WiQuest Communications, a fabless semiconductor company developing complete ultrawideband (UWB) solutions, announced the availability of its WQST110 and WQST101 chipset, the industry's first commercially-available, high performance silicon delivering wireless communication speeds up to one gigabit-per-second. Based on the WiMedia UWB physical layer (PHY) and media access controller (MAC) specifications, the WQST110 builds upon and extends the performance capabilities of UWB communications systems to a new level, providing a solid foundation for high speed wireless cable-replacement applications. The companion WQST101 radio frequency (RF) transceiver chip combines with the WQST110 to provide the first complete UWB solution for manufacturers of PC and peripheral systems, consumer electronics, home entertainment, portable gaming, multimedia platforms, mobile devices and more. In addition to the new chipset, WiQuest is also announcing the immediate availability of the WQST100EVK, a complete UWB system evaluation kit, which contains silicon and software for customer assessment, testing and product development.
"WiQuest's gigabit-per-second UWB technology will service a burgeoning UWB market opportunity, as well as a number of exciting new wireless applications that clearly benefit from this enhanced performance boost," commented Brian O'Rourke, senior analyst, Converging Markets & Technologies Group, In-Stat.
WiQuest is leveraging and extending the significant wireless performance advantage offered by UWB. With its unprecedented gigabit-per-second wireless technology, the WQST110/101 chipset enables a new breed of applications previously considered unfeasible. No longer constrained by bandwidth or wires, consumers will quickly appreciate the benefits of this newly found wireless performance while enjoying and sharing digital content, gaming and multimedia anytime and anywhere, without the need for connectors or a fistful of cables. The chipset also provides full compatibility with existing USB peripherals and systems, thereby protecting consumers' existing equipment investments.
The WQST110 is a wireless CMOS integrated circuit (IC) combining baseband PHY, MAC engine, high speed security processor, quality of service (QoS) manager and a rich variety of host interfaces, all in one highly-integrated design. Designed to optimize the UWB system bill of materials, the WQST110 contains a complete high speed USB subsystem including controller and transceiver, removing any additional USB component cost. Unlike other UWB implementations, the WQST110 eliminates the need for expensive external memory, and the chip's innovative architecture provides excellent power control and management for longer battery life in mobile devices. This IC also implements a tightly coupled interface with the WQST101 RF transceiver to ensure best-in-class wireless chipset performance, robustness and reliability.
"We are extremely pleased with the strong customer and industry response to our first UWB product design," said Dr. Matthew Shoemake, WiQuest founder, CEO and president. "Due to its advanced architecture, capabilities and features, we are experiencing significant demand for our WQST110/101 chipset in a wide variety of applications."