Together, these solutions enable a new class of cable modem gateways featuring state-of-the-art wired and wireless connectivity to reliably deliver advanced multimedia services in the home.
Ultimate Platform Flexibility for Faster Time-to-Market:
The resulting platform from this joint effort between Atheros and Texas Instruments’ Cable business unit allows Multiple Service Operators (MSOs) and service providers to easily offer Wi-Fi connectivity on advanced cable modem gateways. With the platform’s industry-leading flexibility, OEMs and ODMs can quickly bring to market new gateways that feature a variety of wireless performance levels while satisfying an array of price requirements. These performance options range from Atheros Align 1×1 solutions, based on the 802.11n single-stream specification, supporting up to 150 Mbps PHY rates for robust data networking, to Atheros’ XSPAN MIMO-based 2×2 solutions, delivering up to 300Mbps for more advanced triple-play services.
By providing a single, common software driver which supports the AR7020 embedded WLAN accelerator in combination with any of Atheros’ 802.11n-based solutions, the company is offering cable modem manufacturers enhanced flexibility and ease of design. This allows manufacturers to seamlessly transition their platform designs, thus reducing product development time, as well as the high costs related to obtaining multiple test certifications.
When ported onto any of the Texas Instruments Puma 5 chipsets, Atheros’ software driver leverages the Puma 5 on-chip advanced packet processing capabilities to deliver a state-of-the-art platform that meets the demanding performance and feature requirements of the cable modem gateway market. The combination of Texas Instruments and Atheros software into a single, integrated stack provides ODMs and OEMs with a robust, pre-validated solution, which supplies yet another advantage in accelerating product development and time-to-market.
Host Offload Capability for Greater Performance:
Atheros’ AR7020 embedded WLAN accelerator features an innovative architecture integrating a 200MHz CPU and system memories, which eliminates the need for external SDRAM and flash modules. The AR7020’s host offloading capability facilitates industry-leading performance by dramatically reducing the need for host processing support for WLAN operation. As a result, the uncompromised host processor delivers enhanced speeds to support higher bandwidth applications, enabling MSOs to offer a richer set of value-added services to end users, such as multiple, simultaneous HD channels and higher throughput for data traffic.
The Atheros AR7020 features PCI, MII, RMII, GMII, and RGMII interfaces, which enable the embedded WLAN accelerator to connect to a variety of broadband networking devices such as the Texas Instruments Puma 5. The AR7020 also employs a PCIe interface allowing for easy connection to any of Atheros’ 11n-based solutions. The various interface options make it possible for manufacturers to develop wireless home gateway platforms to serve the full range of customer premise equipment (CPE) market segments.
“TI’s market-proven Puma 5 DOCSIS 3.0 architecture enables OEMs to develop advanced cable modem gateways that satisfy today’s operators’ design needs, while meeting the growing demand for next-generation multimedia services such as IPTV,” said Adam Lapede, director of marketing, Texas Instruments’ digital connected home business. “Atheros’ technology delivers a robust and balanced feature set, enabling OEMs to take advantage of a smart, low-cost and scalable DOCSIS 3.0 platform that supports operators’ goals of expanding their service offering and driving revenue growth.”
Smart Design Delivers Lowest RBOM Cost:
The newly-enhanced Puma 5 cable modem platform paired with the AR7020 and any Atheros Align or XSPAN 11n solution, features the industry’s highest chip and board integration to deliver market-leading RBOM efficiencies. With its expanded product portfolio, Atheros provides the complete solution set, including the company’s 802.11n WLAN baseband, MAC, radios, embedded WLAN accelerator, and Ethernet switch, to enable cost-efficient, yet high-performance, wireless cable modem gateways. Atheros’ superior silicon integration and expert design result in mature solutions that deliver substantially lower RBOM component count versus competitive solutions.
“Atheros WLAN technology is the ideal complement to TI’s Puma 5 DOCSIS 3.0 cable solutions, enabling manufacturers to easily deliver tiered product lines of wireless cable modem gateways that bring triple-play and next-generation IP services to the digital home,” said Ali Hariri, vice president of Broadband Carrier Networking, at Atheros. “Our joint design effort with TI’s Cable business unit has resulted in a turnkey platform providing maximum flexibility and integration with fast time-to-market advantages for customers designing advanced wireless cable modems.”
Atheros-enabled gateway platforms support the Linux operating system and comply with industry standards WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) and Wi-Fi Protected Setup with Atheros’ JumpStart for Wireless, the company’s simple network configuration software. All of Atheros’802.11n solutions support the WPA2 and 802.11i standards and are designed to ensure secure connectivity utilizing the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Availability:
Atheros AR7020 Embedded 11n WLAN Accelerators are sampling now in cost-effective 10 x 10mm 80-pin lead-free LQFPs (Lead-free Quad Flat Packages).
Atheros is a US-based provider of technologies for wireless and wired communications products.
