Product category:
Communications ICs (Wired)
News Release from: Intersil | Subject: ISL3873 and ISL3874
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 23 May 2001
Baseband and MAC in one for embedded
wireless
The world's first integrated wireless baseband processor (BBP) and medium access controller (MAC) in a single-chip are now available in full production from Intersil.
The world's first integrated wireless baseband processor (BBP) and medium access controller (MAC) in a single-chip are now available in full production from Intersil The new integrated BBP/MACs are ideal for compact embedded IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN applications in portable and mobile PCs, PDAs and other mobile communication devices using small form factor mini-PCI, Compact Flash, USB and single-sided PCMCIA WLAN cards
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Intersil's new BBP/MACs integrate both mixed signal and digital functions that previously required two ICs.
The integration saves significant board space, eliminates a large number of I/O pins and reduces board complexity, size and manufacturing cost.
Improvements made in the architecture have also enabled the replacement of expensive, large footprint Flash memory with a smaller less expensive EEPROM, resulting in a lower cost solution.
The EEPROM's small size saves board space enabling the design of smaller form factor embedded solutions using USB and mini-PCI WLAN cards for ices.
Two versions are available.
For PCMCIA and USB applications, the ISL3873 BBP/MAC integrates the high performance of the existing HFA3863 baseband processor with the reliability of the HFA3842 CHOICE-based MAC.
This results in improved multipath performance and supports wireless Ethernet speeds of 11Mbit/s for use in IEEE 802.11b systems.
It also features firmware configurable PCMCIA and USB interfaces that allows original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to easily add a USB interface to both stand-alone and IEEE 802.11b wireless networking products for the home and office.
The ISL3874 BBP/MAC features a mini-PCI interface which effectively eliminates the need for an external PCMCIA to mini-PCI bridge chip in embedded applications.
The ISL3873 and ISL3874 are available now in full production in a choice of thin plastic BGA packages in either tray or tape and reel formats.
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