of its wireless data radio technology used in oil and gas, agriculture and other industries. The radios transmit and receive data, helping companies monitor and control equipment remotely.

Here are examples of how wireless technologies are being used today.

Cell phones

They aren't just for making calls anymore. Today's cell phones enable users to text-message friends, e-mail, browse the Internet, download music, share photos, watch videos or TV, locate family members and play games. While Apple's iPhone hasn't quite met analysts' lofty sales projections, the touch-sensitive iPod/phone combo nevertheless could usher in a new era. "It's a device that shakes up the whole industry," said Tina Teng, wireless communications analyst for iSuppli Corp., a market-research firm. "It takes user experience to the next level."

Weather

Wireless sensors increasingly are being used to monitor and predict weather. Jefferson County-based ADA Technologies makes portable "weather pods" that collect data and help predict severe storms, climate change and dispersion of particulates. The pods have been used on a ship in the Gulf of Mexico, a ferry boat in Alaska and at Andrews Air Force Base. Customers include the Department of Defense and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Navigation

Wireless technologies such as GPS serve important navigational functions in everything from boats to automobiles.

Laptops

It's been years since computer users were tethered to a desktop. But wireless technologies make it easier than ever for laptop users to check their e-mail and browse the Internet while sitting in the living room with their family watching TV. Or sit in their neighborhood coffee shop or visit the nearest Wi-Fi hot spot while on the road. And now, thanks to high-speed cellular networks, you can browse the Internet from almost anywhere along the Front Range with the purchase of a wireless broadband card from carriers such as Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

Health care

Various wireless devices have emerged for monitoring health, and those that can be used at home enable patients to leave hospitals sooner, says Tim Whittaker, wireless system architect for Cambridge Consultants. Cambridge has worked to develop a cardiac monitor sold mostly to U.S. hospitals. A handheld diabetes device, which can attach to the user's belt, records blood-sugar levels and then recommends and delivers a dose of insulin. The wireless signal has a range of a couple of inches to ensure that "it speaks" only to that particular insulin pump.

Cars

OnStar is an example of global-positioning systems combined with wireless technologies to provide remote vehicle diagnostics, navigation, hands-free calling and door unlocking. If air bags deploy in a car, for example, the vehicle automatically sends a signal wirelessly to OnStar's computers. FreeWave's radios are being used in ambulances and fire trucks in Colorado Springs to transmit data about how fast the emergency vehicles are going and in which direction, in part so traffic lights can be changed to green before the vehicles arrive at a particular intersection, said Colin Lippincott, the company's vice president of sales and marketing.

Industry

Wireless technologies are being used increasingly to remotely monitor and control equipment. FreeWave Technologies is one example. One of its most common uses is to transmit production and other data from gas wells. Commerce City-based Alpine Waste Solutions is an example of a growing number of businesses that monitor their truck fleets. Rather than true GPS, Alpine uses a less expensive locator system offered by (Sprint) Nextel. "We can find out where (the trucks) idle, and if a customer calls to dispute a pickup, it allows us to verify to the minute where the truck was," said John Griffith, Alpine's president. "First, drivers felt they were being policed, but now they're learning to appreciate it because it provides support for them."

Security

Wireless sensors are being used for everything from home security to detecting chemical-warfare agents. ADA Technologies recently won two Department of Defense contracts to continue development of portable devices that would detect chemical- warfare agents and toxic industrial compounds. And ADA is working on making biological sensors that could detect such things as anthrax and Ebola virus. ADA's Pat French said biological sensors are more challenging to make than chemical ones, and the company is still trying to figure out the marketplace. For example, would a meatpacking company like Swift & Co. want one to check for E. coli? "You're talking about an instrument for about $5,000 that might measure five or six compounds at the same time, be handheld and portable," French said. "But it's pretty early-stage. Who's going to buy this? How many? Why do they need it?"

Recreation

Wireless technologies have a variety of recreational uses. GPS systems, for example, are being used to help drivers navigate on vacations and to restaurants or tourist sites. Handheld GPS devices are used for geocaching, or treasure hunting, or even to figure out the distance to a golf hole.

Agriculture

Combined with GPS and other technologies, FreeWave's radios help to automatically steer vehicles in the field, and to control irrigation gates and fertilizer and pesticide applications. ADA Technologies developed a label sensor to help shoppers determine the ripeness of fruit. But even at a dime or 20 cents, the sensor was deemed too expensive, said Pat French, ADA's instruments program manager. Other kinds of ripeness sensors have been used by food growers and processors.

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