Cmos radio packed into processors

Intel has developed a prototype of a single-package radio transceiver supporting all Wifi modes, including emerging 11n, and capable of being made by Cmos manufacturing processes.

Information released didn’t make it clear whether the device was a single chip or a package with passive tuning circuits. But Intel says it goes some way towards having a single device that can tune into any radio network.

All-digital tuning requires massive processing, increasing power drain. But Krishnamurthy Soumyanath, director of Intel’s Communications Circuits Research Lab, said the new package operates at just 1.4v ‘and uses more low-voltage circuitry than we’ve ever used in the past… providing longer battery life.’

He said the modules could support data rates in excess of 100Mbits/sec, enough for multiple high-quality video streams.

Future ‘smart’ aerials could make systems using the device more power efficient. Its use of Cmos technology not only means it can be mass produced at low cost, but also that the radio can be integrated into larger processors, Soumyanath said, after presenting a paper to a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) symposium in Japan.