Broadcom Inc. has announced sample availability of its second-generation Wi-Fi 7 chipsets, designed to deliver additional functionality to more applications while improving connectivity and latency challenges. The new wireless connectivity chips are expected to significantly expand the range of products using Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity, including Wi-Fi routers, residential gateways, enterprise access points and client devices.
Three chipsets comprise the new offering: the BCM6765 consumer/residential chip for gaming, streaming video, virtual reality and routers; the BCM47722 enterprise chip for IoT and asset tracking and the BCM4390 low-power chipset for mobile apps and lower-priced phones.
Broadcom’s second-generation Wi-Fi 7 SoCs: BCM6765, BCM47722 and BCM4390 (Source: Broadcom)
The BCM6765 residential access point chip supports 320-MHz two-stream Wi-Fi operation and allows the productization of Wi-Fi 7 mass-market access points and smart repeater solutions, said Broadcom. The SoC supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth Low Energy, and 802.15.4 protocols.
Key features include an integrated quad-core ARMv8 CPU with 10G Ethernet PHY, dual 2×2 tri-band (2.4-, 5- and 6- GHz) capable radios that support simultaneous operation in any band, integrated 2.4-GHz power amplifiers and support for digital pre-distortion (DPD) external FEMs for reduced power consumption. The chipset provides 4096-QAM modulation and 320-MHz channel bandwidth for 8.64 Gbits/s PHY rate; multi-link operation (MLO) with up to three-link support and SpeedBooster support.
Support for three-link MLO reduces latency by 50% compared to typical two-link implementations, Broadcom said, and the proprietary SpeedBooster feature allows 160-MHz devices like mobile devices to use the full 320-MHz access point capacity, thereby doubling Wi-Fi connection speed.
The SoC is compliant to IEEE, WFA Wi-Fi 7 and Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) specifications, as well as the Bluetooth 5.4 standard and future draft specifications such as Channel Sounding.
The BCM47722 is an enterprise access point SoC that supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth Low Energy, and 802.15.4 protocols. Like the BCM6765, the platform SoC features an integrated quad-core ARMv8 CPU with 10G Ethernet PHY, dual 2×2 tri-band (2.4-, 5- and 6- GHz) capable radios, integrated 2.4-GHz power amplifiers and support for digital pre-distortion (DPD) external FEMs for reduced power consumption. It also supports 4096-QAM modulation and 320-MHz channel bandwidth for 8.64 Gbits/s PHY rate; multi-link operation (MLO) with up to three-link support and SpeedBooster. It also complies to IEEE, WFA Wi-Fi 7 and Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) specifications, as well as the Bluetooth 5.4 standard and future draft specifications such as Channel Sounding, like the BCM
Addressing IoT enterprise Wi-Fi applications, the BCM47722 adds integrated dual IoT radios that support Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, Zigbee and Matter protocols.
The BCM4390 is a low-power Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 802.15.4 combo SoC for use in mobile devices such as handsets and tablets. The highly integrated chip provides integrated Bluetooth Classic and Low Energy, Thread and Zigbee support.
Key features include a dual radio that supports simultaneous two-stream 2.4 GHz and two-stream 5/6 GHz Wi-Fi 7 operation, 4096-QAM modulation and 160-MHz channel bandwidth for 3.2 Gbits/s PHY rate, multi-link operation (MLO) and SpeedBooster support. This version also is compliant to IEEE and WFA Wi-Fi 7 standards, Bluetooth 5.4 standard and future draft specifications such as Channel Sounding.
Broadcom said Wi-Fi 7 will experience rapid adoption, driven by both increased bandwidths and multi-link operation (MLO), which allows devices to aggregate channels and rapidly switch between channels. This feature is suited for high-density, congested networks and guarantees commercial-grade quality of service with optimal application latency.
Broadcom is currently sampling its second-generation Wi-Fi 7 chips to early-access partners and customers in retail, enterprise, smartphone, service provider and carrier segments.
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