Ethertronics launched its Active Steering EtherChip EC482 designed for multiple-input/multiple-output 5 GHz and Wi-Fi applications.
According to the company, the chip can be integrated into any antenna system and is designed to provide improvements in range and data throughput for video streaming, as well as interference reduction, connection reliability and spectral efficiency.
The company claims the chip enables seamless Wi-Fi offloading capabilities for wide-area network operators and can be battery-powered.
The chip is the first in the EtherChip line to use Ethertronics patented Active Steering technology for Wi-Fi, which uses an active steering antenna, algorithm and RFIC tuning module to match the characteristics of the antenna to the propagation channel for improved network connection capabilities.
Of the Active Steering technology, Ethertronics’ chief scientist Jeff Shamblin said, “Now that we can dynamically control the radiation pattern, not only can we improve the communication link you’re trying to establish, we can start to null out interfering sources, so it brings interference mitigation.”
The technology has applications in the 5 GHz spectrum as well. According to Shamblin, this means a better on-demand video streaming experience for the consumer.
“When we bring active steering antennas to replace passive antennas that are in current devices, you’ll see a higher throughputs,” which he said means, “higher data rates to your laptop when you are sitting in different rooms of your house.”
Ethertronics specializes in design, development and production of antenna systems for smartphones, laptops, tablets, machine-to-machine and medical applications.
According to Shamblin, the company is also looking to release a 2.4 GHz active steering module and a combination 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz module.
The company plans to showcase the EtherChip EC482 and Active Steering solutions at the 2015 Mobile World Congress event to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in early March.
