June 10, 2008 -- Taiwan's Ralink Technology Corp. has released an 802.11n single chip access point/router SoC [System On Chip] design that includes an integrated five-port 10/100 Ethernet Switch and PHY.
According to the company, the RT3052 is an 802.11 b/g/n, 2T2R [2 Transmit, 2 Receive] single chip with USB OTG, RGMII, SPI, PCM, I2C and UART interfaces; the RT3050 is an 802.11 b/g/n, 1T1R [1 Transmit, 1 Receive] single chip with USB interface.
The SoCs' high level of integration is intended to accelerate time-to-market while reducing development costs for 802.11n AP/router manufacturers. The RT3052's 2T2R architecture delivers data rates of 300 Mbit/sec and maintains wireless connections over a larger coverage area than other 802.11n solutions, contends the company. The RT3050's 1T1R architecture is intended to provide leverage for manufactures who are looking to replace their 802.11g AP/routers with 802.11n platforms.
Succeeding Ralink's previous generation of AP/router intelligent NIC [network interface card] SoCs, both the RT3052 and RT3050 incorporate a more powerful MIPS24KEc processor, which enables processing of such advanced applications such as broadband routing, Ethernet to Wi-Fi bridging, VoIP, online gaming, home entertainment, and others.
"Market is demanding smaller form factor and lower BOM cost for the router devices. Increasing the integration level is the only way to meet the requirement," comments Frank Lu, IC design manager at Ralink Technology. "We are proud to overcome the challenges of heat dissipation and interference among various analog blocks when integrating multiple RF transceivers and Ethernet PHY in the same die."
Technical information for the RT3052 and RT3050 SoCs can be found here. Samples are slated for release in June 2008; pricing is available upon request.
