TAIPEI, Taiwan – Qualcomm Atheros Inc., Qualcomm’s networking and connectivity subsidiary, is showing off several next-generation wireless chipset technologies this week at the Computex Taiepei 2011 conference in Taiwan.
Qualcomm Atheros, which makes dual-band Wi-Fi in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, plays mainly in the consumer electronics space, where it specializes in providing interference-free bandwidth with minimal latency.
At this year’s show, Qualcomm Atheros says it will be demonstrating “new innovations” which add to the company’s expertise in 5 GHz Wi-Fi, as well as new “Hy-Fi” products that enhance HomePlug powerline and Ethernet connectivity. These, it says will ensure HD content delivery to fixed and mobile devices in the challenging coverage areas in the home using Smartlink, which transfers data across all three electrical wires — line, neutral and ground.
The firm’s most recent chip, the AR9374, is a single-chip, dual-band 802.11n MIMO product that uses both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. This gets used in anything from connected TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, digital media adapters, home network-attached-storage, speakers, game consoles and wireless audio products.
“With an increased number of Wi-Fi devices crowding the 2.4 GHz band and the growing abundance of HD-quality media content, consumers need the benefits of the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band more than ever for uninterrupted downloads and smooth content streaming throughout the home,” Qualcomm Atheros told press at Computex.
The firm also claims that the AR9374 offers high bandwidth with 40 MHz transmissions to support very high data rate applications “without the limitations associated with previous Wi-Fi standards.”
Demos at the show include peer-to-peer video streaming from PC to TV using the AR9374 and AR6004 dual-band, dual-stream 802.11n products as well as HD video streaming from a tablet to a TV using the AR6003 single-stream 11n.
