Broadcom Expands Portfolio of 5G WiFi Chips for the Connected Home

News Highlights:

•5G WiFi with 2X2 MIMO and Bluetooth support improves wireless range and extends integration beyond mobile computing devices.

•New combo chips enable OEMs to rapidly design more power-efficient products for PCs, tablets, TVs and set-top boxes.

•A range of interfaces such as USB 3.0, PCIe and SDIO 3.0 provide OEMs with options to maximize 5G WiFi performance in a range of product segments.

Consumers are streaming more high-definition content across more devices in the home. Broadcom's new 5G WiFi chips, including the BCM4350, BCM43556 and BCM43558, enable OEMs to develop a variety of devices in different form factors designed to meet growing consumer demand for speed, reliability and power efficiency.

Broadcom's new 2x2 combo chips extend our leadership and mark another industry first for 802.11ac technology, said Rahul Patel, Broadcom Vice President, Product Marketing, Wireless Connectivity Combo Group. By offering multiple design options we are enabling more devices to reap the dramatic benefits of 5G WiFi, significantly improving performance in the connected home.

Key Features:

• The new line of 2X2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) 5G WiFi solutions from Broadcom support the following features:

• Transmit beamforming and low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes for robust coverage in a connected home ecosystem, and support for beamformer and beamforming receiver.

• 866 Mbps wireless local area network (WLAN) PHY rate for superior speed.

• Broadcom proprietary TurboQAM for 33 percent increase in 2.4GHz speed.

• Broadcom proprietary Channel Smoothing WLAN PHY to increase receiver sensitivity by an average of 2 db across 802.11n and 802.11ac rate.

• BCM4350 is a combo chip designed specifically for PCs, tablets and set-top boxes, and supports the following:

• PCIe and SDIO3.0 interfaces for high-performance, low-power consumption PCs, tablets and set-top boxes.

• Low-power modes to optimize battery life.

• Support for Microsoft Windows and Android operating systems.

• Integrated Bluetooth 4.0 for set-top boxes to assist in voice search, audio streaming and gestural remote control for navigation and gaming.

• Multiscreen content sharing from mobile platforms directly to TV.

• Whole-home DVR functionality, browsing, gaming and Over-The-Top (OTT) content services.

• BCM43556 (standalone 5G WiFi) and BCM43558 (combo with 5G WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0) are next generation chips designed for PCs, digital TVs and set-top boxes and feature the following:

• USB 3.0 support for more than two times data throughput than previous generations, plus power save modes to extend battery life.

• Full compatibility with latest PC platforms, including Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows 8.

• Seamless interoperability with 5G WiFi-based routers and 5G WiFi-based digital TV platforms.

Availability
Broadcom's new 5G WiFi solutions are now sampling with early access customers, with full production expected in the second half of 2013.