Atheros Offers Radio-on-Chip for Mobiles

Atheros introduced its first Radio-on-Chip WLAN solution for mobile devices such as dual-mode cellular phones, VoIP handsets, MP3 portable media players, digital still/video cameras, and gaming consoles.

Atheros' new ROCm family includes single- and dual-band chips, both of which provide 54 Mbps connectivity. The chips minimize power consumption through the use of techniques such as automatic power save delivery (APSD) along with an extremely low-power sleep mode. Atheros estimates the design improves the energy efficiency of WLAN operations by as much as six times compared to conventional WLAN chips, with a corresponding improvement in battery life. The chips also offer capabilities such as easy network setup and configuration, full-speed hardware-based security, and support for both prioritized and polled QoS. http://www.atheros.com