This week at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas, NV, San Diego, Calif. based fabless semiconductor startup NextWave Wireless Inc. displayed a second generation mobile WiMAX chipset, the NW2000. Wave 2-ready, the chipset comprises a silicon germanium (SiGe) based 0.18 μm BiCMOS RFIC for the front-end, and a 65 nm CMOS based digital baseband processor.

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Following on the heels of its first generation chipset, which was introduced last year, the company said that it is committed to accelerating the wireless broadband market momentum through the second generation family. Besides enabling bandwidth intensive mobile multimedia applications such as streaming video, video conferencing, voice-over-IP (VoIP), it also supports its just announced MXtv, mobile broadcast over WiMAX service, stated NextWave. In fact, according to the developer, MXtv is a television broadcast capability that WiMax network operators can add to conventional cellular-type WiMax networks. It allows WiMAX operators to deliver a broad range of multimedia services including mobile TV, interactive services and digital audio without having to invest in new spectrum or additional network infrastructure.

“We’re making WiMAX a reality and lowering the barriers to adoption by bringing next-generation, ‘No Compromise’ WiMAX chipsets to market,” said Ed Redmond, executive vice president, Mobile Products Division and general manager, Semiconductor Business Unit, NextWave Wireless. “The high performance, low power and high integration of our WiMAX solution increases the attractiveness of WiMAX devices, providing consumers a more enriched mobile experience and helping mobile device manufacturers deliver a more capable, more sophisticated WiMAX-enabled product line.”

The 65 nm CMOS based baseband processor NW2100 is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for Wave 2 WiMAX Forum compliance. It integrates an ARM9 processor and memory, and provides a complete self-hosted modem, enabling designs with minimum processing load on the host processor. Other key of NW2100 include integrated 802.11b/g MAC/BB, SIM controller, multiple host interfaces, an embedded device security/firmware authentication engine, support for optimum data throughput, and advanced proprietary techniques that significantly reduce the overall system power consumption. It is housed in a 234-ball 10 x 10 mm VFBGA package.

Likewise, SiGe based NW2200 is a highly integrated, multiband RF transceiver chip with dual independent receive chains optimized for mobile applications. The NW2200 provides a compact, ultralow-power, high-performance solution for manufacturers of wireless broadband mobile devices. And it supports all major worldwide WiMAX bands and profiles. To further decrease total system cost and chip footprint, it deploys a direct-conversion architecture, integrated low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), and integrated low-dropout voltage regulators for reduced external component count. And comes in a 68-pin QFN package.

Engineering samples and evaluation/system development kit for the NW2000 family is available for qualified customers, said NextWave.

www.nextwave.com