Intersil's 5 GHz Wireless LAN Package

By
iApplianceWeb
(06/19/01, 08:03:32 PM EDT)

Intersil Corporation's newest broadband WLAN chip set, PRISM Indigo, delivers 54 megabit-per-second (Mbps) data rates to meet increasing demand for high-speed wireless connectivity in the enterprise and home.

Using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) technology, the PRISM Indigo is designed to comply with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11a 5 GHz standard.

PRISM Indigo couples high radio performance with low power consumption, enabling a WLAN adaptor card bill-of-material (BOM) cost of about $60.00 based on a chipset price of $35. The complete package includes an FCC-compliant reference design, developer's kit, and application software. Intersil is also developing firmware for PRISM Indigo that will incorporate the IEEE's new security and quality of service (QoS) enhancements for deploying video streaming, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and multimedia-related services for the home and enterprise.

Intersil's 5 GHz, 54 Mbps systems can be installed in parallel with existing IEEE 802.11b-based 2.4 GHz systems with no interference.

"We see 5 GHz as complementary technology to the large installed base of 2.4 GHz systems; the two can coexist with 5 GHz providing higher bandwidth for backplanes, bridging, or sub-networks," said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of PRISM Wireless Products at Intersil.

In the enterprise, PRISM Indigo supports broadband infrastructure applications, including building-to-building wireless bridging and high bandwidth end-user applications, such as video conferencing and multimedia. Intersil's 5 GHz WLAN technology is also well suited for home networking, where 54 Mbps wireless systems based on PRISM Indigo will support simultaneous, multi-channel video, voice, and CD-quality audio throughout the home.

What's in the set?
The PRISM Indigo chip set includes all of the ICs required to implement a 5 GHz WLAN design: Power Amplifier & Detector, Radio Frequency to Intermediate Frequency (RF/IF) Converter, IF to Baseband Converter & VCO (IF/BB) and Baseband Processor/ Medium Access Controller (BBP/MAC).

The ISL3987 is a 3-stage SiGe, 5-6 GHz power amplifier designed to maximize battery life while yielding the transmit power necessary for high performance, 802.11a-compliant, 54 Mbps wireless networking systems while operating in a high-density enterprise environment. The use of advanced micro lead frame (MLF) packaging and SiGe technology leads to smaller size and greater power efficiency.

The ISL3687 is a highly integrated SiGe half duplex RF/IF converter, including synthesizer and VCO. The ISL3687 directly interfaces with the ISL3787 IF/BB converter through a single SAW filter for both transmit and receive functions. The ISL3687 combines all the necessary RF front-end functions into a small form factor MLF plastic package.

The ISL3787 is a half duplex IF-to-baseband converter, including AGC, synthesizer, and on-chip VCO. The ISL3787 connects to the ISL3877 digital BBP/MAC by way of a low IF bandpass interface. The ISL 3787 also utilizes advanced MLF packaging and is manufactured in Intersil's proprietary low-cost UHF2 communications process.

The ISL3877 is a highly integrated, single-chip BBP/MAC for use in IEEE 802.11a standard-based systems. The ISL3877 combines an OFDM baseband processor with an ARM core MAC and has two megabits of on-chip SRAM memory. It has a CardBus32 and PCI interface for miniPCI applications.

The integration of the BBP, MAC, memory, and CardBus32 interface conserves significant board real estate, eliminating large numbers of I/O pins and reducing board complexity, size, and manufacturing cost. The ISL3877 is designed to provide maximum performance with minimum power consumption.

Pricing and Availability The PRISM Indigo 5GHz chip set package will begin sampling in the fourth quarter of 2001 at a targeted price of $35 in 100K quantities.