WiMAX - LOW-POWER CHIP FOR BROADBAND WIRELESS APPLICATIONS
THE ACRONYM "WIMAX (WORLDWIDE INTEROPERABILITY FOR MICROWAVE ACCESS) DESCRIBES A BROADBAND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY THAT APPEARS AT FIRST GLANCE TO BE IN ITS INFANT STAGES. HOWEVER, LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING, AS THE STANDARD UPON WHICH IT IS BASED, IEEE 802.16, IS ALREADY IN ITS FIFTH REVISION (802.16-20049. WIMAX WAS DEVELOPED TO BRING BROADBAND WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY TO END CUSTOMERS IN AREAS WHERE A DSL OR CABLE CONNECTION IS NOT POSSIBLE.
In July 2005, CODICO became the European representative for Canadian manufacturer WAVESAT, and thus the region's first distributor of WiMAX chipsets. Needless to say, CODICO is proud to assume a leading position among Europe's design-in distributors as a result.
WAVESAT, established in 1993 as a developer of broadband components, is no stranger to the wireless technology sector. From its inception, the company has successfully developed solutions for the wireless data transmission market. In 1997, WAVESAT began exploring OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) concepts, thereafter increasingly concentrating on high-capacity data transmission processes including a growing focus on NLOS (Non Line of Sight) solutions. By the time the IEE 802.16-2004 standard was finalized, WAVESAT had already developed its fifth generation of OFDM chips for production, and was supplying them to industrial customers around the globe. The DM256, an OFDM PHY, is thus WAVESAT's 6th-generation OFDM chip, and conforms to the applicable standards.
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With this background, WAVESAT has a decided competitive advantage on the emerging market for WiMAX components, even over such industry giants as Intel and Fujitsu.
In April 2005, at the Broadband Wireless World trade show in Las Vegas, WAVESAT and the Canadian chip manufacturer, ZARLINK, demonstrated that the WAVESAT chipset and reference design in combination with ZARLINK's CESoP processor technology supported the transport of E1 and T1 streams across a WiMAX access network. The combination of ZARLINK CESoP technology and WAVESET's WiMAX chipsets in both the base station and subscriber equipment permits circuit-switched data traffic, together with associated timing and signaling information, to be converted into Ethernet packets for seamless transport across a packet network.
WAVESET's DM256 implements the IEEE 802.16-2004 wireless MAN-OFDM PHY layer protocol, and is designed for use as the main component in OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) modems for wireless access to local and wide area networks. The PHY has 2 basic functions: to convert incoming data in such a manner where the output is either a baseband I/Q signal or a programmable IF signal (real or complex) that is fed to the RF section for transmission, and, in the case of data reception, to convert the incoming signal (either baseband I/Q or programmable IF) back into a data stream that can be recognized by the connected processor. The DM256 furthermore implements OFDM synchronization methods, as well as methods for compensating the level between channels. Synchronization is performed on both a frequency and timing basis.
WAVESAT's evolutionary WiMAX series consists of a complete family of standardized integrated circuits, software and a reference kit, which together permit a flexible design, and therefore also a flexible configuration within a network based on the 802.16-2004 standard. The WAVESAT tool kit is available in a 3.5GHz and 5.8GHz version. Both are also suitable for use as modular reference designs that can lead the development of WiMAX devices, as well as supporting them.
CODICO would be pleased to tell you more!
Ondrej Gavura, EXT 953
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