Power amp shows up in reference design

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team May 28, 2003

Broadcom has selected SiGe's RangeCharger 802.11b/g power amplifier to boost performance of high-speed WLAN products.

Broadcom has selected SiGe's RangeCharger 802.11b/g power amplifier to boost performance of high-speed WLAN products.

SiGe Semiconductor's SE2529L power amplifier has been integrated into some of Broadcom's latest 54g reference designs, which allow OEMs to easily implement high-speed wireless devices including 802.11b/g client solutions, access points, routers, cable modems, and GPRS cellular handsets.

The announcement comes as SiGe Semiconductor accelerates its strategy to support the growing market for high-speed WLAN access.

The 802.11g (draft) specification is quickly gaining momentum for hotspot, home, enterprise and SOHO environments.

Able to support data rates of 54Mbit/s in the 2.4GHz frequency band, the technology provides five times the speed of 802.11b networks, while maintaining backward compatibility with the large installed base.

SiGe's roadmap to address this market includes power amplifiers and power amplifier modules that meet all of the requirements of multimode, multiband products supporting 802.11b/g and 802.11a systems.

"Collaborating with an industry leader like Broadcom secures our position among leading suppliers of WLAN power amplifiers, and provides us with access to a large potential customer base for 802.11g", said Bill Cuming, Vice President, Product Marketing, SiGe Semiconductor.

"The combination of our components in a complete and easy-to-implement design platform also provides customers with a tremendous revenue opportunity by being among the first to market with high-performance 802.11g products".

RangeCharger power amplifier boosts throughput, transmission range Broadcom's 54g reference designs demonstrate the ability of SiGe Semiconductor's power amplifiers to achieve high throughput and transmission range at data rates up to 54Mbit/s.

SiGe's SE2529L provides +19dBm output power with an EVM of less than 3%, while fully complying with FCC and 802.11g requirements.

The superior radio frequency (RF) performance allows consumers to enjoy faster access and transmission over greater distances.

"As Broadcom drives the transition to high-speed wireless networking, reference designs are a critical resource for customers designing systems based upon our 54g products", said Timothy Robinson, director hardware engineering for Broadcom's home and wireless networking business unit.

"We carefully choose suppliers like SiGe Semiconductor to deliver high-quality components and offer application assistance that enable our customers to build the best possible wireless solutions".

54g is Broadcom's maximum performance implementation of the IEEE 802.11g draft specification.

Broadcom's 54g reference designs are designed for optimal throughput, range, signal sensitivity and price/performance ratio.

The reference designs feature all of the software, firmware and hardware required for design and manufacture of next generation wireless systems.

The 54g reference designs, as well as customer products based on the reference designs, have achieved Wi-Fi 802.11b certification for 802.11b interoperability.

The Wi-Fi certification demonstrates that wireless LAN products based on 54g technology are completely compatible with existing 802.11b products, while providing nearly five times the bandwidth when operating in 54g-only environments.