Primarily developed to reduce costs for OEMs, Wisair’s WSR601 is a production-ready, single-chip solution fabricated with digital CMOS process technology for both host and device wireless-USB applications. The chip is based on WiMedia and Certified Wireless USB standards, and integrates an UWB PHY (including RF), MAC and Wireless USB subsystems (see the figure). The chip also features high performance and low power consumption, extending its range of Wireless USB applications to include battery-powered portable devices.

Article Tools

• 

According to Wisair's Serdar Yurdakul, one critical feature of the chip is that it can be configured to support either UWB device applications or UWB host applications. A device can only communicate with a single host, but a host can simultaneously communicate with up to 127 devices.

The chip therefore supports host-wire adapter (HWA), device-wire adapter (DWA) and native-device protocols. It also features SDIO and USB interfaces, isochronous data transfer, and cable- and numeric-association models. It delivers full-room coverage with connectivity ranges of 8 m at 480 Mbps, and over 20 m at 200 Mbps. For mobile devices where battery life is crucial, the WSR601 provides power-save modes and an average power consumption of 385 mW at 100 Mbps throughput.

Figure (above and below). Wisair’s WSR601 integrates UWB PHY (including RF), MAC and Wireless USB subsystems , allowing Wireless-USB functionality in a small footprint with a minimum of support components.

A two-wire coexistence scheme allows the WSR601 to coexist in close proximity to other radios such as Bluetooth and 802.11. The chip’s low out-of-band emission, below –70 dBm/MHz, provides the flexibility to support Japan’s regulatory requirements without the need for a dedicated external filter. Additionally, integrated detect-and-avoid technology enables the WSR601 to coexist with other wireless technologies sharing the same spectrum, such as WiMAX.