One of the growing trends we’ve been watching for more than a year is the development of mobile video delivery. But what surprised us at this year’s CES was the abundance of wireless connectivity - not to a mobile device, but to large wall mount displays that move once - from the show-room floor to the family room and then for the most part, stays put.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
Projection Monthly

Today, Motorola, through its Motorola Ventures investment group, announced an equity investment in Santa Clara, CA based Amimon Inc. and their WHDI (short for Wireless HD interface) technology.

Why wireless connectivity to stationary devices you may ask? Primarily it’s to eliminate those pesky wires from an otherwise sexy wall mount flat screen, and to optimize placement of components even hidden away in a closet. The other application comes from Internet TV (IPTV) sources streamed to a PC not co-located in the same room as the TV. With the use of wireless, IPTV video is distributed to any display in the home in much the same way local broadcasters send analog and digital signals to TV receivers.

The other big application (also mentioned in the Motorola press release) is delivering wireless signals to a digital projector. At CES, a Sanyo HD projector with embedded Amimon chips was running 1080i uncompressed video wirelessly - and this gets system installers excited. Pixelworks also showed a wireless demo based on the technology and is building silicon to support it.

Eliminating the need for expensive wiring through the ceiling or to the middle of the room where the projector is usually located can save thousands in installation costs let alone the convenience of porting a projector for use anywhere in the signal coverage area. (you still need power at the projector, however, so all wiring can’t be eliminated.)

The WDHI solution uses a 20 MHz channel, delivering 1.5Gbps, enough to carry 1080i. To get to Full-HD, the company said channel bonding, (permitted in the US) can create a 40 MHz channel that will deliver 3Gbps for 1080p. As much as 80% of the Amimon approach is based on core 802.11n technologies, a 5GHz radio with OFDM modulation and a 4×5 MIMO antenna arrangement according to the company.

Amimon uses a variant of the yet to be certified 802.11n spec. The CES demo included the company’s WDHI wireless audio-video module that will sell for around $3000. Although the chips will carry an initial 50-100% premium over 802.11n chip sets, the price could come down to the level of mainstream Wi-Fi chip within two or three years, said Noam Geri, vice president of marketing and business development for Amimon. He predicted a pair of baseband and RF chips will consume less than 5W initially and probably cost less than $50.

Motorola Ventures said they made the investment because the technology aligns with its "connected home strategy." While there’s no word yet on what exactly Amimon will do with the cash infusion (or even how much money changed hands in the transaction) we know the company is bucking for industry wide acceptance. And since WHDI is built on the IEEE’s 802.11n core they may just get it.