WiQuest Licenses Tensilica’s Xtensa Processor for Low-Power Wireless USB Chip Design

“We licensed the Xtensa processor because it was the lowest power processor on the market, which is essential for wireless designs,” stated Greg Christison, vice president of Engineering, WiQuest Communications. “We were also impressed with Tensilica’s automated capabilities for configuring the processor. Their tools made it very easy to select and employ just those features we needed for our design. The fact that the software tool chain automatically reflected all of the configuration features we picked was especially important.”

WiQuest is enabling the emerging multi-billion dollar UWB market with their WiMedia technology, which enables universal, high-speed, short-range wireless connectivity between many types of digital products. A single wireless UWB connection can replace the expensive and unsightly cables used to connect consumer entertainment and computing products, providing a simple and easy process to connect devices with each other. The WiQuest WQST110/101 chipset provides extremely high-performance streaming media and file transfers. It is the highest speed UWB product on the market, and fully supports the Certified Wireless USB specification. WiQuest provides the complete solution, including all required application software and drivers, and proven reference designs.

“We are pleased that WiQuest picked Tensilicas processor technology after a very thorough review of all of the processor alternatives,” stated Steve Roddy, Tensilica’s vice president of Marketing. “Their application demonstrates the power-saving and cost-savings advantages of being able to configure the processor for only those features that are needed in a target application.”