Imagination bases iEW400 on Ensigma Wi-Fi technology
IP from Imagination and based on its Ensigma Wi-Fi technology is intended for low- and battery-powered applications based on the IEEE 802.11ax/Wi-Fi 6 standard.
IMG iEW400 delivers integrated RF and baseband performance for IoT devices as well as wearables and hearables, says Imagination Technologies.
IP includes integrated RF, AFE, baseband PHY and MAC. It is supplied as hard macro for analogue and synthesisable RTL for digital, enabling maximum flexibility and the fastest time to market along with reduced development costs.
It is available for licensing now. The 2.4/5GHz low-power Wi-Fi IP is silicon-ready, with a 6.84mm2 die area, including analogue pads, in TSMC 40nm LP. It has internal power amplifiers, low noise amplifier and switch and supports station, Soft AP and Wi-Fi Direct operating modes
For the IEEE 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 standard, it has new features, including 20/40MHz operation to enable low-data-rate applications to conserve battery power. The Target Wake Time (TWT) feature extends deep-sleep periods, to “dramatically improve” current consumption and extend battery life, adds the company.
Another feature is orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA). This enables bandwidth to be segmented to efficiently transmit data, to reduce power consumption, while improving robustness and data throughput.
Basic Service Set (BSS) colouring is claimed to increase robustness in dense environments to improve data throughput and dual sub-carrier modulation (DCM) increases robustness for low data rates. An upper MAC is optionally available to offload work from the host processor and reduce total system power consumption. Another tool to help reduce power consumption is an optional power management unit (PMU) which supports 2.7 to 4.5V DC supply.
According to Richard Edgar, senior director of product management, Imagination Technologies, The IEEE 802.11ax standard will improve power consumption and efficiency of battery powered applications currently based on low-power IEEE 802.11n devices. He describes low power Wi-Fi 6 devices as the next step in the evolution of Wi-Fi in battery-constrained applications.
Gerry Conlon, executive vice president Ensigma, Imagination Technologies, adds: “Wi-Fi 6 IP . . . [provides] integrated RF and baseband from a single source . . . it can be paired with our Bluetooth Low Energy solutions for a true Wi-Fi 6 plus Bluetooth Low Energy v5.2 combo IC.”
