The next evolution of wireless technology, Wi-Fi 7, has been hitting its stride in recent months. Now, MediaTek is giving it a big boost with a pair of new Phylogic chips that will power a whole new generation of Wi-Fi 7-enabled devices, from enterprise access points and wireless mesh systems to smartphones and set-top boxes. Will do.
Not surprisingly, when Wi-Fi 7 made its debut at CES 2022, MediaTek was one of the first chipmakers to offer speeds more than twice as fast as the current Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E technologies. Had promised to speed up. While Wi-Fi 7 is still in its early stages – few consumer devices support it, and the specification has not yet received its final ratification – MediaTek’s second-generation Phylogic chips will ensure that smartphones, laptops and routers get the best Ready to give. What the new standards offer.
“MediaTek stands out with the most comprehensive connectivity portfolio on the market, and we build on this legacy with our two new advanced Wi-Fi 7 solutions designed for mainstream applications,” said Alan Su, MediaTek corporate vice president and general manager of Intelligent. “Continuing.” Connectivity Business in a press release. “The Phylogic 860 and Phylogic 360 deliver the same technology as our premium solutions with exceptional reliability in busy network environments, ultra-fast speeds with low latency and increased range.”
Phylogic 860 for Premium Routers
The flagship of the new pair is the Phylogic 860, which will provide dual-band access and network processing to power back-end technologies in homes and businesses. With a triple-core Arm Cortex-A73 CPU, it offers enough horsepower to meet the demands of large corporations and service providers, but it’s also likely to find its way into some high-end Wi-Fi 7 routers.
Thanks to its hardware acceleration, the PhyLogic 860 will be able to power advanced tunneling and security features for use in virtual private network (VPN) and firewall applications, while seamlessly moving Wi-Fi 7 traffic between nodes in wireless mesh networks. Will also be able to root properly. ,
The dual-band Wi-Fi support in the new chip also promises to deliver a maximum throughput of 7.2Gbps. This is the highest dual-band speed currently available in the industry when using Multi-Link Operations (MLO), a new Wi-Fi 7 enhancement that allows client devices to communicate with the router using multiple bands simultaneously. In this case – 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
Naturally, the Phylogic 860 will support all the other advanced features of the Wi-Fi 7 draft spec, which is expected to be finalized early next year, including 4096-QAM (4K-QAM), as well as speeds Also included is support for adding an additional receive antenna for enhancements. Boost receiving range using Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) and MediaTek’s PhyLogic Extra Range support feature.
Phylogic 360 for client devices
MediaTek’s PhyLogic 360, on the other hand, is a standalone chip that will provide Wi-Fi 7 support for consumer electronics like smartphones, laptops, set-top boxes, smart TVs, and more.
The Phylogic 360 integrates triple-band Wi-Fi that supports 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz frequencies and can handle speeds of up to 2.9Gbps. Wi-Fi 7 technology is coupled to two Bluetooth 5.4 cores, with an integrated digital signal processor (DSP) that can handle the latest LC3 codec, to provide enough throughput for gaming and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) audio.
Since Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can operate in the same 2.4GHz band, MediaTek has also included advanced technology in the Phylogic 360 to ensure that the radios do not step on each other, as well as to ensure the usability of the devices. Phylogic Extra Range support has also been provided to increase the distance. Incorporating the new chip using a “unique hybrid MLO solution”.
MediaTek has already started shipping samples of the Filogic 860 and Filogic 360 chips to its manufacturing customers. The first Wi-Fi 7 enabled devices incorporating the new chips are expected to arrive by mid-2024.