Wifi Revolution

Imagine finding a WiFi hotspot for remote productivity while on-the-go and leaving your laptop power cord in the office. Of course, you may have done this if you require an hour or two of uptime, but what if you need to rely on that power for all eight hours of your work day? Not likely – at least not until now.

 

Akros Silicon Inc., a provider of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) mixed-signal ICs, has announced today the industry’s first Powered Device (PD) Controller, the AS1135. This innovative controller implements the 2-Event Physical Layer Classification functionality of the IEEE (News - Alert)® 802.3at standard (Draft 2.0).

 

Akros’ PD Controller is the first in the industry to anticipate the new 30W standard. This upcoming PoE standard raises the maximum available PD input power to 30W from the previously specified level of 13W in the existing 802.3af standard.

Applications for the 30W PD Controller include IP Security Cameras with Power, Tilt and Zoom (PTZ) capability, new multi-radio 802.11n Wireless Access Points, WiMax Customer Premise Equipment, SOHO Ethernet Switches, VoIP phones, Thin Clients and LCD Displays.

 

With 2-Event Classification, the PD is capable of recognizing whether it is connected to a Type 1 or Type 2 Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE), and vice versa. Such capability informs the IEEE® 802.3at compliant PSE that it is safe to increase power delivered to the PD from 13W to 30W, while also enabling dynamic negotiation and allocation of power, leading to more efficient system power management.

 

“While many silicon vendors have been developing and announcing controllers suitable for high power applications for some time, as the first to include support for 2-Event classification in its PD Controller, Akros Silicon has demonstrated its commitment to this growing market,” said Brian Greenberg, senior analyst at VDC, who tracks the PoE and Power Management markets, in a Monday statement. 

The interoperability of the AS1135 PD Controller has been successfully tested with Microsemi’s (News - Alert) recently released PD64001 PSE Power Manager, in accordance with the IEEE® 802.3at-Draft2.0 standard. An important milestone for the industry, this interoperability allows customers to effortlessly implement both ends of the PoE link.

An extension of Akros’ highly successful and field-proven AS1100 family, the AS1135 controller supports many new features in the same small 5x5 20in QFN package. The part provides “AT Detect” functionality on a logic output pin, indicating successful PoE connection to Type 2 PSE. The new controller is also capable of operating with local power input as low as 10V. 

 

“There are many instances where it is beneficial to provide Ethernet appliances that can operate from the power supplied by either the PoE line or a local power source,” said Amit Gattani, director of marketing, Akros Silicon.

 

“For instance, manufacturers of IP cameras may want to provide the local power option to allow their product to be used in a network that has not yet been upgraded to PoE. This feature allows system designers to benefit from the use of commonly available, low-cost 12V power adapters for auxiliary power.”

The new AS1135 also offers the capability to externally set the switching frequency of the integrated DC-DC controller in the 100 kHz – 500 kHz range. With this capability, designers enjoy added flexibility to optimize the system for parameters like EMI, power consumption and component sizes.

Higher switching frequencies can also be used to reduce the size of components used in the power converter output stage. These new features are in addition to the standard features found in the AS1100 product family like integrated surge protection and low emissions DC-DC controller, to enable EMC (News - Alert) ready system designs. 

Perhaps one of the most attractive features of this new controller is the “handshake mechanism” which enables communication between two devices. This dynamic “conversation” allows for the determination of exactly the right amount of power for the device. Each device can ask for the amount of power it needs to promote ultimate efficiency.

 

As consumers and businesses are becoming more “Green”, mobile and demanding in terms of capability, the opportunity for the AS1135 is nearly unlimited. Leading developers within their industries will be anxious to implement this new controller in order to be the first-to-market on products that will support the new 30W standard.

 

 

 

 

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