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Atheros Communications' XSPAN AR9002AP dual-radio router platform leverages single-chip 802.11n technology to deliver up to 600 Mb/s throughput. The system has been integrated on a single, compact circuit board that requires up to 50 percent fewer components than competitive solutions on the market.
The AR9002AP puts both 2.4 GHz and 5-GHz radios on the pc board. That and other aspects of its high level of integration significantly lowers the cost of dual-concurrent routers and provides access to the complete Wi-Fi spectrum.
The platform is targeted at the home networking market, which has experienced a rise in the number of attached devices such as media players and set top boxes. Atheros is demonstrating its new XSPAN platform at COMPUTEX in Taipei, Taiwan, June 3-7, 2008, in its technology suite at the Grand Hyatt Taipei.
The AR9002AP platform features Atheros' AR9220 and AR9223 11n single-chip radio/MAC/BB designs to support the 5 and 2.4 GHz bands, respectively.
The core of the AR9002AP platform is Atheros' AR7161 high-performance, 680 MHz wireless networking CPU. The platform also offers Atheros ETHOS AR8216 Fast Ethernet or AR8316 Gigabit Ethernet switch options.
The AR9002AP delivers on the promise of 802.11n by efficiently distributing bandwidth- hungry multimedia content while also supporting data applications on the home network.
This capability is achieved through concurrent operation in both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, which each provide 300 Mbps PHY rates. The combined bands also enable access to the full spectrum of 27 non-overlapping WLAN channels.
With simultaneous operation in both bands, the router can rely on the relatively interference-free 5GHz band to support latency-sensitive, high-bandwidth applications like HD video streaming, while off-loading latency-tolerant data transmissions such as email and Internet browsing to the more interference-prone 2.4GHz band.
This delegation of applications also allows the 2.4GHz band to support legacy 802.11g Wi-Fi devices, which can slow down 11n networks, leaving the 5GHz band free to provide the optimized 11n performance required for smooth media transmissions.
"As the variety and number of devices on the home network expand, it is important that wireless LANs be future-proofed for high-capacity, universal connectivity," said Todd Antes, vice president of wireless networking and computing for Atheros. "The AR9002AP will enable a new generation of dual-radio products which can efficiently multi-task, sharing capacity for media content and data applications throughout the home."
Enhanced throughput of typical 11n routers offers only part of the solution, the effective management of that capacity is required to ensure a quality user experience.
The AR9002AP platform is the first to offer iQUE, Atheros' new quality of service technology suite for wireless networking in the home. iQUE intelligently manages and prioritizes network traffic from the wide area network (WAN) and on the WLAN to optimize the utilization of network capacity.
On the WAN, Atheros iQUE technology employs classification and prioritization algorithms, which analyze packets transmitted or received over broadband to optimize the flow of content in the home network. On the WLAN, the AR9002AP utilizes several advanced Quality-of-Service (QoS) techniques including video transmission control algorithms and multicast-to-unicast translation to ensure fluid delivery of video and other digital content.
The AR9002AP platform complies with industry standards 802.11e, WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) and WMM PowerSave. It also features Atheros UAPSD (Universal Advanced Power Save) technology, which enhances the battery-life of mobile devices connected to the AR9002AP-based routers.
The AR9002AP solutions is currently sampling to key customers. More information is available at www.atheros.com.
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