Imagine setting your printer across the room and being able to print to it without any wires running along the floor. What if you could download your photos without having to connect cables or shuffle media cards back and forth (even at a photo kiosk!), wouldn’t that be nice? Can you envision being able to broadcast from your web cam to your computer while walking from one room to another in your house? Well hang on, because wireless USB is just around the corner.

According to usb.org’s website, "Certified Wireless USB is the new wireless extension to USB that combines the speed and security of wired technology with the ease-of-use of wireless technology." Wireless USB (WUSB) will offer the same functionality as the current wired USB devices you are used to, but without the cabling.

How will it work? First you will need something called a "USB external host wire adapter dongle" or HWA dongle for short. This will plug into any external USB 2.0 connector on your PC and allow the other wireless USB devices to communicate with your system.

Each device you want to "unwire" will need a "USB embedded device wire adapter" (DWA) daughter card. With it, you should be able to make virtually any USB device you currently own into a wireless device. It will plug into the USB port of the item, replacing your USB cable with a tiny transmitter/receiver that is used to communicate with the HWA adapter above. Nifty, eh?

The technology is based on the ultra wideband (UWB) radio platform. Theoretically, it will be able to transfer data at speeds up to 480 Mbps at 3 meters away, and 110 Mbps at 10 meters. A WUSB host can connect to as many as 127 WUSB devices.

Intel is one of the major promoters of this effort, making mention of plans for further testing and references to new product designs at the Intel Developer’s Forum this week. Other WUSB promoters include such names as HP, Microsoft, NEC, Philips, Samsung, and Agere.

Hurdles still to be overcome include standards, compatibility and security issues. For example, how do you allow the DWA on a digital camera to communicate with an HWA on your work computer, but not permit the DWA on a colleague’s camera to access it? Unless of course you want it to, and then how do you tell the HWA to permit access? Another thing to consider, some of these transmitters may require additional battery power, albeit minimal.