Qualcomm Atheros Inc. has started sampling its new WCN3660
combo chip. The WCN3660 offers both Wi-Fi connectivity with
multiple Wi-Fi standards as well as Bluetooth 3.0 and Bluetooth
4.0. This chip also features FM radio frequency band.
"With the launch of the WCN3660, Qualcomm Atheros
is demonstrating its commitment to provide an extensive
connectivity portfolio of discrete, combo and integrated
platform solutions to our smartphone and tablet customers,"
said Amir Faintuch, senior vice president and general manager,
consumer business unit, Qualcomm Atheros. "Qualcomm
Atheros is pleased to help enable a new generation of mobile
devices that connect users to the growing array of must-have
social, media and cloud applications."
The WCN3660 chip features single-stream, 802.11n with dual-band
(2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) operation to enhance mobile wireless
multimedia applications. The chip also supports mobile hotspot
functionality for up to 14 clients with industry standards-based
Wi-Fi Direct for peer-to-peer wireless connections without
an access point present. The WCN3660 also will support the
emerging Wi-Fi Display standard for streaming video directly
from a smartphone or tablet to a Wi-Fi-enabled display or
television.
The WCN3660 chip has an integrated dual-band power amplifier,
transmit antenna switch and on-chip matching circuit, which
allows the chip to meet the most stringent carrier requirements
while minimizing solution size and power consumption. Bluetooth
standards supported by the WCN3660 chip include high-speed
Bluetooth 3.0 for audio streaming and device connectivity,
and low-power Bluetooth 4.0, which is designed to work with
low-power sensors, health monitoring devices and other low
data-rate applications. The FM radio capabilities of the
WCN3660 include support for both FM receiver and transceiver
functionality; worldwide FM band support (76 to 108 MHz);
RDS support for Europe and RBDS support for the U.S.; autonomous
search, seek and manual tuning; and active noise cancellation.
The WCN3660 chip is compatible and directly interfaces
with Snapdragon devices manufactured in the 28nm process,
including the MSM8960, MSM8270, MSM8x30 and APQ8064. It
uses a fully calibrated, wafer-level package smaller than
15mm-squared for direct mounting to a PCB for ease of design
and implementation.
"Qualcomm Atheros is utilizing its systems expertise
to deliver a highly innovative and integrated architecture
for connectivity solutions in smartphones and tablets,"
said David Favreau, vice president of product management,
Qualcomm Atheros. "The new WCN3660 combo chip with
the Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processors provides a powerful
solution for always-connected mobile devices that support
WAN, WLAN and WPAN connections."
The WCN3660 is optimized to work with a broad range of
mobile operating systems including Android, next-generation
Windows and Windows Phone, Palm WebOS and QNX. Samples of
the WCN3660 chip are available now, with a commercial release
scheduled for late 2011.
