Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Broadcom will use 802.11ac WiFi

Broadcom Corp. has announced that it is supporting the forthcoming 802.11ac WiFi standard. The company is hoping to replace the current 802.11n standard in its consumer electronics hardware lines with the new standard by the end of 2012.
Rahul Patel, Broadcom's vice president of mobile and wireless told press at a recent briefing that 802.11ac would almost double the range of 802.11n systems, increase the available bandwidth, improved device battery life and exist on the currently far less congested 5Gz spectrum.
802.11ac 802.11ac
The 802.11ac standard also purportedly has better beam forming capabilities, which would make it easier to send content through physical obstacles
Early data on 802.11ac purports that the standard would offer faster throughput, much broader coverage and higher capacity for content streaming, as well as allowing more devices to be simultaneously connected to the network, reducing connectivity deadspots and allowing devices to work for longer without needing to be plugged in.
"802.11ac allows you to take the link budget to new heights," said Patel, explaining that Broadcom believed the standard would take the WiFi experience to a new level, especially in terms of being able to digitally beam HD 1080p content from one's PC, tablet or phone to the TV.
The 802.11ac standard also purportedly has better beam forming capabilities, which would make it easier to send content through physical obstacles like walls. "It allows for better coverage, less interference and higher channel width," he said adding that it was the "much needed plumbing for tomorrow's internet home."
The system, which would apparently be backwards compatible with 802.11n systems, would use a three-by-three antenna operating at 80MHz, allowing for download speeds of around 1.3Gbit/s. This, said Patel, would rise to about 2.6Gbit/s if the channel bandwidth was increased to 160MHz.
Patel posited that 802.11ac would certainly be more beneficial than competing standards like wirelessHDMI or WiGig, owing to limitations in terms of range and being too costly for the mass market.
Broadcom is developing several types of 802.11ac chipsets, which it says will address a broad set of customer segments and CE devices.

Monday, December 5, 2011

NXP released first ARM Cortex-M with integrated USB drivers

NXP Semiconductors introduced the LPC11U2x series – the first microcontroller based on the ARM® Cortex™-M0 processor to offer integrated USB class drivers. By integrating multiple USB drivers in ROM, the LPC11U2x maximizes Flash memory utilization, saving up to 16 KB of code space while providing fully tested and easy-to-use APIs to enable USB integration in a matter of minutes. Microcontrollers are designed with up to 128 KB Flash and up to 4K EEPROM.
The extensible on-chip USB drivers include Human Interface Device (HID), Mass Storage Device Class (MSC), and Communication Device Class (CDC). 

Key Features of the LPC11U2x Series

  • Speeds of up to 50MHz
  • Up to 10KB SRAM and 32KB Flash
  • Up to 4KB integrated EEPROM for storing critical system data, which reduces the overall system footprint and improves security
  • Selectable USART with Smart Card Interface/UART, 2 SSP, I2C (FM+) as serial peripherals
  • 8-channel high-precision 10-bit ADC with ±1LSB DNL
  • 12 MHz internal RC oscillator with 1 percent accuracy over temperature and voltage

Recommended distribution unit pricing in 10,000 piece quantities for the LPC11U23FBD48/301 (48-pin LQFP package) with 24K Flash, 8K SRAM and 1K EEPROM is at US $1.53.



Friday, December 2, 2011

Hello world!

This is where something ends and another begins.