Development Kit Provides WLAN for Battery-Operated Devices

According to Dell'Oro Group reports, wireless LANs are increasingly used to distribute "triple-play" services (data, voice, and video) in the home. Dell'Oro forecasts shipments of residential DSL gateways with wireless LAN capability to triple from 2005 to 2008, rising from 10 to 30 million. To capitalize on this trend, consumer electronics companies should look to incorporate wireless capabilities in their products to connect to these fast growing networks.



TI brings what it says is a unique approach to the emerging CE market, offering complete development platforms for manufacturers to embed Wi-Fi in their devices. The company has enabled leading broadband providers to add WLAN to their DSL, cable and voice products and is extending this systems-level approach to CE.



Products leveraging TI's recently announced CE WLAN DK 1.0 for stationary and 2.0 for portable applications enable consumers to enjoy the most robust Wi-Fi experience regardless of their location. TI technology allows users to easily configure their WLAN and exchange audio and video files or other

data wirelessly between devices like PMPs, without the fear of dropped signals or loss of battery power.



Manufacturers looking to embed Wi-Fi benefit from TI's development platform approach. These systems-level tools include host processor support, the CE WLAN DK 2.0 and access to TI's third party network. This approach enables OEMs to focus on their core applications, accelerating their development time from design through production and reducing integration issues.



TI's CE WLAN DK 2.0 is built to interface directly with leading processor platforms using an SDIO interface such as OMAPTM processors and processors based on DaVinciTM technology. The CE WLAN DK 2.0 is available as part of the platform and comprises a hardware reference design, WLAN chipset and software driver package. The kit is tailored for portable applications and optimized for performance, coverage, battery life and size.



The CE WLAN DK 2.0 features enable best-in-class performance and range, while also enabling longer battery life. The kit delivers 50 percent greater throughput and twice the range of competing solutions. The SDIO interface has been maximized to deliver 20+ Mbps throughput to the host

processor while consuming minimum host resources. The solution also features receive sensitivities better than -75dBm at 54 Mbps OFDM. Portable applications can adjust the output power to maximize reach or minimize battery use with variable output power from 6 to 16 dBm.



TI's WLAN subsystem features a small form factor ideal for portable applications. Manufactured in 90nm advanced RF-CMOS process, the subsystem is 11mm x 11mm x 1.5mm and includes the media access controller (MAC) baseband (BB) processor /radio, power amplifier, battery power management,

EEPROM, crystal and band pass filter and associated remaining bill of materials (RBOM). The RBOM is just 22 components, a third of competing solutions.



In addition to TI platforms, manufacturers can leverage the company's partner network to speed development time and further differentiate. Portable partners include eSOL, Ittiam, Ingenient, JorJin who offer products from simple operating system (OS) ports to complete end-equipment reference

designs.