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Product category: Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: Texas Instruments (April 2001-March 2006) | Subject: TNETW1230
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 23 September 2003

Chip brings multiple
WLAN standards to handsets

A new low-power compact 802.11a/b/g solution has been designed for mobile, battery powered devices such as cellphones and PDAs

The mobile market is moving to 802.11g to improve battery life as the high-throughput connection reduces transmit and receive times. This equates to as much as three times the battery life compared with using 802.11b in the same device. Dual-band 802.11a/g networking is also becoming increasingly sought after for the mobile market for voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) applications as 802.11a offers increased user density to allow voice and data applications.

TI's TNETW1230 is already designed into several cellphones and PDAs including Motorola's Wi-Fi/cellular dual-system phone.

'The entire WLAN market is quickly moving to 802.11g, which provides higher datarates.

For the mobile space, the migration to 802.11g provides higher speeds and also better battery life for devices like cellphones and PDAs', said Aaron Vance, Industry Analyst, Synergy Research Group.

'TI was the first to recognise the unique Wi-Fi requirements for the mobile market with the introduction of the TNETW1100B last year.

With expertise in mobile wireless and WLAN, TI is well positioned to drive the convergence of cellular, WLAN, and Bluetooth in portable devices'.

The TNETW1230 is a single-chip media access controller (MAC) and baseband processor built in an industry-smallest 12 x 12mm package, ideal for portable devices.

Through TI's ELP technology for low power standby modes that was introduced last year, the TNETW1230 offers an industry-best sub-1mA standby power consumption, which has been highly optimised through TI's extensive mobile/embedded product experience.

As convergence happens in the wireless device market, the TNETW1230 can be combined with TI's OMAP processors, GSM, GPRS and CDMA chipsets and single-chip Bluetooth solution for complete wireless designs that deliver low power, high-performance connectivity in any wireless network.

Leveraging 15 years of wireless expertise, TI offers complete designs for the wireless market providing modular solutions to meet varying device requirements.

The TNETW1230 features several interfaces including VLYNQ, TI's low power, low pin-count serial interface.

Through these interfaces, the TNETW1230 easily connects to TI's OMAP1610, OMAP1611 and OMAP730 application processors and cellular chipsets to develop Wi-Fi/cellular phones and PDAs that enable consumers to use voice and data traffic over either network.

The new 802.11a/b/g processor also connects to TI's BRF6100 single-chip Bluetooth solution as part of TI's Bluetooth-802.11 coexistence package so consumers can simultaneously utilise Bluetooth voice and WLAN data services in the same device.

'TI was the first to recognise the need for specialised Wi-Fi low power modes for the mobile space and has been delivering 802.11b for the mobile WLAN market for over a year.

With the introduction of the TNETW1230, we are migrating with the mobile market to 802.11g and 802.11a/g designs to meet the growing need for higher speed and lower power in cell phones and PDAs', said Marc Cetto, General Manager of TI's Wireless Networking Business Unit.

'Wi-Fi's convergence with cellular is transforming the WLAN market and will change the way people communicate, making enterprises more productive and reducing the amount of devices you need to carry around for communication - and TI is at the heart of it all'.

To address the migration of TI's mobile WLAN customers from 802.11b with the TNETW1100B to 802.11g with the TNETW1230, TI will continue to leverage its modular embedded station developers kit (eSTADK).

The eSTADK was designed to meet the unique requirements of the mobile embedded market and includes programming and hardware design tools, as well as sample reference designs to streamline the development process and accelerate customised designs.

The eSTADK allows manufacturers to easily migrate their TI-based designs from 802.11b to 802.11g.

The TNETW1230 has been sampling since June with early customer designs already underway and is expected to be released to production next month.

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