Quantenna Communications has announced it is developing a high performance Wi-Fi chip set that will offer speeds up to 10 Gbps in a MIMO configuration using 8x8 antennas. It also offers support for MU-MIMO (Multi-user MIMO).
"Quantenna’s 8x8 architecture with adaptive beamforming demonstrates that the ‘massive MIMO’ promise of significantly higher throughput, robustness, and reduced interference can be realized in practice," said Andrea Goldsmith, Stephen Harris Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. "This architecture will also significantly enhance the capabilities of MU-MIMO, allowing it to support interference-free transmission to many more devices simultaneously. These technology advances will transform the landscape of applications and devices that Wi-Fi can support. As we move into an era of exponentially-growing video usage and the Internet of Things, the 8x8 architecture and MU-MIMO technologies will become essential in all high-performance Wi-Fi devices."
Texas Instruments is incorporating Quantenna technology into its reference platform for enterprise and pico small cell LTE base stations. STMicro is building Quantenna Wi-Fi into a wide range of System-on-Chip (SOC) offerings. Mimosa (the same company requesting that the FCC allocate the 10.0-10.5 GHz spectrum for wireless networking) is using Quantenna Wi-Fi to deliver innovative outdoor wireless solutions.
"Massive MIMO is the future of wireless. Quantenna’s 10G Wi-Fi will empower us to create products capable of enormous scale MU-MIMO, radically increasing the number of subscribers and the capacity of our customers’ networks," said Mimosa chief executive officer Brian Hinman. "Our continued partnership with Quantenna will help establish Mimosa as an ongoing disruptive force in the outdoor wireless market."
Another comment came form Dr. Sam Heidari, CEO, Quantenna Communications: "We’ve made 4x4 MU-MIMO a reality, but we can’t stop there," said Heidari. "The demand for reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi will only increase. The number of Wi-Fi enabled devices in the home is growing faster than anyone predicted. Outdoor applications like carrier Wi-Fi, mobile offload and broadband delivery are quickly emerging. Wi-Fi has to keep up. That’s where 10G WI-Fi comes in. Wi-Fi is no longer a convenience. People expect it to ‘just work’ even with demanding applications like HD video streaming. With Quantenna’s 10G Wi-Fi, they’ll always get the performance they expect—even as their expectations continue to rise."
Quantenna plans to make the first "10G" chip sets available in 2015, including MIMO support for up to 8x8 configurations. More information is available at http://www.quantenna.com.
