Wifi Revolution

Airgain Inc. has extended the reach of draft 802.11n wireless devices with the introduction of its first smart antennas for MIMO devices, the Airgain MaxBeam65N and MaxBeam80N.

The smart antennas are compatible with a variety of MIMO chipsets from leading manufacturers and can double signal strength and receive sensitivity.

These capabilities increase throughput over standard dipole antenna configurations in 802.11n router and gateway devices.

Since Airgain’s new MIMO smart antennas can combine multiple high-gain directional antenna elements and high isolation between each antenna beam they can significantly increase the signal strength, range and throughput of 802.11n devices without increasing cost.

The MaxBeam65N and MaxBeam80N have an embedded design and pre-tuned sub-system for easy integration inside routers and gateways, and eliminate the need for multiple external antennas.

“We’ve conducted exhaustive performance testing in our state-of-the-art anechoic chamber and in real world over-the-air environments. This has shown without a doubt that these smart antennas achieve a significant performance leap over standard antennas in MIMO-based solutions,” said Pertti Visuri, Ph.D., CEO of Airgain, in a press release.

He continued: “In addition to their performance advantages, these antennas are designed for internal use which cuts costs by replacing up to three exterior dipole antennas, and their small footprint keeps device designs compact and elegant.”

Samples of the MaxBeam65N and MaxBeam80N are available in January.

For the second quarter, Airgain’s planned product rollouts include dual band MIMO antennas that will support simultaneous transmission of data at both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz frequencies. These antennas will replace six ordinary dipole antennas with one small integrated antenna.

Airgain reportedly launched its first smart antenna, the MaxBeam75 802.11b/g smart antenna in late 2005, which has been adopted in next-generation ADSL2+ gateway devices by several manufacturers.

Airgain is a smart antenna innovator improving wireless connectivity for the mass market through its patented switched-beam technology and modular smart antenna products.

Want to learn more about wireless communications? Then be sure to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.

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Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering call centers, CRM and information technology. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

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