TMCnews Featured Article

Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) has become the critical common link to achieve seamless connectivity across all devices. As a result, users now demand robust, secure connectivity among all their wireless devices regardless of the data applications they are running.

To meet this demand from users, Marvell, a provider of integrated silicon solutions, announced a powerful transmitter beam-forming technology featuring WiFi (News - Alert), designed to boost throughput performance by up to 20 times over existing video technologies.

The new beam-forming technology will be utilized in the entire family of Marvell (News - Alert) Avastar 802.11n solutions to dramatically improve link robustness for clients ranging from new and existing 1x1- 4x4 MIMO products to legacy devices.

The Marvell Avastar family enables an entire spectrum of always-on consumer products, including tablet computers, smartphones, eReaders, digital cameras, printers, gaming consoles, laptops, personal media players, AP routers, Blu-ray players, automobiles and high-def (HD) television sets, company officials said.

Beam-forming is a specialized method of radio-frequency (RF) transmission used in WiFi access points (APs), according to Marvell officials. The technology substantially enhances signal reception at the client. As a result, it extends WiFi signal coverage by two to four times. Beamforming can also be used between two clients in conjunction with Wi-Fi Direct.

According to Marvell officials, beam-forming outperforms other digital signal processing techniques for range extension like LDPC by at least 6 times.

Marvell's beamforming technology does not require special antennae or any other cost increase of the wireless subsystem. It provides greater than 10dB of perceivable gain in over-the-air tests in home and enterprise environments. This gain, according to company officials, translates to an increased throughput of 2x to 20x depending on the environment.

 “Existing wireless solutions still presents different challenges when it comes to the long range and high throughput required for applications such as HD video streaming,” said Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell, in a statement.

“Marvell raises technology bar with WiFi solutions leveraging beamforming technology, increasing throughput at range and delivering consistent performance at all times, ultimately providing greater user experience with WiFi than what has traditionally been possible,” Dai added.

Dai further said that Marvell's leading WiFi solutions will fundamentally change how the technology is used today and enable a plethora of new applications and innovative products.

Back in August, Marvell announced that it has acquired the intellectual property and assets of Diseno de Sistemas en Silicio S.A. (DS2 (News - Alert)), TMCnet reported. The take-over enables Marvell to provide IP solutions based on powerline technology, the report said.