It allows wireless devices to communicate over USB without a physical connection

Mar 19, 2014 09:26 GMT  ·  By

Many wireless keyboards and mice need a tiny USB receiver to be plugged into the system in order to work, but the USB Implementers Forum has created a specification that will make physical elements unnecessary.

Called Media Agnostic USB, or MA-USB for short, the new specification will allow wireless devices and docking stations to communicate over the USB protocol without a physical USB link.

That goes for Wi-Fi (both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands), WiGig (60 GHz) and WiMedia UWB radios (3.1 to 10.6 GHz).

Existing wired and wireless media types that wish to use the USB protocol as the transport for data are supported as well.

And you're not limited to USB 3.0 either, or USB 3.1 and USB 3.0. Hi-Speed USB 2.0 technology is valid as well.

The WiGig Serial Extension (WSE) v1.2 specification from Wi-Fi Alliance acted as the foundation for the USB-IF's efforts here.

From now on, when you see a “Powered by MA-USB” logo on a product, you'll know that it will let you wirelessly connect your USB-enabled devices.

Media Agnostic USB should work at Gigabit wireless speeds, which means that, in addition to data transfers, streaming of audio and video will go without a hitch.