Wifi Revolution

In a bid to cut the cost and power demands of WiFi enabled phone handsets, Broadcom (News - Alert) has put WiFi, Bluetooth and an FM radio on a single 65nm CMOS chip. The company also looks to keep the mobile handsets small while enhancing their functionality.

 

This announcement overrides the WiFi (News - Alert) and Bluetooth chip announced by Marvel last year-- that was a larger chip using 90nm CMOS. Broadcom's BMC4325 uses a smaller, lower-power technology with the addition of an FM Radio, supports both US and European standards for radio data, and uses "InConcert" algorithms to solve interference issues between Bluetooth and WiFi.

 

Broadcom is able to achieve this with either separate antennas, or sharing of an antenna to save space. While in the past, having multiple radios in the same band caused interference, the new CMOS-based system-on-a-chip, takes care of this issue while also supporting Bluetooth 2.0, and has 802.11a/b/g integration.

 

As mobile users all over the world demand constant updates on news, sports and entertainment, companies will have to look for new ways to come up with mobiles that support FM radios.

 

According to the company, the chip will achieve as much as 40 percent lower active and idle power consumption and 50 percent free space on the chip. For dual-mode phones, the price and the battery life are the key factors that determine their success. As long as dual-mode devices consume more battery, mobile operators will keep offering indoor access points for their users. So, Broadcom’s move to integrate multiple wireless technologies onto a single chip will be welcomed by the mobile manufacturers because it saves cost, space and power.

 

Even though this new chip consumes 40 percent less power than competing chips, its benefits are not compromised. The WiFi system supports the 802.11a/b/g standards, and the Bluetooth uses the faster 2.0 plus standard with enhanced data rate (EDR). This is upgradeable to Bluetooth version 2.1. Both can take on large amount of processing, cutting down the load on main phone processor, which ultimately increases the battery life.

 

For a large numbers of consumers across the world, mobile handsets are fast becoming the main device of personal communications, entertainment and information. This new chip by Broadcom will help devices like digital music players to enhance this revolution by reducing costs and complexity.

 

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