“Our new chip delivers the highest level of integration yet achieved in the Mobile WiMAX industry,” said Georges Karam, Sequans chief executive officer. “With both baseband and RF in a single 65nm die, the SQN1210 delivers industry leading low power consumption and high performance in the tiniest of chips, making it truly the best chip available today for mobile.”
The new SQN1210 does not require external DRAM memory. The integrated RF supports TDD and half duplex FDD and covers all three global WiMAX bands, 2.3, 2.5, and 3.5 GHz. The SQN1210 also supports 2 Tx, as specified in Release 1.5 of the WiMAX system profile, enabling uplink MIMO, a feature unique to Sequans that can nearly double cell coverage.
“Sequans’ SQN1210 single die solution marks a watershed event in the progress and maturity of the WiMAX ecosystem,” said Robert Syputa, partner and senior analyst, Maravedis. “The chip convincingly demonstrates that silicon to enable mobile devices and CPEs is no longer an obstacle to widespread adoption. This should be a signal to device manufacturers and operators to move forward to exploit markets despite the cautious economic environment.”
Feature highlights of the company SQN1210 SOC for Mobile WiMAX mobile stations:
65 nm single die, baseband and triple band RF;
Supports 2.3-2.4, 2.5-2.7, and 3.3-3.8 GHz bands;
TDD and H-FDD;
Supports 2 Tx and uplink MIMO;
Ultra low power consumption;
<350 mW in active mode with fully loaded MIMO traffic and
<0.5 mW in standby mode.
Maximum likelihood MIMO performance;
High throughput > 40 Mbps;
Supports H-ARQ, up to category 4;
Allows full reuse of prior version software;
Ready for WiMAX Forum Certification.
“This new technology gives both manufacturers and operators an edge,” said Karam. “It provides the basis for the sleek and highly efficient Mobile WiMAX devices that one expects for 4G and it significantly improves operator business cases.”
