Chip giant Intel unveiled a unified Wi-Fi technology supporting solution this Friday. The technology, designed to support all current and projected Wi-Fi standards, reflects the company’s focus on wireless networking.
In a written statement, Intel communications circuits research lab director, Krishnamurthy Soumyanath, said: “The variable bandwidth of this solution extends capabilities beyond today’s 20MHz to 100MHz and is expected to support data rates higher than 100 megabits per second that should allow people to enjoy multiple high-quality video streams concurrently.”
Most devices today use a customized radio to connect to a specific network, such as a wireless local area network or a wide area network. “What we at Intel are trying to achieve is the ability to connect to any network, any time, anywhere. The user will not have to worry if he is on a Wi-Fi network or a cellphone network,” Soumyanath said.
In the statement, released as part of a technical paper delivered at the Symposium on VLSI Technology in Kyoto, Japan, Intel said it created the technology by basing it on a standard CMOS, or complementary metal oxide semiconductor, process. The chip technology prototype will support Wi-Fi standards ranging from the current 802.11a to standards requirements expected for 802.11n.
The all-CMOS direct conversion dual-band radio transceiver moves Intel a step closer toward its goal of offering one chip that can handle multiple radios in a single device. By using the CMOS based technology standards, Intel said, it expected to keep manufacturing costs low and retain the ability to produce the chip in large numbers.
“This system-in-a-package design uses more low-voltage circuitry than ever used in the past… this means we can integrate it and make it lower cost while operating at lower voltages and providing longer battery life,” Soumyanath said.
However, he did not project a launch date for the wireless chip.
