I am an RF IC design engineer by trade and the company I work for is developing Bluetooth/Wireless solutions.

During a discussion with an application engineer about the
empeg we raised the concept of providing wireless compatibility.
By either utilising a Bluetooth chipset or an unregulated 2.4GHz ISM band wireless Lan chipset, songs could be wirelessly downloaded to the empeg unit in the car that is either in the driveway or garage. This technology is already here today with Ericsson launching bluetooth phones and Toshiba have a $200 PCMCIA laptop card. The chipsets are available in consumer quantities and prices.

This way the data could be downloaded as a background activity overnight.

Also, the MPEG data storage could then be buried in the boot as the unit would not need to be moved for downloading.
Only the user interface would need to be in the passenger compartment.

Not everyone would want this product, but it would make the
installation feel more like a CD autochanger that can be managed from the comfort of your home. Imagine being able to wirelessly logon to the empeg in your car.
Also it would mean that the user would only have to remove the front panel as with conventional theft prevention head units.

When WAP phones & Wireless PDA's become a reality, your phone could be the display and remote control for the unit via bluetooth.

It may even be technically possible to use the existing car antenna to transmit and receive the RF signals hence requiring no additional changes to the vehicle. This may compromise the range but it would save cost.

Using the existing serial port in the docking unit it could also be possible to build a link without modifying the existing unit.

Just an idea.

I have a feeling the wireless connection will not be popular since the empeg is so portable. If that connectivity is really needed a wireless LAN could be used.

However, I do agree with the idea of a remote panel for operation. I had several problems with my install which would have been eliminated if such a remote install was possible.

Alex Lear

Well, as soon as rswww.com deliver my bluetooth<>serial adaptor (brainboxes.co.uk) I was planning to try this.

I've had 802.11 in my Miata since the first mk2 prototypes - this works very well for wireless sync.

Hugo