Communications: Wireless Chip Sets Comply With 802.11n And Deliver 300 Mbits/s

April 13, 2006

The Intensi-fi wireless local-area network (WLAN) chip sets comply with the IEEE 802.11n draft specification. Intensi-fi technology incorporates all mandatory elements of the draft specification and can be software-upgraded once the standard is finalized. The technology supports multiple simultaneous data (or "spatial") streams over multiple transmit and receive antennas to provide data rates of over 300 Mbits/s and more robust coverage than legacy 802.11 products, which use one transmitter and one receiver to support a single data stream. The Intensi-fi family initially includes four devices. The BCM4321 media access controller (MAC) provides physicallayer rates of over 300 Mbits/s and interfaces to PCI, Cardbus, and PCI-Express hosts. The BCM2055 802.11 radio integrates multiple 2.4- and 5-GHz radios to support simultaneous spatial streams with 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 antenna configurations. The BCM4704 wireless network processor provides advanced routing/bridging capabilities. And, the BCM4705 next-generation wireless network processor supports simultaneous operation of 2.4- and 5-GHz radios and integrates a Gigabit Ethernet MAC to enable greater than 100-Mbit/s throughput between draft 802.11n and Ethernet networks. All of the chips are now sampling. Contact the company for volume pricing.

Broadcom Corp.
www.broadcom.com

About the Author

Dave Bursky | Technologist

Dave Bursky, the founder of New Ideas in Communications, a publication website featuring the blog column Chipnastics – the Art and Science of Chip Design. He is also president of PRN Engineering, a technical writing and market consulting company. Prior to these organizations, he spent about a dozen years as a contributing editor to Chip Design magazine. Concurrent with Chip Design, he was also the technical editorial manager at Maxim Integrated Products, and prior to Maxim, Dave spent over 35 years working as an engineer for the U.S. Army Electronics Command and an editor with Electronic Design Magazine.