MIMO

Proxim claims new 802.11n solution is faster and cheaper

Lynnette Luna — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:35:10 -0500

Broadband network vendor Proxim announced an 802.11n solution it says is the first to achieve 320mbps of throughput on a dual-radio design, which results in an 802.11n network that costs roughly half the price of competitors.

"When we were engineering this 802.11n product, Proxim definitely considered whether or not we should adopt the centralized WLAN model employed by most of our competitors," said a company spokesman. "In the end, though, we determined that, with the increased throughput of 802.11n, having a centralized controller in the WLAN becomes a huge bottleneck and introduces a lot of incremental costs to the end user."

This centralized architecture combined with the ability to use existing power over Ethernet (PoE) infrastructure to power its dual-radio 802.11n access points, results in significant cost savings, Proxim said. Moreover, the company claims it offers nearly double the transmit power of its competitors, which doubles the range of competitors' solutions.

Other enterprise WiFi vendors have said two 802.11n radios require 15W, which is a higher power requirement than what can be delivered over PoE. Others have come up with various solutions to deal with the power problem, including using fewer antennas or proprietary PoE. Earlier this year, Siemens said it was able to deliver dual-radio, 3x3 MIMO 802.11n functionality while remaining compliant with the wattage limitations of PoE.

For more:
- take a look at this release

Related articles:
Siemens says analyst confirms power-over-Ethernet 802.11n claims
Proxim announces quarterly results, looks for alternatives for Harmonix Division

More perspective on mobile WiMAX certification

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Last week the WiMAX Forum announced the first mobile WiMAX products to receive a certified seal of approval. Four base stations and four subscriber units for the 2.3 GHz band were approved from Posdata, Runcom Technologies, Samsung Electronics and Sequans Communications.

But these products only received Wave 1 certification, which doesn't include the features such as MIMO that operators are asking for. WiMAX chip maker Beceem has said the move has little practical benefit since operators want Wave-2 certification, and it saw no point in building Wave 1 products.

"... Due to the misleading statements about the impact of this Wave 1 certification it is important to point out that [this] certification means 'conformance testing', which can not be confused with product performance and interoperability testing, which operators really and only care about," the company said in a statement emailed to FierceBroadbandWireless.

Current Analysis' Peter Jarich, however, had a different perspective on the WiMAX Forum's move. "We are taking a positive stance on the WiMAX Forum's certification of initial mobile WiMAX products," Jarich wrote in a note. "Where operators have been launching 802.16e-based products for a while, certification (and the interoperability it promises) is expected to drive additional interest in the technology along with new network launches and network expansions. And, while the certifications are based on a 2.3 GHz profile (Wave-1) that may have limited global value, they do pave the way for the Wave-2 certifications most WiMAX operators have been eagerly awaiting."

Related articles:
Xanadoo upgrading to mobile WiMAX Report on Xanadoo's WiMAX upgrade
On the Hot Seat with Ron Resnick Report on WiMAX Forum's Ron Resnick

Vendors work to speed up existing data technology

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

With all the hoopla surrounding WiMAX and LTE as the future at this week's CTIA 2008 show in Las Vegas, vendors don't want us to forget HSPA and even EDGE.

Ericsson plans to demonstrate downlink speeds of 42 Mb/s over a 5-megahertz channel using HSPA evolved equipment with the addition of MIMO technology. The new architecture is expected to become commercially available this year. For some time Ericsson, which hasn't boarded the WiMAX train, has been heavily pushing HSPA, likely hoping that by providing improvements, operators won't be tempted to deploy WiMAX before LTE comes along. For the past year Ericsson has been doing everything it can to make HSPA attractive for a while.

In October, the vendor introduced infrastructure and device platforms for WCDMA/HSPA in the 2.6 GHz frequency band, where new licenses for wireless broadband services are becoming available globally. Most view that band along with the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz as bands ripe for WiMAX growth. Ericsson also announced its first HSPA module for laptops and other client devices, aiming for 50 percent of notebook computers to adopt HSPA modules by 2011. In September, Ericsson introduced the U335 WCDMA mobile platform designed to enable handset providers to create mass-market HSPA multimedia devices capable of offering services such as mobile TV, mobile video blogging and other services that require both high uplink and downlink data speeds.

Of course, Ericsson has another good point. Not every operator can get their hands on additional spectrum to deploy WiMAX or LTE, which will require a significant amount of spectrum to achieve the extremely high data speeds that the technology's proponents tout.

Meanwhile, Nokia Siemens Networks announced last week an upgrade to EDGE technology that doubles its speed. The new software, known as Dual Carrier EDGE, improves the speed to 600 kbps over existing GSM/EDGE networks. NSN said that its new Dual Carrier EDGE technology, which will be available as a software upgrade beginning in the third quarter, is part the company's strategy to promote EDGE as a true mobile broadband technology.

No doubt EDGE would be dying right now if it wasn't for the popularity of the iPhone in the U.S. and Europe. It has been seen that the iPhone's support of EDGE is the primary flaw of the iPhone since the sophisticated capabilities of the device can't be fully exploited by an EDGE network with sparse access to WiFi.

But the iPhone still flies in the face of what operators around the world are trying to do: make money from 3G. They are looking for innovative ways to persuade customers to adopt services on these higher speed networks to monetize their investments and deliver data services at a more cost-effective price point. Move into the WiMAX or LTE realm, and it's about providing a broadband Internet experience quite cheaply, something that is not affordable even on today's fastest 3G networks. Now apply the iPhone on a 2.5G network, and it's a step back. Will speeding up an inefficient network do the trick?--Lynnette

P.S. The Fierce editorial team will be bringing you all the news from CTIA Wireless. I'll be there along with Editor-in-Chief Sue Marek, Brian Dolan and Jason Ankeny. Click here for the latest news from CTIA.

Siemens says analyst confirms power-over-Ethernet 802.11n claims

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

When Siemens Communications announced in January that it had solved the 802.11n power problem by running a system on normal power over Ethernet, there were plenty of skeptics. So this week, Siemens issued a press release stating that test results from independent analyst firm Farpoint Group verify that the HiPath Wireless Access Points do in fact deliver dual-radio, 3x3 MIMO 802.11n functionality while remaining compliant with the wattage limitations of power-over-Ethernet.

Farpoint Group confirmed this capability recently published results of comprehensive lab testing of the Siemens HiPath Wireless AP3620. The firm performed its own tests aimed to verify if Siemens had met the difficult challenge of addressing both the physical power delivery constraints of the IEEE 802.3af PoE and the needs of power-hungry, dual-radio 802.11n APs.

Other enterprise WiFi vendors have said that two 802.11n radios require 15W, which is a higher power requirement than what can be delivered over powered Ethernet. Others have come up with various solutions to deal with the power problem, including using fewer antennas or proprietary power over Ethernet.

Siemens also announced that its new 802.11n HiPath Wireless AP has received the WiFi certified seal of approval for 802.11n draft 2.0 from the Wi-Fi Alliance.

To read more about the Farpoint Group's findings:
- check out this release

Related article:
Siemens says it solved 802.11n power problem Report

Alcatel-Lucent, NEC join forces on LTE

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:59:56 -0500

Alcatel-Lucent and NEC announced they will join forces to develop LTE and wireless broadband infrastructure gear. Specifically, the two firms, which have already collaborated on an LTE trial, will pool their R&D on MIMO (multiple in/multiple out), OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) and other IP technologies. Both companies said that by teaming on their efforts they will speed deployment of LTE, which they expect to have commercially available in 2009.

This venture will likely impact operators such as Verizon Wireless and NTT DoCoMo. Lucent is currently involved in an LTE trial with Verizon Wireless and NEC is working with NTT DoCoMo on its Super G LTE trial.

The two companies say they will contribute equally to the R&D budget for this collaboration and it will be jointly managed. However both companies will be responsible for the fulfillment and execution of their network technology with their respective customers.

It's certainly an offensive move given the fact the LTE landscape is expected to be even more competitive than current generation competition. Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE are vying to get a strong hold in the global infrastructure market.

To read more about Alcatel-Lucent and NEC joining forces for LTE:
- check out this release

Related articles:
Alcatel-Lucent and LG complete LTE call Report
The 4G buzz is growing Editorial

Qualcomm reveals LTE chip plans

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

Qualcomm announced plans to ship its first multi-mode Long Term Evolution (LTE) chipsets in the second quarter of 2009, expanding both its device and base-station chipset roadmaps to include LTE and three multi-mode mobile data modem chipsets to enable UMTS and CDMA2000 operators to upgrade to LTE and have backward compatibility to their existing 3G networks.

Qualcomm said the chipsets will support both FDD and TDD duplex modes and will support peak data rates of up to 50 Mbps on the downlink and 25 Mbps on the uplink.

Qualcomm also announced that Hutchison 3G, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Telstra have all agreed to trial the chip maker's HSPA+ chipsets later this year. The operators will use Qualcomm's MDM8200 chipset, which includes 64-QAM HSDPA for 21Mbps downlink data rates and 2x2 downlink MIMO for 28 Mbps downlink data rates. The expectation is that the high speed technology will be available as early as 2009.

For more about Qualcomm's LTE and HSPA+ plans:
- check out this article from telecoms.com

Related articles:
picoChip, mimoOn develop LTE base station reference design Report
Ubiquitous networks and the path to 4G Report

Siemens says it solved 802.11n power problem

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Siemens said it is launching a WLAN system based on 802.11n that can run on normal power over Ethernet--a feat other players have not managed to do. The vendor says it is using two concurrent radios, both running 3 X 3 MIMO with all the features running at 12W.

Other enterprise WiFi vendors say that two 802.11n radios require 15W, which is a higher power requirement than what can be delivered over powered Ethernet. Others have come up with various solutions to deal with the power problem, including using fewer antennas or proprietary power over Ethernet. Siemens doesn't use any of these approaches but won't divulge much about how it accomplished this capability.

To read more about Siemens' claims:
- take a look at this article from TechWeb

Related articles:
Siemens CEO dropped in scandal fallout Report
ABI: Siemens trumps Microsoft on middleware Report

WiMAX Forum focuses on Wave 2 certification

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

The WiMAX Forum has reportedly canceled the first wave of certification profile testing and moved on to the the second wave of certification requirements along with more certification profiles such as frequency bands and channel sizes, according to a report from Mobile Broadband News. During its third-quarter results conference call, Airspan, a board member of the WiMAX Forum, said the first wave had in fact been canceled and estimated that its first WiMAX Forum certified mobile WiMAX equipment could be given approval by February 2008 with commercial availability six months later. Operators such as Sprint have been vocal about their desire for Wave 2 devices that incorporate MIMO for better performance.

WiMAX Forum officials cited in the article said that Wave 1 testing wasn't canceled and is still in the planning stage but it appears that it will only be reserved for the 2.3 GHz profile in South Korea to support WiBro. The first WiMAX Forum certified products based on Wave 2 requirements, which will use 2.5 GHz spectrum like Sprint uses, are expected to be announced in the first half of 2008.

For more:
-check out this article from Mobile Broadband News

Related article:
- Nortel enters the Wave 2 device market

Smart Antenna Alliance formed to address WiMAX

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:59:54 -0400

Navini, Beceem, Fujitsu and Runcom announced the formation of the "Smart Antenna RF Test" Alliance (SMART) which is designed to promote beamforming and beamformed MIMO, technology included in the mobile WiMAX Wave 2 standard.

"The capacity and coverage benefits of combining beamforming with MIMO are very compelling offering up to double the capacity with twice the coverage of non-beamformed systems," said Sai Subramanian, Navini's vice president of product management. "This Alliance ensures broad availability of CPE devices that have full capability of beamforming and beamformed MIMO."

The SMART Alliance plans to publish a system performance baseline for the smart antenna features adopted by the WiMAX Forum for the 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard.

For more about the SMART Alliance:
- read this article from Mobile Broadband News

ALSO NOTED: Redline and Siemens announce WiMAX interoperability testing; Qualcomm launches Wireless Reach initiative in Sri Lan

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> Redline Communications and Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices announced interoperability testing between their WiMAX Forum certified products. Article

> Scientists at the Georgia Tech Electronic Design Center say the 60-GHz band could one day be capable of transferring large data files over short distances. Article

> Burton Group released a broadband wireless research report comparing 802.11n to Gigabit Ethernet and predicts 802.11n wireless technology will start eroding the wired Ethernet market within the next 24 to 36 months. Article

> Qualcomm announced the launch of its Wireless Reach initiative in Sri Lanka through the opening of a Last Mile Initiative Center in Wennappuwa. Release

And Finally... MIMO is going underwater. Article

ALSO NOTED: picoChip is teaming with Systems4Silicon; Netgear's RangeMax Next Wireless-N Routers received 802.11n draft 2.0 cer

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> picoChip is teaming with Systems4Silicon to support advanced HSDPA and MIMO. Article | Release

> Software Cellular Network Limited, which develops and operates the Truphone mobile VoIP service, applied for an interim injunction against T-Mobile (U.K.) Limited, which is blocking the Truphone client. Release

> Netgear's RangeMax Next Wireless-N Routers received 802.11n draft 2.0 certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance. Release

And Finally... One in three Americans wants an iPhone. Article

NuVisions expands Manhattan WiFi

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:01:34 -0500

Telkonet's subsidiary MST/NuVisions already operates the largest WiFi network in New York City, and last week said it was expanding its coverage. The company offered a demonstration of its network's capabilites during the November 5th New York City Marathon. Frank Matarazzo, president of MST/NuVisions said: "The growth and demand we've seen in the last few months is a testament to our WiFi network's potential and our proven track record in delivering a robust WiFi service that is capable of supporting the full range of user experiences and meeting a diverse range of private and public requirements."

The NuVisions WiFi network delivers high-speed Internet, remote access to enterprise systems, entertainment devices, WiFi-enabled smart phones and VoIP applications. The network uses MIMO technology, and as Glenn Fleishman notes, "A WiFi network equipped with MIMO can send data at higher speeds over greater distances"; he added that the signal could travel "two to 10 times farther than traditional WiFi." NuVisions charges users who are not in-building subscribers $10 for 10 hours and $30 per month for access.

For more on the Manhattan WiFi network:
- see Sam Gustin's New York Post report
- and this press release
- also see this NuVisions' map for network coverage

ALSO: Read this for more news on NYC WiFi.

SPOTLIGHT: More draft-n products

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:01:33 -0400

Linksys is showing its draft 802.11n wireless products, based on the IEEE draft 802.11n standard, thus joining Netgear and Buffalo Technology as vendors with draft-n products. Linksys said its Wireless-N Broadband Router (WRT300N, about $150) and Notebook Adapter (WPC300N, about $120) are available at BestBuy.com, with other locations to be available shortly. The company says the new equipment offers up to four times the range and up to 12 times the throughput of its wireless-g products. As was the case with its earlier SRS product, the new Wireless-N offerings use MIMO technology to transmit two streams of data simultaneously over multiple channels. To support the draft specification, Linksys says its products will provide mixed-mode operation and backward compatibility with 802.11g and 802.11b products. Report

Netgear settles suit over exaggerated WiFi speed claims

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:01:38 -0500

Even allowing for the typical embellishments in advertising, Netgear's claims about the performance of its pre-802.11n equipment were always suspect. Some customers found that the suspicion was justified and decided to do something about it: They launched a class-action lawsuit charging the company with exaggerating the data speeds of its WiFi networking devices. The company has agreed to settle these claims.

In its last week's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said it had agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit initiated in June 2004. A second lawsuit, filed in February 2005, was voluntarily dismissed in favor of the 2004 lawsuit. The settlement calls for customers who purchased Netgear wireless devices between January 1999 and November 2005 to receive a 15 percent discount on the purchase of a new wireless device. The agreement must be approved by the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California.

Netgear will change its advertising for WiFi gear to say that the data speeds advertised are the maximum rate but that "actual throughput will vary" depending on different factors. Netgear will also donate $25,000 worth of its equipment to charity as part of the settlement. In its SEC filing the company said that it does not admit any liability and that it "has agreed to enter into this agreement to avoid the further expense, inconvenience and distraction of burdensome and protracted litigation."

For more on the Netgear settlement
- see Grant Gross' IDG report

BACKGROUND: Netgear's claims, and the claims of many other WiFi gear makers, should be taken with a grain of salt. There are two reasons for this--the first has to do with MIMO technology and the second applies to WiFi more generally. The first reason addresses the question under what conditions MIMO technology makes a difference (the Netgear equipment in question was pre-802.11n, using MIMO). Typically, WiFi transmission is hobbled by a phenomenon called multipath: In an obstacle-rich environment the signal bounces off the obstacles (for example, office furniture), in the process generating another reflected signal which causes receivers to become confused. The receivers become confused because the obstacles cause the signal path lengths to be unequal, which results in several time-delayed copies of the information signal arriving at the receiver. The received signal is then the sum of all signals according to their phase relationships, and multipath results in received signals that are spread out in the time domain.

The beauty of MIMO technology is that it exploits the multipath signals to increase throughput. MIMO uses multipath to carry more information, which is recombined on the receiving side by the MIMO algorithms. There is a catch, however: When MIMO wireless is used in an environment without obstacles, the user gains nothing over more traditional WiFi technologies. In an environment without reflections there is no multipath, and MIMO is useless.

The second reason why WiFi gear makers' claims should be treated with caution is that a considerable portion of the WiFi transmission is taken by the set of rules governing the transmission. For example, the sender has to wait a period of DIFS (Distributed Coordination Function InterFrame Space) time of 50 Usec before the channel is presumed clear of traffic. Only then can a Data Frame or a Request to Send frame be sent. The receivers answer to this is with an ACK or Clear To Send, accordingly. The receiver has to wait a SIFS (Short InterFrame Space) time of 10 Usec before this reply is sent, and so it goes. The portion of the transmission which is actually used for the unadorned contents being transmitted is thus smaller than gear makers would typically claim for their equipment.

For a technical discussion of 802.11 throughput:
- see this Web site at Uninett, the Norwegian research network
For more on the multipath problem:
- see this Cisco document
- and Guy Kewney's Newswireless discussion

Netgear shows new MIMO AP

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:01:37 -0500

Netgear is releasing a new wireless AP, the RangeMax 240, which it claims can reach speeds of up to 240 Mbps--faster than the 100 Mbps of wired networks (improvements in Ethernet wired networks, though, can push speeds up to 1 Gbps and faster). The actual speeds of the new AP will likely be slower, especially as more devices are added to the network. Speeds of 100 Mbps, or even a bit slower, would be suitable for streaming music and video and HDTV. Note that in order to achieve these high speeds, all the devices in the WLAN must use the RangeMax 240 system.

The RangeMax kit uses MIMO technology, relying on several aerials on the base station to direct beams to the particular client with each beam, if need be, using different frequencies. The encoding involved in the spatial multiplexing and adaptive channel expansion are proprietary to Netgear, so the real speed enhancement would be achieved only with an all-Netgear WLAN. It is not clear that the Netgear kit will be compatible with the 802.11n standard once it is ratified.

For more about the RangeMax 240:
- see this report

Azimuth offers MIMO channel emulator

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:01:36 -0500

Azimuth Systems is showing what it calls the industry's first MIMO channel emulator for testing WiFi products. The Azimuth Channel Emulator (ACE) 400NB reproduces 4 x 4 multipath environments with channel correlation to test MIMO or single-input-single-output (SISO) implementations. The ACE system is likely the first purpose-built 802.11 test solution which can emulate multipath signals in a controlled environment. Multipath--the reflection of radio frequency (RF) signals in a physical environment--can be difficult to predict and control because of multipath reflections which cause performance deterioration in today's SISO WiFi products. MIMO technology, which will be included in 802.11n, takes advantage of multipath signals to improve product performance. Multipath emulation with correlated channels is required to determine whether MIMO algorithms are working properly and to predict performance of MIMO-based products in a real world environment.

The ACE 400NB is a stand-alone testing platform which includes bidirectional 4 x 4 multipath channel emulation with correlated channels, built-in support for six real-time channel models for typical WiFi scenarios, direct connections to 802.11 devices (no external RF devices required) and GUI-based configuration to select the channel model and TCL script control with one mouse click.

For more on Azimuth's MIMO channel emulator:
- see this report from Test & Measurement World

Renewed 802.11n spec tensions

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:01:37 -0400

The plot thickens. Two weeks ago it appeared that the 802.11n war was over, with the two major warring coalitions agreeing to submit a joint proposal to the IEEE task group. WLAN chip heavyweights Intel, Broadcom, Atheros, and Marvell have formed an informal alliance to jointly submit to the IEEE an interoperable PHY and MAC layers. Conspicuously absent is Airgo Networks, the current leader in MIMO technology, a technology which will be at the core of 802.11n.

Critics of the new group accuse its members of trying to hijack the IEEE standardization process in order to slow down Airgo and blunt its advantage in MIMO. They even charge members of the group with collusion meriting the intervention of the Federal Trade Commission for antitrust violations. Others just worry that Intel and the other members would naturally pay more attention to developing PC chips, neglecting the handset market and its needs. Then there are those who are critical of the group for potentially delaying the the standards process.

Marvell's Paramesh Gopi tried to assuage critics' concerns by saying that the goal was to develop a baseline spec for laptops which would be extensible to other applications, including handsets. "No one is bypassing the IEEE," he insisted. Agere's Aon Mujtabi, chairman of the 802.11n physical-layer group, is unconcerned: "I've seen nothing that would cause alarm."

For more on the new 802.11n skirmish:
- see Patrick Mannion's Commdesigns report

New solution eases WiFi interference problems

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:01:35 -0400

The major concerns about WiFi are security and interference-causing crowded airways. A new technology may well ease the latter anxiety. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Rotani says that its patented AirReferee technology (which the company emphasizes is not a MIMO technology) will allow performance similar to that offered by pre-802.11n/MIMO products already on the market. The technology is especially effective for video and does very well in dense environments in which high interference is a problem. "We're not extending range," says Roc Lastinger, the company's president and CTO. "If you want high bandwidth to work at home or the office, you compensate for the adjacent noise." And compensating for the adjacent noise is something more and more devices will have to do as the number of WiFi products sold continues to grows by leaps and bounds.

AirReferee includes dual antennas working with multiple radios. The antennas are standard, low-cost units, not the fancy phased arrays such as the ones Vivato or Video54 are using. "The reference design we have now has two antennas," says Lastinger. "With antenna coupling, two 11g radios together won't work -- it's only one b/g and one 11a. But today, we can do two 11g radios in one system without interference." The AirReferee software handles all that. The use of sandard, off-the-shelf antenas is one advantage; the second is the fact that the technology will work with WiFi chips from Broadcom, Atheros, and others.

What is more, by staying away from the transport layer, the AirReferee technology allows products using it to be backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g and with current and future 11n/MIMO products. OEMs with commercial designs will have AirReferee products available by October depending on the FCC and Wi-Fi Alliance certifications. The first targeted partners will be providers looking to offer wireless "triple play" (video, voice, data) in the home. In fact, he says, a version of AirReferee exists to handle multi-cast applications like video from a PC media center in a home.

For more on Rotani's solution:
- see Eric Griffith's wi-fiplanet report
- Rotani's website

802.11n compromise in sight

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 20:01:39 -0400

In what may well be a significant breakthrough for 802.11n, the leaders of the two groups advancing competing proposals for the standard's sepcifications have agreed to submit a joint proposal at the next meeting of the working group tasked with elaborating the standard. The meeting will be held in two weeks. In the March meeting of the task group, one of the leading contenders, TGn Sync, won a simple majority over rival WWiSE but fell short of the 75 percent majority required to carry the day. In the May meeting, however, TGn Sync's vote fell to below 50 percent.

Not surpirisingly, Dave Borison of pro-WWiSE Airgo said of the May vote, "The IEEE 802.11n ballot was a good result... It's a wake-up call for both camps. We want to move forward and get a standard in place. Within the next quarter, or two at the most, we will have a compromise." Airgo is the leader in MIMO chipsets, and MIMO technology is central to both proposals. Borison belives that the two proposals could be reconciled quite easily, although some differences may have to be handled as options within the standard. TGn Sync uses 40MHz channels instead of the 20MHz channels, which are the global standard. Each standard also uses different numbers of antennas, and TGn operates in the 5GHz spectrum rather than the 2.4GHz band which WWiSE supporters use.

TGn Sync is led by Agere, Intel, and Atheros; supporters of WWiSE include Conexant, Broadcom, Airgo, and Texas Instruments.

For more on a likely 802.11n compromise:
- see Matthew Broersma's Techworld's report
- check out this Unstrung report

Samsung offers first MIMO-equipped laptops

Tue, 31 May 2005 20:01:35 -0400

Samsung appears to be the first laptop manufacturer to embed MIMO technology in its laptops. The laptops, available as of today, will use chips from Airgo Networks. These chips could, theoretically, increase data rates to 100 Mbps and extend signal range to up to 900 ft. (Airgo says its chips will more likely offer rates of about 45 Mbps.) 802.11g chips transmit data at about 25 Mbps, and offer range of between 150 and 300 ft. Because Samsung does not sell directly to consumers in the US, customers here will have to wait for an embedded solution in laptops.

MIMO technology will be at the heart of the emerging 802.11n standard. Linksys and Belkin already ship wireless routers and NICs which use the Airgo MIMO technology. MIMO has several advantages over current 802.11 technology. It allows two or more distinct signals to be carried simultaneously over the same 802.11 radio channel, thus allowing for more data to be transmitted over the available radio spectrum. It makes connections more reliable, since its radios "listen" to echo radio signals which bounce off walls and other obstacles, and directs radio traffic to the stronger path (a single radio is more likely to drop the conenction of slow down in the echo confusion). MIMO also allows radio trafiic to be sent around walls and other objects.

For more on Samsung's MIMO offering:
- see Marguerite Reardon's CNET report

ANALYSIS: The Samsung deal is illustrative of Airgo's growing lead in the pre-802.11n market. The two proposals for the 802.11n standard now competing for IEEE ratification are both based on MIMO technology. Airgo, the leader of one of the rival camps, says that its version of MIMO-based 802.11n now accounts for about 3 percent of the WiFi consumer products market.