Skyworks Solutions Inc., an innovator of high reliability analog and mixed signal semiconductors enabling a broad range of end markets, introduced the industry’s highest performance wireless local area network (WLAN) and WiFi-certified power amplifier (PA) to meet demanding high-data rate applications such as wireless high definition (HD) video transmission.
The SKY65137, along with other solutions in this product family, serve as a media gateway, allowing wireless access to a vast array of multimedia content from any room and replacing unwieldy cables currently required in the home. Additional applications include high-performance video gaming, outdoor wide-range access points and extended-range routers.
“Skyworks’ new 5 GHz solution increases the range and data rates of existing conventional WiFi gateways and clients, making it ideal for streaming video wirelessly in the home,” said Irene Song, director of marketing at Skyworks. “We are delighted to be at the forefront of powering a consolidated multimedia console that will allow consumers to wirelessly access their entire entertainment suite from any room.”
Leveraging core technologies, Skyworks linear products portfolio offers diverse standard and custom solutions supporting automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, energy management, industrial, medical, military and mobile handset applications, to name just a few.
Today’s market is driving toward higher performance, higher data-rate wireless standards – particularly for video entertainment networking – which is driving the need for larger and faster data pipes. Channel bonding, which extends bandwidth by bonding two adjacent 20 MHz channels into a single channel, is one means of supporting this requirement. Of the two WiFi frequency bands used today, the 5 GHz band (802.11a/n) supports many more WiFi channels than the 2.4 GHz band (802.11b/g/n), making it more attractive to use for streaming video and other high data-rate applications. Besides 802.11a/n, additional 5 GHz standards such as wireless home digital interface (WHDI) are being used to enable HD video transfer wirelessly in the home.
The SKY65137 is a microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) PA with superior output power, linearity and efficiency. The device is fabricated using Skyworks’ high reliability indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology.
The PA is also internally input-output matched in a 20-pin 6 x 6 millimeter (mm) multi-chip module (MCM) surface-mounted technology (SMT) package, which enables customer ease-of-use and faster time-to-market, allowing for a high-performance solution. In addition, the SKY65137 delivers 24 decibels (dBm) linear output power at less than 2.5 percent error vector magnitude (EVM). This high output power level enables higher data rates at extended ranges.