Qorvo’s Wi-Fi front-end modules and BAW filters implemented for 802.11ax transition

Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) says that customers are implementing its recently released portfolio of Wi-Fi front-end modules (FEMs) as part of the migration to 802.11ax. The firm adds that its new 2.4GHz and 5GHz FEMs, and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, provide the high throughput and thermal efficiency that are central to high-density 802.11ax Wi-Fi connectivity.

“Qorvo’s Wi-Fi FEM and BAW filter products are examples of the RF components which will be required to enable the developing 802.11ax standard and help Wi-Fi manufacturers realize the benefits of increased capacity and broader coverage indicative of 802.11ax,” comments Brad Shaffer, senior analyst, Mobile Devices & Networks at IHS Markit.

“Our customers are seeing first-hand how Qorvo technology is improving capacity and supporting multiple, high-performance Wi-Fi applications operating simultaneously in the same space,” says James Klein, president, Qorvo Infrastructure and Defense Products (IDP). “We are expanding our Wi-Fi portfolio across retail, enterprise, service provider and set-top-box markets, and will support the earliest market releases of 802.11ax solutions.”

The 802.11ax standard will deliver significantly greater capacity – translating into more data, more devices and more services – over different frequency networks. In 2016, ABI Research forecasted that 802.11ax will account for nearly 60% of the 21 billion Wi-Fi chipsets expected to ship by 2021.

The most recently introduced Qorvo Wi-Fi FEM family lays the foundation for 802.11ax with its support for 802.11ac and Wave 2 1024QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation). The 5GHz FEMs in the family offer more than 1.2Gbps throughput per stream (with up to eight streams), the highest achievable data rate. These capabilities support the essential requirements of 802.11ax, such as multi-user multiple-input/multiple-output (MU-MIMO), extended range and high throughput, as well as denser-capacity orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) modulation. Qorvo adds thst its BAW technology addresses thermal concerns, harmonic compliance and band-edge performance to enable broad power transmission across the full allocated spectrum, enabling maximum range and reliable throughput for Wi-Fi applications.