ICs Bring CMOS Technology To 802.11a WLANs

A two-chip set has been developed for IEEE 802.11a wireless WLANs that is based exclusively on CMOS technology. The highly integrated ICs include the AR5110 radio-on-a-chip (RoC) and AR5210 MAC/baseband processor, with the chipset supporting 6- to 54-Mbps data rates. Operating in the 802.11Õs 5.15-5.25 GHz indoor and 5.25-5.35 GHz indoor/outdoor U-NII frequency bands, the AR5110 RoC integrates a transceiver and power amplifier (PA), with the deviceÕs transmitter combining in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signals, upconverting them to the desired U-NII frequency channel, and driving the RF signal off chip through the PA. The chip requires both 2.5V and 3.3V supplies, eliminates the need for external VCOs and SAW filters, and is housed in a 64-pin package.The AR5210 integrates on-chip MAC circuitry, baseband processing functions, a PCI/Cardbus host interface, and A/D and D/A converters. It resides in a 196-lead BGA package. The chipset costs