Broadcom Puts Wi-Fi on One Chip

Wi-Fi won't weigh down handheld devices as much starting in the fourth quarter, as Broadcom introduces a single-chip component that provides IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN connectivity.

The company has unveiled its AirForce OneChip, which is already shipping in sample quantities and will appear in devices by the end of the year. Its first appearance will be in personal digital assistants (PDAs), says Jeff Abramowitz, Broadcom senior director of wireless LAN marketing.

IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN technology, offering a maximum carrying capacity of 11 megabits per second, is already available in some PDAs and in add-on devices such as cards that fit in CompactFlash slots. Broadcom says integrating the whole Wi-Fi system into a single chip means less drain on a PDA's battery, as well as a lower cost and smaller size. OneChip consumes an average of 85 percent less power than other Wi-Fi systems on the market, according to Broadcom. Existing Wi-Fi components on handhelds can consume half the battery's power, halving battery life, Abramowitz says.

Future applications of OneChip could include digital cameras, MP3 music players, and Wi-Fi voice over Internet Protocol phones, he adds.

New Arena

The market for Wi-Fi on handheld devices has not been large so far, and Broadcom hopes to seed that market with the new hardware, analysts say.

"Clearly, the hope is that now that this is available, developers of systems that previously wouldn't have looked at wireless LAN...now will look at it," says Joe Byrne, a Gartner analyst.

Gartner is optimistic about the integration of wireless LAN capability into PDAs. But the consulting company is more cautious about its popularity on cell phones, Byrne says.

Cell phones already communicate with a network and increasingly have fairly high-speed wireless data access through technologies such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA2000 1x) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). They also have fairly small screens and limited features for data input, says Michael King, a Gartner analyst. Wi-Fi's higher-speed connectivity could be overkill, he says.

"It's akin to hooking a fire hose up to a drinking fountain," King says.

However, in some situations Wi-Fi would come in handy on a combination PDA-phone, Gartner's Byrne says. For example, an employee who carries that device into a meeting at company headquarters might want to access e-mail over the corporate wireless LAN rather than via the carrier's data network because it's faster and has no service charges.

Intel's Challenge

Also facing Broadcom is the specter of Intel's 109606 Centrino offering for notebooks, which integrates Wi-Fi functionality into the system's main chipset. Broadcom will have limited opportunity to compete against Centrino on the notebook side, which represents the lion's share of the Wi-Fi market. Rather, Broadcom needs to find or cultivate new markets, Byrne says.

Abramowitz says Broadcom's Wi-Fi offerings for notebooks offer higher performance and lower power consumption than does Centrino. Broadcom will keep competing in that market, he says.

Broadcom integrated an 802.11b baseband processor, a power amplifier, a Media Access Controller, and all other radio components, including the 2.4-GHz radio itself, into a single chip. That brings the size of a complete chip module down to 0.58 inch by 1.04 inches, about one-seventh the size of Broadcom's current Wi-Fi module for PCI cards, according to the company.

Other Functions

Besides smaller chip size and greater integration, Broadcom has cut Wi-Fi power consumption with its SuperStandby software. The program wakens the minimum amount of chip circuitry for the shortest possible time to check for incoming data, according to Broadcom. As a result, OneChip consumes 97 percent less power in standby mode than the Centrino chipset for notebooks does, the company says.

Also, OneChip's OneDriver supports several security functions, including Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Cisco Compatible Extensions, and Advanced Encryption Standard, according to Broadcom.

Next, Broadcom plans to apply the lessons it's learned developing OneChip to Wi-Fi modules for notebooks. For PCs, Broadcom is now focusing on faster 802.11g and 802.11a/g technology that is still in the form of multiple-chip solutions, Abramowitz says.

Also, the company expects to announce next week several more advancements, notably in lower power consumption, that will be a boon to those systems as well, Abramowitz says.