Introduction
WiLAN’s wireless technology portfolio includes inventions that were developed by WiLAN over 15 years ago and subsequently used in products manufactured by WiLAN. Our wireless technologies have been licensed by companies that manufacture, sell or distribute products that implement a wide range of technologies including Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Bluetooth™ and various 3G cellular standards.
W-OFDM and MC-DSSS Technologies
WiLAN was founded in 1992 to commercialize technology inventions, including its Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (W-OFDM) and Multi-code Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (MC-DSSS) that made low-cost, high-speed wireless networking a reality.
These inventions were used in several generations of proprietary wireless networking equipment developed and manufactured by WiLAN, including the Hopper DS, a 19kb/s wireless modem with a range of 10 kilometers, the Hopper Plus and the AWE series, which entered the market between 1995 and 2002.
The capabilities of WiLAN’s early products did not go unnoticed. Members of the IEEE pursued W-OFDM technology for their developing 802.11a standard. In September 1999, the 802.11a standard, utilizing W-OFDM technology, was approved. With W-OFDM an industry-accepted technology, WiLAN worked to further its adoption.
In 2000 and 2001, WiLAN successfully lobbied the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to certify W-OFDM for use in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band and in June 2001, the FCC authorized the sale of WiLAN’s BWS 300-24. This laid the groundwork for a future multi-billion dollar market for Wi-Fi products and services. W-OFDM technology was later ratified as the basis for the IEEE 802.11g standard and is utilized in the 802.11n specification that is moving through the standardization process. With these standards and specifications came a wave of low cost, high-speed Wi-Fi products, all driven by W-OFDM.
In 1999, WiLAN co-founded the OFDM Forum. With the influence of members like Philips Semiconductors, Nokia and Motorola, the OFDM Forum succeeded in having W-OFDM adopted in the IEEE 802.16a Metropolitan Area Network standard. By July 2003, WiLAN launched the W-OFDM based Libra 5800 and in November 2004 followed up with the Libra MX WiMAX platform. The Libra MX WiMAX platform was the fourth generation of W-OFDM-based products manufactured by WiLAN. Today, variations of W-OFDM technology are used in the 802.16d and 802.16e standards (fixed and mobile WiMAX, respectively). In addition, WiLAN technology is used in the Media Access Control (MAC) layer of 802.16d and 802.16e.
Portfolio
WiLAN’s wireless technology portfolio consists of over 1000 issued and pending patents that cover the United States, various countries in Europe and Asia as well as Canada.
Licensees
Wireless technologies in our portfolio have been licensed by over 105 companies including:
Trademarks are property of their respective owners.
To find out more information about licensing our wireless technologies or request a license, please complete and submit the following information form.