The low bill of materials (BOM) cost of the reference design is largely attributable to Atmel's AT86RF535A MAX-Link low IF transceiver. The MAX-Link transceiver achieves –34 dBm of TX-EVM, including Balun, exceeding the requirement for WiMAX certification, and has fewer external components than conventional, off-the-shelf 802.16 radios. It includes a bandwidth-programmable integrated channel filter for receive and transmit, complete integrated synthesizer, digital gain setting for the receive path with 96 dB gain range, digital transmit power control with more than 50 dB control range, integrated image rejection and LO leakage digital control settings and detectors. It does not require any external SAW filters.
Unlike dual conversion radios, the AT86RF535A does not require a high-resolution synthesizer. It requires only 10 us to switch between TX and RX modes – a significant savings over the 100us typically required by dual conversion radios. An integrated on-chip programmable synthesizer provides frequency resolution up to the required –30 dB subcarrier certification limit.
The AT86RF535A's supply current is 200 mA in receive mode and 320 mA in transmit mode at –5 dBm including Balun. This comparatively low power consumption reduces the average power requirement of the mini-PCI by more than 30% to just 3.2W.
The high level of integration of the AT86RF535A, combined with its low IF architecture, result in a miniPCI WiMAX end-product that has 20% fewer components and $30 less cost in the BOM than any currently-available reference design.
Atmel's AT86RF535A MAX-Link radio is available now in an 8x8 mm 56-lead QFN package and is priced at $18 in quantities of 10k. Atmel is developing additional MAX-Link radios to be introduced in 2006 and 2007 that will cover the full range of WiMAX frequency profiles. Evaluation kits for the AT86RF535A MAX-Link transceiver are available from Atmel for $2500.
WiMAX is a standards-based technology based on IEEE802.16. One of the primary applications of this technology is enabling the delivery of “last mile” wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL. WiMAX will provide fixed nomadic, portable and, eventually, mobile wireless broadband connectivity without the need for direct line-of-sight with a base station. In a typical cell radius deployment of three to ten kilometers, WiMAX Forum Certified™ systems can be expected to deliver capacity of up to 40 Mbps per channel, for fixed and portable access applications. This is enough bandwidth to simultaneously support hundreds of businesses with T-1 speed connectivity and thousands of residences with DSL speed connectivity. Mobile network deployments are expected to provide up to 15 Mbps of capacity within a typical cell radius deployment of up to three kilometers. It is expected that WiMAX technology will be incorporated in notebook computers and PDAs by 2007, allowing for urban areas and cities to become “metro zones” for portable outdoor broadband wireless access.
About Wavesat
Founded in 1993, Wavesat Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company focused on the development and supply of baseband chips for WiMAX compliant systems. Wavesat is headquartered in Montreal, Canada where it conducts research and development activities. Wavesat is a privately held company. Key investors include BDC Venture Capital, Monet Capital, Lothian Partners, Multiple Capital, Pac-Link Management Corp., Skypoint Capital Corporation, Solidarity Fund QFL and Sunsino Ventures Group. Wavesat is a Principal member of the WiMAX Forumä.
Wavesat received the first WiMAX Forum Certification for a CPE Design. Wavesat was awarded the 2005 Frost&Sullivan Technology Leadership Award and 2005 InfoVision Award for its unique Evolutive™ WiMAX Series.
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