With the continuous development of high-definition (HD) content such as video and multimedia in Internet applications, under the trend of continuous emergence of various information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, "triple-play services" (triple-play services), namely Telecommunications, Internet access, and television broadcasts have come and gone to live in "three screens and one cloud" (that is, computers, mobile phones, TVs, and cloud services), which is common for many people.
Faced with the need for these large and small devices to access the Internet through a broadband wireless network, the current mainstream wireless local area network (WLAN) technology standard 802.11n is obviously somewhat stretched. Therefore, the industry began to promote the next-generation high-speed multi-stream wireless LAN standard 802.11ac to help users embrace the sky with three screens and one cloud.
The IEEE (American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11ac standard is still in development, and products equipped with this draft standard are expected to obtain Wi-Fi Alliance certification in the first quarter of 2013. The 802.11ac standard uses the world's public free 5GHz broadband frequency band, so it avoids the increasingly crowded and busy 2.4GHz wireless frequency band. Compared to the 2.4GHz frequency band that only provides three channels, the 5GHz frequency band has up to 24 non-overlapping channels, which will provide wider bandwidth and low-interference video-grade transmission capabilities.
802.11ac, which represents a new wave of wireless LAN innovations, is the first Wi-Fi standard to support Gigabit levels. For applications on mobile phones, such as web browsing, watching high-definition video, downloading music, transferring photos and files, it can be smoother and faster. Tablet PCs and laptops, as well as multimedia applications for flat-panel TVs, will also come out of this standard, allowing all devices in the home to access the Internet, and allowing users to more easily access cloud content and services.
The 802.11ac standard can support up to eight streams, 802.11n only supports four groups, and 802.11ac will achieve about three times the speed of each stream. The data transmission rate of a single stream of 802.11n at the physical layer (PHY) is 150Mbps, while the data transmission rate of 802.11ac single stream can reach 433Mbps, and the actual transmission throughput is almost 300Mbps. Many initial 802.11ac network solutions are implemented in 3x3 to provide transmission bandwidth up to 1.3Gbps.
Drive 802.11ac solutions through the ecosystem
At present, many chip manufacturers in the industry have actively invested in the development of 802.11ac related technologies. Some of the faster original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or original brand manufacturers (OBMs) have begun to test related products in development. However, according to historical experience, after the 802.11n standard is released, it will take four to five years from the development of chips to equipment to the official specification of the consumer market.
802.11ac uses the 5GHz frequency band. For chip manufacturers who have not cultivated this frequency band for a long time, they will also face some challenges, and device developers will also have to delve into this technology to improve the performance of the final product. Qualcomm Atheros, which continues to study the 5GHz frequency band, first introduced the 802.11n solution in the market as early as 2001, and has successively launched dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) mobile devices (smartphones) and computer platforms (tablets) Computers and laptops), consumer electronics (TV and gaming platforms), network products (wireless routers, access points and hotspots), etc. have a long history of hard work. With these proprietary technologies and experience, Qualcomm Atheros will be able to calmly assist customers in facing these technical challenges.
In order to spread these technical capabilities to the entire industry, Qualcomm Atheros, while developing 802.11ac solutions, also strives to build a complete industrial ecosystem to shorten the market adoption time mentioned earlier. One of the practices implemented by Qualcomm Atheros is to make practical reference designs to meet the needs of many client devices, further helping developers quickly convert design concepts into actual products.
In addition, although each terminal product needs to pass the Wi-Fi certification test that is expected to begin in February 2013, Qualcomm Atheros ’experience is used as a supplement, and the reference design is used as a basis. It will be much easier for customers of 802.11ac solutions to pass these certifications. Qualcomm Atheros not only provides connectivity solutions for the world's top mobile phone OEMs, the top five retail network product OEMs are also its long-term partners, and major telecom-grade network and communication gateway equipment suppliers have many cooperations with Qualcomm Atheros. Most enterprise network access point equipment OEMs, the top ten personal computer OEMs, and eight of the top ten TV OEMs all use Qualcomm Atheros Wi-Fi. The integration of these long-term partners with upstream and downstream manufacturers will form an ecosystem that will help 802.11ac standard unify the world as soon as possible and achieve the highest quality of end-to-end connections.
A wide range of solutions to meet the needs of different market segments
Because there are various applications in the ecosystem, when promoting 802.11ac, there must also be solutions that meet the needs of different types of end products. If chip design vendors cannot meet individual market segments, they cannot fully grasp the overall application of 802.11ac technology. Perhaps some people think that Qualcomm, which occupies an important position on mobile devices, can only provide products suitable for the mobile application market. However, based on the support results of the aforementioned OEMs and manufacturers in various application fields, Qualcomm Atheros has clearly provided the market with solutions that are not limited to mobile devices in the past decade.
From the practical application area, the application range of 802.11ac is mainly divided into four parts: mobile devices, computer platforms, consumer electronics, and network devices.
The key incentive factor for driving the overall ecosystem is WCN3680, which is a mobile 1x1 802.11ac combined with Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / FM chip, that is, a connection function chip that is paired with Qualcomm's 28-nanometer Snapdragon series processor and integrated with dual-core Krait CPU Snapdragon S4 MSM8960. For tablet applications, this solution is integrated with the Snapdragon S4 APQ8064 equipped with a quad-core Krait CPU. The WCN3680 chip is designed for mobile consumer devices such as smartphones and tablets, providing high transmission capacity, fast data transfer and low power consumption, providing longer battery life and excellent performance for high-demand applications. WCN3680 supports a variety of major operating systems, providing data transmission rates up to 433 Mbps, and pin compatible with Qualcomm Atheros' 802.11n mobile solution WCN3660, allowing consumers to easily upgrade to 802.11ac performance.
In terms of computer platforms, the QCA9860 802.11ac solution has 2x2 and 3x3 design options and supports 802.11ac / a / b / g / n standards. It also includes a PCIe interface widely used in computer products, as well as integrated Bluetooth and USB connections. 2x2 and 3x3 computer solutions provide extended battery life, size and integrated collaboration, enhanced multimedia experience and optimized transmission performance. For the current popular Ultrabook, it will be even more powerful.
In terms of network equipment, Qualcomm Atheros ’QCA9890 solution not only has the 2x2 and 3x3 options valued by consumers, enterprise applications and telecom operators, but also supports standards such as 802.11ac / a / b / g / n, especially The industry standard PCIe interface is also one of its focuses. Of course, it is precisely because of the long-term experience in communications and network technology that Qualcomm Atheros ’various solutions are more compelling.
The entire product series is equipped with error vector magnitude (EVM) technology, high signal accuracy 256 QAM technology, core SoC-based architecture to match different end product design features, and highly integrated capabilities to reduce the bill of materials (BOM ) Of passive devices and low power consumption. Regardless of whether it is in the telecommunications, enterprise, or mass-market household devices, Qualcomm Atheros can apply 802.11ac technology to mainstream devices through various channels.
High-speed and multi-stream, saving electricity and resources
802.11ac provides powerful advantages for Wi-Fi end users. In addition to the previously mentioned high-speed multi-stream capability, low power consumption and resource conservation are less mentioned topics when talking about the 802.11ac specification. Qualcomm Atheros incorporates power-saving features into its product lines and solutions, and of course 802.11ac technology is no exception.
In terms of saving resources, that is, saving the operating resources of other components of the system (especially CPU and RF circuits). For example, when a wireless broadband router uses Qualcomm Atheros' 802.11ac technology, it can almost completely use the original 802.11n circuit platform without upgrading the CPU in the router responsible for command and dispatch. The advanced hardware acceleration of the RF part of the 802.11ac solution can put the computing resources originally used for scheduling into other tasks that are more needed, or turn off certain transistors or circuits to save power or reduce the system. Heating and indirectly required cooling energy (air conditioning).
If it is a notebook computer product in the field of personal computers, 2x2 and 3x3 802.11ac computing solutions also have advanced hardware acceleration functions, developers do not need to upgrade the computer's CPU, the extra computing resources can provide video and multimedia Application deployment such as decoding. In addition, the saved power can make the computer have a longer battery life. If coupled with the characteristics of the solutions in the application products of different blocks, it is believed that the final products of network equipment, computer platforms, and mobile devices can enjoy more comprehensive results.
Qualcomm Atheros' 802.11ac solution features bring additional integration and performance that are also worth mentioning. Taking the highly integrated mobile solution WCN3680 mentioned in this article as an example, the integration of Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac solution with the Snapdragon processor and wireless wide area network (wireless WAN) is not only computational performance. The volume space obtained during the manufacturing process, the overall power consumption performance, the chip footprint, and the total system cost (total system cost) are all immediate integration benefits. Moreover, through a high degree of integration, our 802.11ac wireless and Qualcomm processors have formed a tightly integrated interface and eliminated the SDIO interface to reduce the overall performance of only transmitting WLAN signals within the chip and reduce the discount of discrete circuits. Loss, so that the actual transmission performance has a greater improvement.
As for the high-speed transmission characteristics of 802.11ac, data transmission can be completed in the shortest duty cycle. If combined with the above Qualcomm Atheros design reference, compared with the original 802.11n solution, it can even achieve The overall effect of "horse running and eating less grass". For products that require better transmission performance, if a 3x3 design is used, in addition to reaching a speed level of up to 1.3Gbps. In the general use case, the metaphor of racing and road can be used to describe a road that is spacious enough (ie: capacity) and a very stable road runway (ie: stability necessary for communication). For high-resolution audio and video applications that value high video quality and smooth frame rate, it is even more helpful to enhance the user's multimedia experience.
Conclusion: The beautiful new world of 11ac is just around the corner
With the gradual completion of various solutions of chip manufacturers, coupled with the entire environment's desire for bandwidth, under the pressure of the demand for wireless Internet devices of all sizes, the industry is moving towards the era of 802.11ac sooner or later. In the past, I believe that in the past, facing the experience of 802.11a / b / g / n, we should be very sure that the beautiful new world of 802.11ac is just around the corner.
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