ON Semiconductor announced sampling of its new QCS-AX2 chipset family that supports the 6 GHz spectrum band based on the enhanced Wi-Fi 6E standard. Designed with a high performance, flexible architecture to maximize usage of the 6 GHz band, the new product family is optimized for high-throughput Wi-Fi applications, such as access points, gateways and mesh networking solutions for dense environments and underserved areas.
The QCS-AX2 series is built on an integrated baseband and RF architecture that supports key Wi-Fi 6E features, such as orthogonal frequency-division multiple access advanced MU-MIMO and 160 MHz channel support for faster speeds, and SmartScan channel selection for maximum band utilization. The new product portfolio will include the following:
- QCS-AX2-A12: tri-band (6 GHz/5 GHz/2.4 GHz) with AdaptivMIMO technology supports flexible 8 x 8 or 4 x 4 configurations
- QCS-AX2-T12: tri-band concurrent 4 x 4 operation for high performance, cost-effective router solutions
- QCS-AX2-T8: tri-band concurrent eight-stream configurations for mesh nodes and mainstream access points
As the Federal Communications Commission anticipates the opening of the 6 GHz band in the U.S. later this year, up to 1,200 MHz of newly available spectrum will be designated for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use. With almost five times of spectrum more than the current 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands combined, the 6 GHz band is accelerating the development of next generation Wi-Fi 6 applications. While the 6 GHz client ecosystem takes time to build out, Wi-Fi infrastructure devices, such as gateways, routers and access points will need to continue to support existing dual band (2.4 GHz/5 GHz) clients; infrastructure applications such as 6 GHz backhaul between gateways and mesh nodes will lead deployments.
ON Semiconductor’s Wi-Fi 6E solutions are designed to accommodate the transition to the 6 GHz band with AdaptivMIMO technology while addressing mainstream 6 GHz applications. A Wi-Fi 6E infrastructure device with AdaptivMIMO allows the network to operate in the 5 GHz or 6 GHz band depending on the clients present in a subscriber’s home network to maximize performance, coverage and utilization. The QCS-AX2 series provides the Wi-Fi performance and connectivity in congested environments to multiple devices that applications demand.
“We are excited about the tremendous opportunities that Wi-Fi 6E opens for the industry. We are in the forefront of building Wi-Fi 6E platforms that enable even better speed, efficiency and performance for the home, enterprise, automotive and IoT segments,” said Irvind Ghai, vice president of Marketing of Quantenna Connectivity Solutions at ON Semiconductor. “ON Semiconductor is dedicated to innovation in Wi-Fi technology, and will continue to leverage its connectivity excellence to provide end-to-end solutions that accelerate key Wi-Fi 6E ecosystems.”
“Our new generation of QCS-AX2 with AdaptivMIMO allows OEMs fast time-to-market with optimized performance across the three bands. As Wi-Fi 6E infrastructure proliferates, it will seed the 6GHz ecosystems. Client devices will also benefit from improved efficiency, lower latency and jitter, and less interference, providing better user experience across applications and environments,” said Simon Duxbury, general manager and vice president of Quantenna Connectivity Solutions at ON Semiconductor.
ON Semiconductor is now sampling the QCS-AX2 solutions to customers.