Lantiq Intros Wireless LAN Chips with Beamforming

Lantiq introduced its latest 802.11n WLAN chips, featuring advanced beamforming and an integrated "Thick MAC" processor for increased reach and radio coverage while maintaining links with a minimum or even zero packet-error rate performance.


Lantiq expects the WLAN market to grow significantly in the years ahead. According to In-Stat the market will see an increase in the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, from over 500 million in 2009 to nearly 2 billion pieces in 2014. An obstacle as the market becomes more diversified is that related WLAN solutions have to address different application needs. Its beamforming technology aims to extend the reach of WLAN devices and literally eliminate wireless dead spots for users at home.


Specifically, Lantiq claims that its designs result in about 8-10dB increased gain and an up to
300 percent increased reach compared to standard WLAN. Furthermore, the WAVE300 architecture intelligently offloads the main processor by executing all real-time and processor-intensive operations on the "Thick MAC," which results in higher throughput and more free performance on the SoC for other applications and services.


The WAVE300 family also significantly enhances the streaming of HDTV via WLAN. Compared to existing solutions where only best-effort streaming is available, the Lantiq solution enables a full wireless IP HDTV experience. The Lantiq 11n family achieves a maximum 3x3 MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) data rates up to 200 Mbps net throughput on single band implementation and dual-mode capable chips in the family reach up to 270 Mbps net throughput in concurrent mode operation.


This results in sustainable bit rates and elimination of pixel errors, allowing multiple simultaneous HD streams without packet loss. On reference systems, Lantiq demonstrated the transmission of four HD streams with 20 Mbps simultaneously with maximum reach.


In addition, Lantiq notes that its WAVE300 beamforming technology delivers high data rates directly to end user devices regardless of whether the device is "beam-forming ready" or not.


"The use of WLAN is changing. Originally developed to connect notebooks to routers,
new user scenarios such as connecting smart phones to high-data broadband applications and supporting HD video links are now required," said Ulrich Huewels, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lantiq's CPE Business Unit. "Each scenario has specific requirements that our best-in-class WLAN solutions meet in terms of reach and Quality of Service."http://www.lantiq.com/WAVE300