Intel researchers develop CMOS radio supporting 802.11 Wi-Fi standard

Intel Corporation has developed a prototype of an all-CMOS direct conversion
dual-band radio transceiver, capable of supporting every current Wi-Fi standard
(802.11a, b and g), as well as the projected requirements of 802.11n. The
system-in-a-package technology is a significant step toward enabling integrated
CMOS radios that could provide improved wireless capabilities in future Intel
platforms at a low cost.

A future extension to the Wi-Fi standard, 802.11n will more than double the
wireless transfer speed compared to today's implementation. "This
system-in-a-package design uses more low-voltage circuitry than we've ever
used in the past, which means we can integrate it and make it of a lower cost,
while operating at lower voltages and providing longer battery life," noted
Krishnamurthy Soumyanath, Director of Intel's Communications Circuits Research
Lab.

"The variable bandwidth of this solution extends capabilities beyond
today's 20 MHz to 100 MHz. It is expected to support data rates higher than
100 megabits per second that should allow people to enjoy multiple high-quality
video streams concurrently."

Today each device uses a customized radio to connect to a particular network
- for example, a wireless local area network or WLAN based on Wi-Fi
technology. A different device might use a radio developed for a wireless wide
area network or WWAN. In the next few years, Intel expects mobile devices will
contain several different radios so they can utilize many different wireless
communication networks.

One
of the key achievements of this research is keeping the underlying manufacturing
technology tied to CMOS - the technology Intel uses to make all its
microprocessors and other computer chips. By doing so, it keeps manufacturing
costs low and the potential to produce this capability in high volume.

The device in the research paper features a 1.4-volt design. "By
creating this capability in CMOS, Intel will have the option of integrating
wireless capabilities into a wide variety of our future chips,"
Krishnamurthy said.

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