HomeRF

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HomeRF is a wireless networking specification (Shared Wireless Access Protocol-SWAP) for home devices to share data. It was developed by the HomeRF Working Group, a consortium of mobile wireless companies that included Siemens, Motorola and more than 100 other companies. The group was disbanded in January 2003 after Wi-Fi 802.11b networks became accessible to home users and Microsoft began including support for Bluetooth, a standard the HomeRF competed with, in its Windows operating systems. As a result HomeRF has fallen into obsolescence. Thus, HomeRF became obsolete and there is currently no group developing the standard further. The archive of the HomeRF Working Group is maintained by Palo Wireless.

HomeRF used frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) in the 2.4 GHz frequency band and could achieve a maximum of 10 Mbit/s throughput; its nodes can travel within a 50 meter range of an access point while remaining connected to the personal area network (PAN).

HomeRF allowed both traditional telephone signals and data signals to be exchanged over the same wireless network. Therefore, in HomeRF, cordless telephones and laptops, for example, could share the same bandwidth in the same home or office.

Available HomeRF LANs supported 1.6 Mbit/s, relatively slow compared to second generation 802.11 LANs which support 11 Mbit/s. 802.11n standard will reach 100 Mbit/s at least.

Currently, there are several standards and working groups focused on wireless networking technology in radio frequency (RF). Standards include popular IEEE 802.11, 802.16, and Bluetooth.