Perfectly good projects are going off the rails and missing their ship dates, because of worldwide chip shortages, as the world’s FABs focus on pumping out AI chips.
As of mid-2026, 32-bit industrial MCUs and power management ICs are running lead times as long as 52 weeks, driven by AI infrastructure eating into the mature foundry capacity that IoT parts depend on. Automotive-grade MCUs are still sitting at 26 to 40 week lead times through Q2 2026. That’s down from the 52+ week peaks of the prior shortage cycle, but still long enough to force a mid-program part change on most connected products.
That number is the actual argument for a Firmware Abstraction Layer (FAL). Not portability as a design virtue. A parts shortage that arrives mid-program and forces a chip swap on a schedule you don’t control.
When that swap happens, the cost depends entirely on how the firmware was written. If power management calls, event loop timers, and socket buffers are wired straight into the original vendor’s SDK, a driver swap turns into a rewrite. That’s especially true when application code up the stack had no business knowing which chip was underneath it. If none of that is wired in, it’s just a new driver behind an interface that hasn’t changed.
Silicon vendors know this pain point exists, and 2026 has brought real movement. Silicon Labs launched Simplicity SDK for Zephyr at CES 2026, a QA-tested Zephyr distribution built for its wireless chips. The SDK is MCU-agnostic and lets developers mix MCU vendors inside one project, which is a genuine step toward portability rather than a new flavor of lock-in.
Nordic moved in a similar direction with the nRF93M1, announced at MWC 2026, which ships with built-in coexistence control for Wi-Fi and cellular radios sharing one module.
Both of these solve coexistence within a single vendor’s silicon. Coexistence across vendors is a different problem, and it’s still an open problem at the RTOS layer. Zephyr’s Bluetooth stack currently binds to a single controller, so a product can’t natively run Bluetooth radios from two different vendors at once. A proposal to fix that has been open since July 2025, still not shipped.
So vendors are getting better at owning coexistence on their own chips. Managing radios across vendors is still on the OEM to solve, and that’s exactly what a FAL is for.
List every radio in the product, whether that’s BLE, Wi-Fi, cellular, or UWB. For each one, write down the vendor, the SDK version, and the frequency band it operates in.
Then map where they can interfere with each other. A Wi-Fi transmission can wipe out an incoming BLE advertising packet on the same band. A cellular modem waking up for a paging window can starve a UWB ranging session of power budget. These collisions come from physics, not software architecture, and a single vendor’s SDK has no idea another radio even exists on the board.
This inventory is the spec for everything that follows. Skip it and you’ll end up designing an abstraction layer for radios that don’t actually fight each other, while missing the pair that does.
Vendor SDKs manage power per radio. BLE connection intervals, cellular eDRX timers, and Wi-Fi power-save modes each get handled separately, by their own SDK, with no visibility into what the other radios are doing at the same moment.
Replace that with one system-level state machine that every radio driver reports into. Two states cover most products, System_Sleep() and System_Active(). Before switching states, the FAL checks every active radio and picks the lowest power level that all of them can safely handle.
Work out the timing rules on paper first. Decide which radio’s constraints are allowed to hold up a sleep transition and which aren’t. If you get this wrong, you’ll spend the second half of the project chasing power bugs that only show up once two radios are active together.
A cellular modem times out silently over several seconds. A BLE driver drops the connection instantly with a stack-specific status code that means nothing outside that SDK. If you leave this alone, the application layer will fill up with chip-specific if/else branches for every vendor you’ve ever integrated.
Translate every vendor error into a small set of system-level states instead, things like LINK_TEMPORARY_LOSS or HARDWARE_UNRESPONSIVE. The application layer reacts to these states and never has to know what a specific vendor’s error code means.
This step tends to have the biggest payoff for the smallest amount of code, which is also why teams skip it first under deadline pressure. It doesn’t block a demo. It blocks the fifth product revision, when nobody on the team remembers which vendor’s error code meant what.
Antenna sharing, board-level power rails, shared bus access. When two radios need the same physical resource at the same moment, something has to decide who goes first, and that decision can’t be left to whichever driver happened to initialize last.
Build a single arbitration component that owns every shared resource on the board, and routes every radio driver’s requests through it. Don’t let a driver talk to a shared antenna switch or a shared power rail directly, even when the vendor SDK makes that shortcut tempting.
Most of your real RF debugging time during bring-up ends up here anyway. A clean arbitration boundary keeps those bugs in one file instead of scattered across three different vendor codebases.
Radio firmware updates need their own execution pipe, separate from application code. A failed radio firmware update shouldn’t be able to take down the rest of the product. And when only a wireless component changes, keeping the update isolated means regulatory recertification stays scoped to the radio abstraction module instead of pulling your whole application layer back into scope.
The cost difference here is real. A pre-certified wireless module cuts FCC certification cost by 60 to 80 percent and roughly halves the timeline compared with a custom RF design. Keep the split clean and a wireless-only change stays a wireless-only filing. Mix it with application code, and the whole product can get pulled back into certification scope.
If your OTA pipeline currently pushes application code and radio firmware through the same mechanism, split them now, while it’s a small job, rather than during a hardware revision, when it isn’t a small job anymore.
There’s a live example of this on the Zephyr project. A team building on an NXP 88W8987 Wi-Fi combo module wants to add Bluetooth, and the open issue confirms there’s no upstream Bluetooth HCI driver for that chip, even though the Wi-Fi side already works.
The thread lays out three options. Add a second Bluetooth chip from a different vendor. Work from an unofficial vendor driver outside the mainline Zephyr tree. Or redesign the hardware around a different combo chip entirely, which the thread notes isn’t always possible once BOM, supply chain, and certification decisions are already locked in.
Every one of those options costs something, and the reason the team is stuck choosing between them is that nobody drew the FAL boundary early enough. A team that already has a power state machine, an error taxonomy, and an arbitration layer in place can absorb a second radio vendor as a driver-level change. A team without one ends up making this decision in a GitHub comment thread, mid-project, instead of in a design review months earlier. Our previous post goes more into this – Architecting Multi-Radio Embedded Devices with BLE, Wi-Fi, LTE, and UWB.
You don’t need to own every layer for every product. What matters is deciding, for each of the four systems above, whether you build it yourself or lean on the vendor SDK.
If you’re shipping on a single vendor’s chip for a short product life, with no planned cost-down or radio swap, take the vendor’s SDK as it comes, coexistence tools included. The speed advantage is real, and there’s no multi-vendor problem to solve.
If you’re running radios from more than one silicon supplier, this applies to you. It also applies if you’re building a product line meant to last three to seven years through component shortages and cost-downs. Build the power state machine, error taxonomy, arbitration layer, and OTA isolation yourself. Leave everything else on the vendor SDK.
Most teams don’t need to build a FAL from scratch. They need these boundaries drawn correctly before the second radio vendor shows up as a surprise instead of a plan.
Multi-radio products get harder to maintain when the boundaries between vendor firmware and system firmware are unclear. Defining those boundaries early gives your team more options when hardware, suppliers, or product requirements change.
embedUR brings 20 years of experience building wireless stacks, controller firmware, and cross-vendor abstractions for connected products. If you’re planning a multi-radio product or preparing for a hardware refresh, our engineering team can help you define the right firmware boundaries.
Schedule a Firmware Architecture Review with our experts and protect your product roadmap against silicon delays, unexpected chip swaps, and costly recertification cycles.
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Works With Summit 2026 – Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), the leading innovator in low-power wireless connectivity, today announced a set of developer initiatives that makes it easier to build, extend, and operate increasingly capable IoT devices. Unveiled at the company’s seventh annual Works With Summit, the new offerings expand what developers and their AI agents can create on the Silicon Labs platform, while helping customers develop, deploy, and manage intelligence at the edge.
News at a Glance
Development Complexity Cannot Scale with IoT
As connected products add intelligence and custom hardware, building them grows more complex. Developers navigate specialized SDKs, configuration tools, debugging environments, and hardware constraints while using general-purpose AI assistants that do not inherently understand Silicon Labs devices or embedded workflows. Development teams also need better ways to share improvements and manage AI models as intelligence moves from the cloud onto edge devices. If workflows become harder with every new capability, development complexity becomes a barrier to scaling IoT.
“More capable silicon should not create more development complexity,” said Manish Kothari, Senior Vice President of Software at Silicon Labs. “We are giving developers and their AI agents a connected path from hardware and software intent through implementation, community contribution, and the complete AI lifecycle.”
Simplicity AI SDK and Simplicity Design Intelligence Connect Intent to Product
Simplicity AI SDK has entered public Beta, giving developers and their AI coding assistants structured access to Silicon Labs SDKs, tools, documentation, and connected hardware. Rather than requiring a proprietary AI assistant, the SDK works with tools developers may already use. GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Codex are supported in the Beta. This grounding gives general-purpose AI assistants Silicon Labs-specific context. The first officially supported experience focuses on Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE), with workflows spanning project creation and configuration, building, flashing, debugging, network and power analysis, documentation search, and hardware interaction.
Simplicity Design Intelligence extends that foundation. It is a broad and growing set of Silicon Labs capabilities designed to understand hardware and software intent, help customers realize that intent in a working product, and verify the implementation against the original intent. Hardware Intent is the first capability. It uses product requirements, board schematics, and other input hardware documentation from datasheets to meeting notes to guide pin, peripheral, and software configuration, then compares the result with the original intent. This can find pin conflicts, peripheral mismatches, and missing constraints before fabrication and help reduce avoidable board respins.
“We’ve been working closely with Silicon Labs as an Alpha customer, evaluating how the Hardware Intent Agent can streamline hardware development across our current and future products while providing feedback on new features as it progresses towards general release,” said Limor Alkelai, Co-CEO, at Risco Group. “We see its potential in enabling quicker and more robust development.”
Collaborate, Build, and Extend Through the Open-Source Community
Drawing on its experience advancing open-source development for Matter, Thread, and Zephyr, Silicon Labs is launching its open-source developer community in Beta, beginning with Bluetooth LE. The mantra is simple: build and extend. Developers can build with Silicon Labs sample applications and tooling, then extend the platform by raising issues, suggesting fixes, and contributing through pull requests.
Accepted contributions can move through the company’s normal engineering and testing processes into future SDK releases. Even before acceptance, proposed fixes and discussions can remain visible to other developers, giving the community another way to share knowledge and solve common problems. The Silicon Labs applications team will support issues raised on GitHub, and Silicon Labs plans to expand this approach to additional wireless technologies over time.
Scale the Complete Edge AI Lifecycle with Databricks
As edge AI grows, model development also needs to connect with the data and AI infrastructure enterprises already use. Silicon Labs is partnering with Databricks to bring embedded edge AI into Databricks, creating a unified, governed foundation for connecting edge devices with enterprise data, AI, and machine learning workflows.
An initial Silicon Labs MLOps SDK experience connects devices with Databricks to help capture data from the device fleet. Once the data is in Databricks, all the familiar MLOps tools and training pipelines and GPU resources are available directly for training. Once a model is trained, the Silicon Labs ML Profiler can provide directionally accurate feedback on whether a model fits target hardware and its memory and CPU requirements. That feedback can help ML engineers iterate while remaining in a familiar Databricks environment, connecting model development with the enterprise data and governance that underpin production AI. This approach helps enterprises extend AI from the cloud to the edge without creating separate data and AI stacks for embedded workloads.
A Platform that Developers Can Build and Extend
Together, these initiatives scale the development system at three levels:
Availability and Next Steps
The Simplicity AI SDK Beta is publicly available, with official support initially focused on Bluetooth LE and support for GitHub Copilot and Codex. An alpha release of Hardware Intent, the first capability in Simplicity Design Intelligence, is planned for January 2027.
The Silicon Labs open-source community Beta launches with Bluetooth LE, and its sample applications are accessible on GitHub for code review and contributions.
Initial Silicon Labs MLOps tools are available in Databricks today.
About Silicon Labs
Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is the leading innovator in low-power connectivity, building embedded technology that connects devices and improves lives. Merging cutting-edge technology into the world’s most highly integrated SoCs, Silicon Labs provides device makers with the solutions, support, and ecosystems needed to create advanced edge connectivity applications. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Silicon Labs has operations in over sixteen countries and is the trusted partner for innovative solutions in smart home, industrial IoT, and smart cities markets. Learn more at https://www.silabs.com.
SOURCE Silicon Labs
New distribution partnership brings Zyxel’s Point-to-Multipoint and Point-to-Point outdoor wireless solutions to WISPs and broadband providers
Anaheim, California, Sept. 29, 2026 – Zyxel Communications today announced a new distribution partnership with Streakwave Wireless, expanding access to Zyxel’s outdoor wireless solutions for wireless internet service providers (WISPs), broadband providers, MSPs and VARs.
Through the partnership, Streakwave will distribute Zyxel’s growing portfolio of Point-to-Multipoint (PtMP) and Point-to-Point (PtP) wireless solutions, providing customers with new options for extending high-speed connectivity to hard-to-reach locations, building wireless backhaul links and expanding broadband coverage without the cost and complexity of new fiber builds.
The partnership combines Zyxel’s broadband and networking expertise with Streakwave’s experience in wireless broadband distribution, giving customers greater access to outdoor wireless solutions and specialized distribution support for deploying and expanding their networks.
“Outdoor wireless gives service providers greater flexibility to extend high-speed connectivity where traditional wired infrastructure may be difficult or costly to deploy,” said Shawn Rogers, Sales Operations & Product Development Manager at Zyxel Communications. “Our partnership with Streakwave makes it easier for customers to access Zyxel’s PtMP and PtP solutions through a distributor with deep experience in the wireless broadband market.”
WiFi 7 PtMP Built for Modern WISPs
At the center of Zyxel’s outdoor wireless portfolio is its FWA7 WiFi7 PtMP platform, designed to deliver multi-gigabit connectivity for last-mile broadband deployments. The solution combines WiFi 7 Multi-Link Operation (MLO), adaptive antenna technology, intelligent resource management, and cloud-based management to help WISPs maintain reliable connectivity in demanding outdoor environments.
The FWA7 PtMP family includes:
Root Plus supports long-range coverage of up to 6 miles (10 km) and up to 7.4 Gbps theoretical total Tx/Rx throughput, while Leaf Plus provides subscriber CPE speeds of up to 4.4 Gbps theoretical throughput. The platform uses WiFi 7 MLO across 5 GHz and 6 GHz, along with smart antenna technology designed to optimize near-and far-field coverage.
Zyxel’s outdoor wireless solutions integrate with the Nebula cloud management platform, enabling zero-touch deployment, remote monitoring, and centralized management. This helps WISPs deploy and manage distributed networks more efficiently while reducing onsite management and truck rolls.
Point-to-Point Connectivity for Long-Distance Links
For dedicated Point-to-Point connectivity, Zyxel’s NWA55AX PTP outdoor wireless bridge provides WiFi 6 AX2400 performance with speeds up to 2.4 Gbps and links of up to 6 miles (10 km). Factory-paired as a two-piece kit and ready to deploy, the NWA55AX PTP provides a simple way to connect campuses, warehouses, farms, remote buildings, and other locations without the need for new cabling.
“Zyxel’s outdoor wireless solutions are a strong addition to our portfolio as our customers look for reliable and flexible ways to expand their networks,” said Charles Listwan, Sr. Product Manager at Streakwave. “The addition of Zyxel’s PtMP and PtP solutions gives our customers more options for addressing last-mile connectivity, network expansion, and other outdoor wireless applications.”
Extending Connectivity Beyond the Reach of Fiber
Together, Zyxel’s PtMP and PtP solutions provide flexible options for a range of outdoor connectivity requirements. PtMP enables WISPs and broadband providers to serve multiple subscriber locations from a central base station, while PtP provides dedicated wireless links for applications such as network backhaul and building-to-building connectivity.
Designed for outdoor deployments, Zyxel’s PtMP and PtP solutions combine weather-resistant construction with cloud-based management to support reliable connectivity in challenging environments.
The partnership with Streakwave expands availability of these solutions through a distributor focused on the wireless broadband market. Beyond outdoor wireless, Zyxel’s comprehensive portfolio spans PON/XGS-PON, WiFi 6 and WiFi 7, 5G FWA, switching, security, wireless access and cloud-managed networking, helping service providers and businesses build and expand their networks.
About Zyxel:
Zyxel has been connecting people and businesses to the internet for more than 35 years, delivering networking solutions designed to make connectivity more reliable, secure, and easier to manage. Its portfolio spans security, switching, WiFi, broadband access, and outdoor wireless solutions, including point-to-point (PtP) and point-to-multipoint (PtMP) technologies for WISPs, service providers, MSPs, businesses, and other professional network environments.
With a global presence and decades of networking experience, Zyxel continues to develop practical, scalable solutions that help customers extend connectivity, build and manage networks, and support evolving deployment needs across indoor and outdoor environments.
About Streakwave:
Streakwave Wireless, Inc. is a global distributor of wireless, networking, telecommunications, security, and connectivity solutions, providing all the tech businesses use to connect. Since 2001, Streakwave has served WISPs, service providers, MSPs, VARs, system integrators, enterprises, and other technology professionals with products from leading manufacturers and the services needed to simplify purchasing, fulfillment, and deployment.
With distribution and fulfillment capabilities across the United States and decades of experience in wireless and networking, Streakwave combines broad product availability, knowledgeable support, and flexible business services to help customers build, expand, and manage their networks.
For more information about products and services, visit www.streakwave.com
What Middle East hoteliers need to know about in-room entertainment, connectivity, and guest engagement
The guest room is becoming a digital environment. Guests bring their own devices, content, and expectations with them. They expect hotel technology to work together without creating extra steps or frustration.
For Middle East hotels, the challenge is even more nuanced. A diverse guest mix, multilingual needs, local considerations, and rising expectations around digital experiences all shape what a connected guest room needs to deliver.
This white paper explores how hoteliers can move beyond the traditional hotel TV to create a more connected, flexible, and guest-focused experience.
Inside This White Paper:
The connected guest room is not about adding technology for its own sake. Rather, it’s about creating an experience that works naturally for the guest and supports the way people actually travel today.
Explore this white paper to see what a more connected guest room could mean for your property.
Inside a North American steel mill, time is measured in molten metal. The company’s hot mill converts raw slabs into finished coils at the pace of about 35 coils per hour, approximately 20 tons per coil, selling at roughly $1,000 per ton, depending on market prices. When production stops, the losses are immediate.
“The impact to the hot mill being down is about $4,500 per minute of lost margin,” says a wireless engineer for the mill. “We produce about 35 coils per hour and roughly 20 tons per coil. Those prices fluctuate with the going price of the market and cold roll and hot roll prices. That’s a justification we can use for Wi-Fi sensors.”
Those tools include 7SIGNAL Sensors: a wireless-experience management platform that the mill’s wireless manager and his team deploy. In a business where a six-hour window separates recovery from an extended outage, wireless reliability is a production asset.
Wi-Fi performance monitoring platforms for manufacturing and logistics facilities collect and analyze wireless reliability for scanners, robots, and connected equipment. All this gear underpins operations and production. A dropped connection can stop an automated crane.
Steelmaking is, in part, a logistics challenge. Inside the mill’s facilities, cranes receive wireless instructions about which coil to pick up, where to move it, and when. A scheduling system tracks thousands of coils in a single building. If wireless connectivity falters, even briefly, manufacturing stops. If a stoppage is prolonged, lost production follows.
The challenge was knowing what was happening on the network in real time and over time, independent of the vendors whose hardware was generating that data.
7SIGNAL provides an independent view. It is a vendor-agnostic Wi-Fi monitoring platform, working alongside wireless infrastructure to deliver an endpoint perspective that infrastructure dashboards can’t capture. Getting all the devices performing well meant understanding what was happening at the edge of the network.
The mill deployed 7SIGNAL Sensors throughout its facilities, placing independent monitors in the wireless environment that collect data from the device’s perspective, not the access point.
The 7SIGNAL monitors are patented sensors, RF hardware appliances deployed on-site as a monitoring layer, with a single sensor capable of monitoring up to six access points continuously.
“If you set up the 7SIGNAL tool to do events and alarms, then you’re commissioning that tool to give information to show data and be almost proactive,” the wireless manager says. “Those reports offer trends to help predict where problems are. We can set thresholds.”
The sensor data enables the mill’s wireless manager to catch access points that appear functional in Cisco Prime Infrastructure but are dropping clients. This is a critical distinction in an environment where a dropped connection can stop a crane.
Wireless problems can trigger a cycle of blame between teams. Workers question the network. An IT team looks to the endpoint, or application. Without objective data, each group points elsewhere and resolution drags out.
“With 7SIGNAL, there is far less finger-pointing,” the wireless manager notes. “7SIGNAL tells you what’s wrong.”
Armed with evidence, the mill’s IT team can direct the right people to the right fix without debates. Minutes matter when downtime can add up to an hours-long lapse in production.
“I use 7SIGNAL for base level testing and to define coverage without having to do reactive troubleshooting,” the wireless manager says. “Before buying 7SIGNAL, I’d tell a technician to go out with a spectrum analyzer, laptops, and wait in the mill for a problem to happen. It’s a proactive approach now.”
“7SIGNAL pays for itself 10 times over when we avoid a typical downtime event,” says the mill’s wireless manager.
The worldwide leader in premium gaming peripherals evolves beyond standard 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth LE to create a new standard in performance with the Sensei Pro and Rival Pro Series mice
Montreal, Canada, October 1, 2026 — SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation short-range wireless communications, today announced a collaboration with SteelSeries, the original esports brand that fuses gaming and culture, that advances wireless gaming mice performance to a new tier.
SteelSeries’ new Sensei Pro and Rival Pro Series gaming mice are equipped with SPARK’s LE-UWB™ (Low Energy Ultra-Wideband) wireless connectivity, achieving an unparalleled performance profile across all three critical metrics: latency, connection reliability and power efficiency for long battery life.
SteelSeries’ new gaming mice deliver True 8K wireless polling at 8,000 Hz, corresponding to a 0.125 ms polling interval, with up to 9,000 Hz over-polling for even more frequent wireless updates. LE-UWB™ provides the high-performance wireless link behind this revolutionary responsiveness while maintaining reliable operation in congested 2.4 GHz wireless environments.
Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless operates on a super-fast tier spectrum with roughly 20X the bandwidth, and a True 8K polling rate provides up to 8,000 Hz report rate, which results in faster response times, more accurate tracking, reduced input delay, and smoother cursor movement. To fully unleash the power of 8K on LE-UWB™ wireless, the Sensei Pro and Rival Pro Series mice are equipped with SteelSeries’ Infinite Power System, featuring hot-swappable batteries for uninterrupted gameplay, which equates to “8K all day.”
SPARK LE-UWB™ is the exclusive connectivity platform for SteelSeries’ new Sensei Pro and Rival Pro portfolio, the first LE-UWB™-powered mouse portfolio in the world to eschew legacy 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth LE and wired connectivity.
“Conventional wireless connectivity compromises the performance metrics that matter most to competitive gamers. LE-UWB™ is the next evolution, and SteelSeries collaborated with SPARK to deliver a new industry-leading innovation and premium products that outperform gamers’ expectations,” said Fares Mubarak, CEO of SPARK Microsystems. “That’s powerful validation and proof positive that a generational transformation is underway in gaming connectivity.”
To learn more about SteelSeries and the new Sensei Pro and Rival Pro Series mice, visit steelseries.com, and join the conversation on Twitter at @SteelSeries, Instagram at @SteelSeries, and TikTok at @SteelSeries.
About SteelSeries
SteelSeries is the original esports brand that fuses gaming & culture, leading the way in defining a “gaming lifestyle.” The worldwide brand creates industry-defining esports and gaming peripherals with a focus on premium quality, innovation, and functionality. Founded in 2001, SteelSeries improves performance through first-to-market innovations and technologies that enable gamers to play harder, train longer, and rise to the challenge. SteelSeries is the pioneering supporter of esports and competitive gaming tournaments, connecting gamers and fostering a sense of community and purpose. SteelSeries’ family of professional gamers and gaming enthusiasts are the driving force behind the company and help influence, design, and craft every single accessory and the brand’s software ecosystem (SteelSeries GG, Moments video clip service, and the Sonar Audio Software Suite). The SteelSeries family of brands includes KontrolFreek, the industry leader in high-performance controller accessories, and Nahimic, the leader in 3D sound solutions for gaming. In 2022, SteelSeries joined the GN family, a global leader in innovative and intelligent audio and video communications solutions sold in approximately 100 countries around the world.
About SPARK Microsystems
SPARK Microsystems is building next-generation short-range wireless communication devices for consumer, industrial and medical applications. Leveraging patented LE-UWB™ technology, SPARK delivers ultra-low-power, high-speed wireless connectivity with unmatched interference robustness and exceptionally low latency. LE-UWB™ technology is ideally suited for wearables, peripherals, tags, sensors, and other IoT-connected devices that require reliable, high-performance data communication, as well as ranging and positioning capabilities. SPARK makes it possible to minimize and ultimately eliminate wires and batteries across a wide range of AI and IoT applications. For more information, visit sparkmicro.com.
Reflections on India’s transformation and how RUCKUS Networks is growing alongside the rising demand for modern networking solutions.
Growing up in India and witnessing its transformation firsthand has been remarkable.
I studied engineering at a time when computers were still a luxury for many students. We relied on textbooks, libraries and handwritten notes. There was no Google Search or ChatGPT to help with research. For many of my peers, success meant securing a job with a large IT services company or looking overseas for greater opportunities after college graduation.
Fast forward to today, and the India I see is vastly different. India’s economy is growing at a rapid pace, offering an upward trajectory. Increasingly, many of India’s brightest engineers are choosing to stay and more returning from abroad, to build careers and innovate at home. Driven by a rapidly expanding technology sector and the growing number of global companies establishing R&D centres in India, the opportunities available today are becoming competitive globally. To me, that change reflects the confidence, capability and ambition of a country that has firmly earned its place on the global technology stage.
Over the past two decades, India has transformed itself from a global IT services destination into a center for innovation, digital infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. Its rise to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, having overtaken Japan in 2025, reflects the country’s growing influence on the global technology and manufacturing landscape.
Technology hubs that once supported global operations have evolved into world-class R&D and innovation centers. At the same time, investments in manufacturing, digital infrastructure and Industry 4.0 have strengthened India’s position as a leading destination for electronics and advanced technology production.
Watching this transformation unfold over the years has given me an appreciation for how far India has come and the opportunities that lie ahead. I have seen the country evolve from exporting talent to attracting investment, innovation and manufacturing at scale. What began as India’s rise as an IT powerhouse has evolved into something much broader; a nation increasingly recognized for its innovation, engineering excellence and manufacturing capabilities.
For companies like RUCKUS that have grown alongside this transformation, it presents an opportunity to deepen our contribution to one of the world’s most dynamic technology markets.
India’s evolution has been mirrored by RUCKUS’ own journey in the country. Our story in India did not begin with manufacturing. Over the years, we have built a strong foundation across engineering, innovation, and customer success, with teams and operations spanning Bengaluru and Chennai. Today, Pune extends that footprint into manufacturing through Belden’s established manufacturing operations.
For me, what makes this milestone meaningful is not manufacturing itself, but what it represents. As India’s role in the global technology ecosystem has expanded, so too have the opportunities for companies like RUCKUS to grow alongside the market.
This broader growth creates a strong backdrop for our journey in India. India’s technology sector continues to grow at an impressive pace. Gartner forecasts the country’s IT spending will reach $176.3 billion this year, reflecting continued investment in AI, cloud, data centers and digital infrastructure. As organizations accelerate digital transformation initiatives and modernize their operations, the need for reliable, secure and high-performance networks has never been greater.
For us, the opportunity is not simply to participate in that growth, but to grow alongside our customers and partners as they help shape India’s digital future.
India’s next growth chapter is already taking shape, powered by its talent, expanding digital economy and growing manufacturing capabilities.
And for RUCKUS, Pune marks the beginning of our new chapter in that journey.
Read more about RUCKUS’ expansion into manufacturing in Pune: https://www.ruckusnetworks.com/press-releases/2026/ruckus-networks-deepens-commitment-to-india-through-local-manufacturing/
Montreal, Canada, September 17, 2026 — SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation short-range wireless communications, has released the findings of a new third-party expert research analysis demonstrating the bit-perfect wireless audio delivery achievable with SPARK’s Low-Energy Ultra-Wideband (LE-UWB™) technology.
The research findings were initially presented at AES Show NY and are now available in a video overview featuring SPARK Microsystems CTO Frederic Nabki and audio expert Jeff Anderson.
The research results demonstrate that SPARK LE-UWB™ audio delivery is indistinguishable from a wired transmission, exhibiting bit-perfect signal fidelity. This performance profile, complemented with low latency of under 7 milliseconds, enables uncorrupted, pristine wireless audio. The sound quality produced is vastly superior to legacy Bluetooth technology, distinguishing SPARK UWB as the wireless platform of choice for prestigious audio brands including Sonus Faber and Focal.
Notably, the SPARK LE-UWB™ wireless connection also offered bi-directional audio transport, supporting an additional bit-perfect, low-latency uncompressed audio back channel. Although this feature was not a primary focus of the study, it highlights the versatility and advanced capabilities of the technology.
The testing was performed by Jeff Anderson, an independent audio engineering consultant with 25 years of industry expertise. Leveraging wired equipment as the reference, Anderson provides an in-depth comparison of SPARK’s LE-UWB technology to competing audio codecs including LDAC, aptX HD, aptX LL, and SBC. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) measurements were used to evaluate the signal quality of the tested audio systems.
Among the findings, Anderson observed that LDAC, aptX, and aptX HD codecs displayed elevated noise floors and noticeable distortion, especially at higher frequencies. Bluetooth codecs LDAC and aptX HD exhibited latency ranging from 30 to 200 milliseconds, degrading audio quality and introducing noticeable delay. In contrast, SPARK’s UWB delivers a clean, distortion-free signal, demonstrating superior fidelity and comparable performance to the wired reference.
“Wireless solutions based on SPARK LE-UWB technology represent a major step forward, offering unparalleled stability and performance even in increasingly interference-prone environments,” said Rejean Bedel, Groupe Marketing Manager, Focal. “This advancement marks a turning point for high-end audio, enabling seamless, user-friendly, and wire-free products without compromising sound quality.”
“For decades, the industry has accepted compromises in sound quality, latency, and energy efficiency to make wireless audio possible. SPARK’s Low-Energy UWB technology changes that, delivering bit-perfect audio exactly as it was encoded at the source, with ultra-low latency that rivals wired connections,” said Frederic Nabki, Co-founder and CTO, SPARK Microsystems. “This breakthrough doesn’t just eliminate wires; it redefines what wireless audio can achieve, setting a new benchmark for fidelity and responsiveness, with low power consumption optimized for battery-powered devices.”
For the video overview of the testing methodology and results data, and to hear more about SPARKs ultra-low latency and energy efficiency advantages for audio applications, learn more here. CES 2027 attendees can personally experience the superior sound quality of SPARK’s LE-UWB technology with a live demo of our wireless headset in our Palazzo suite.
About SPARK Microsystems
SPARK Microsystems is building next-generation short-range wireless communication devices for consumer, industrial and medical applications. Leveraging patented LE-UWB™ technology, SPARK delivers ultra-low-power, high-speed wireless connectivity with unmatched interference robustness and exceptionally low latency. LE-UWB™ technology is ideally suited for wearables, peripherals, tags, sensors, and other IoT-connected devices that require reliable, high-performance data communication, as well as ranging and positioning capabilities. SPARK makes it possible to minimize and ultimately eliminate wires and batteries across a wide range of AI and IoT applications. For more information, visit sparkmicro.com.
SPARK MICROSYSTEMS, LE-UWB and DETERMINISTIC WIRELESS are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARK Microsystems in Canada and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Media Contact:
Rainier Communications on behalf of SPARK Microsystems
[email protected]
For years, the IoT industry has been built around a straightforward assumption: keep devices small, keep power consumption low, and keep connectivity simple. That approach made sense when most IoT devices were primarily collecting sensor data and sending relatively small amounts of information to the cloud.
But the role of connected devices is changing.
As more intelligence moves from the cloud to the edge, connectivity is becoming more than a way to transfer data. It is increasingly becoming part of the computing architecture itself.And that raises a new question: Does every IoT device still need the same kind of wireless connectivity?
I believe the answer is no.
IoT Is Becoming More Than Sensor Data
The definition of an IoT device is expanding. Today, connected systems may include:
AI vision systems processing multiple high-resolution video streams
Robotics platforms requiring real-time communication
Edge computers running increasingly sophisticated AI models locally
Industrial systems coordinating data across multiple devices
Intelligent infrastructure combining sensing, processing, and communication
These applications do not all have the same connectivity requirements. A battery-powered sensor transmitting small packets of data may prioritize low power consumption and long communication range. An edge AI computer processing video, coordinating robotic actions, or exchanging large data files may require significantly higher throughput and lower latency.
Treating both devices as if they need the same wireless technology can create unnecessary compromises.
Traditionally, connectivity was often treated as a supporting function: collect data, transmit it, and let the cloud do the heavy processing. Edge computing changes that model. When AI processing takes place closer to where data is generated, the network must support more than occasional sensor updates. It may need to handle high-volume data exchange, real-time interaction, and communication between multiple intelligent devices.
In these environments, wireless connectivity can influence:
How quickly data moves between devices
How responsive an application can be
How efficiently edge computing resources are utilized
How multiple devices coordinate in real time
How a system scales as new capabilities are added
This does not mean every edge device needs the highest-performance wireless standard available. It means connectivity should be considered as part of the system design from the beginning.
Wi-Fi 7 is not necessary for every IoT application. But dismissing it as “overkill” for the entire IoT industry overlooks how many edge applications are evolving. For high-performance edge systems, wireless connectivity may need to support demanding workloads such as:
High-resolution video transmission
AI-enabled vision and analytics
Real-time robotics communication
High-speed data exchange between edge devices
Industrial and enterprise applications requiring responsive wireless connectivity
In these scenarios, higher throughput and lower latency can become important system-level considerations. Wi-Fi 7 is particularly relevant when wireless performance is directly connected to the responsiveness or data requirements of the application. The key question is not whether Wi-Fi 7 is excessive in general.
The more useful question is: What does this particular device need to accomplish?
At the other end of the connectivity spectrum, many IoT devices still need to operate under very different conditions. These devices may transmit relatively small amounts of data but require:
Long communication range
Low power consumption
Reliable connectivity across distributed environments
Efficient operation for remote or battery-powered nodes
For these applications, Wi-Fi HaLow offers a different set of advantages. Built around the IEEE 802.11ah standard, Wi-Fi HaLow operates in sub-GHz spectrum and is designed for long-range, low-power wireless connectivity. This makes it relevant to applications such as:
Smart city infrastructure
Industrial IoT sensing
Environmental monitoring
Agriculture and remote monitoring
Distributed sensors and connected infrastructure
A long-range IoT sensor and a high-performance edge AI computer do not need to compete for the same connectivity profile. They need technologies that match their respective roles.
As IoT deployments become more sophisticated, the idea of selecting one wireless technology for every device becomes increasingly limiting. These categories are not mutually exclusive, and actual requirements depend on the application. But they illustrate why a multi-tier connectivity strategy can be more practical than a one-standard approach. The future of IoT is not necessarily about replacing one wireless technology with another.
It is about choosing the right wireless technology for each node—and making those technologies work together as one system.
At AsiaRF, this is a direction we continue to explore through our wireless solutions. Our portfolio includes:
Wi-Fi 7 modules for high-performance wireless and edge computing applications
Wi-Fi HaLow modules and platforms for long-range IoT connectivity
OpenWrt-based platforms designed to support flexible networking and connectivity integration
The objective is not to suggest that every application requires every technology.Instead, it is to support system designers as they evaluate different connectivity requirements across devices, networks, and deployment environments. A connected system may need long-range IoT nodes at the edge, high-performance wireless links for local processing, and a platform capable of bringing these layers together. That is where flexibility becomes important.
For engineers and system architects working on edge AI, robotics, and intelligent infrastructure, connectivity decisions may increasingly begin with a different set of questions:
What kind of data does each device generate?
How much throughput does the application actually require?
How important are latency and real-time responsiveness?
Does the device need to operate over long distances or under power constraints?
How will different connectivity technologies coexist within the same deployment?
These questions help move the discussion beyond choosing a wireless standard based on popularity or specifications alone. The right connectivity strategy starts with the role each device plays in the system.
IoT is evolving from a collection of connected sensors into a more intelligent, distributed computing environment. As that happens, wireless connectivity will need to serve different layers of the system—from low-power, long-range sensing to high-performance edge processing.
Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi HaLow are not necessarily competing answers to the same problem. In many deployments, they may address different requirements within the same broader architecture. The future of IoT is not about choosing one wireless standard. It is about choosing the right wireless technology for each node—and making them work together as one system. That is where we believe edge AI and wireless infrastructure are heading.
How are you deciding which connectivity tier each device actually needs?
Like many science fiction fans, I’ve been intrigued by the buzz surrounding Steven Spielberg’s film Disclosure Day, based on one of humanity’s favorite topics: what happens when intelligent life from another world finally makes contact.
Hollywood has generally assumed that aliens would be impressed by our accomplishments. We certainly seem to think they should be. After all, we’ve built artificial intelligence, reusable rockets, quantum computers and social media platforms capable of turning complete strangers into experts on virtually any subject.
But if an advanced civilization has been monitoring Earth for decades, I suspect their conclusions might be very different.
Imagine a team of extraterrestrial scientists arriving after years of studying our television and radio broadcasts, satellite transmissions, cellular networks and Wi-Fi signals. Before meeting world leaders, they compile a report on the most remarkable technologies they have observed.
Artificial intelligence receives favorable marks. Reusable rockets are viewed as an encouraging development. Quantum computing is classified as promising, though admittedly still a work in progress.
The report notes that humanity’s greatest achievements appear to include the moon landing, modern wireless communications and the spork. The researchers remain uncertain which required the larger breakthrough.
Then the scientists examine a modern smartphone.
The report reportedly expands from twelve pages to nearly six hundred. One researcher is said to have remarked that humans appear to carry a laboratory-grade RF system in their pockets primarily to exchange emojis.
The visitors become fascinated by the realization that humans routinely carry devices containing multiple radios, dozens of frequency bands and an astonishing collection of filters, amplifiers, switches, tuners and antennas. More remarkably, the devices function while moving through buildings, vehicles, stadiums, airports and countless other environments seemingly designed to make wireless communication difficult.
Particularly baffling is humanity’s reliance on acoustic wave filtering. According to the alien report, humans somehow discovered that one of the best ways to manage increasingly crowded radio spectrum was to create microscopic acoustic waves inside handheld devices. The visitors struggle to understand why a species capable of creating microscopic acoustic resonators by the billions still cannot agree on a universal charging connector.
The section on envelope tracking is equally perplexing. The visitors note with admiration that humans dynamically adjust power supply voltages in real time to improve transmitter efficiency and extend battery life. Unfortunately, their analysis also concludes that a meaningful percentage of these energy savings are ultimately devoted to watching cat videos.
A separate chapter addresses antenna tuning. The scientists appear genuinely impressed that humans deliberately place antennas near batteries, cameras, displays, metal enclosures and human hands, then invent sophisticated tuning systems to compensate for the resulting performance challenges. The report describes this as “an unnecessarily complicated but undeniably creative engineering strategy.”
Things become truly confusing when the visitors encounter millimeter-wave technology and spectrum sharing. The concept of using frequencies that struggle to penetrate walls while simultaneously coordinating access among countless users appears to generate considerable debate among the alien researchers.
Several pages are devoted to understanding FCC spectrum allocation rules. One appendix concludes that humanity invented interplanetary communication because it was easier than reorganizing spectrum allocations.
In fact, the report’s most surprising conclusion is that interstellar travel appears easier to explain than terrestrial spectrum management. Another appendix notes that the visitors successfully mapped multiple dimensions of spacetime before fully understanding a spectrum allocation chart.
Yet beneath the humor lies an important observation. The technologies that most impress the visitors are largely invisible to the people who use them every day. Even those of us who work in the industry aren’t immune. At Qorvo, we spend our days solving extraordinarily complex RF and power challenges. Then we go home and ask ChatGPT why unplugging the Wi-Fi router and plugging it back in again still fixes so many problems.
When a video streams flawlessly, a call connects instantly or a message arrives without delay, few people think about acoustic filters, envelope tracking, antenna tuning, beamforming or spectrum sharing. They simply expect the connection to work.
Perhaps that’s why our hypothetical visitors find wireless technology so remarkable. Not because any individual breakthrough is extraordinary, although many certainly are. It’s because millions of engineering decisions, innovations and compromises operate together so seamlessly that the entire system feels effortless.
If extraterrestrials ever do arrive, they may come expecting to study artificial intelligence, quantum computing or rocket science.
Instead, I suspect they’ll spend much of their time reading Microwave Journal and wondering how humanity managed to make RF look so easy.
