A company known as Silicon Image has unveiled what it claims to be the industry’s first single-chip, ultra-low power 60 GHz WirelessHD mobile transmitter specifically designed for smartphones and tablets.
The chip promises to wirelessly connect mobile devices to big-screen TVs and other large displays with cable-like video quality.
The chipset integrates a 60 GHz RF transceiver, baseband processor, and embedded antenna array into a single IC package. Essentially, the processor is designed to enable high definition wireless video connectivity between portable devices and large displays without having to bother with wires and or latency.
“By 2015, smartphones and tablets are estimated to represent a $3 billion+ market for wireless connectivity ICs,” said ABI Research analyst Peter Cooney. “Driven by the use of mobile products for gaming and other interactive video applications, there is increased consumer demand for connecting these powerful devices to large displays and televisions. Consumers will expect wireless connections to provide the same experience as a wired solution. The UltraGig 6400 is well positioned to meet this emerging market need.”
The chip uses intelligent beam-forming technology with an embedded antenna array that enables secure, high-bandwidth video linking between WirelessHD compliant devices. The integrated baseband network processor inside the UltraGig 6400 also ensures that no host processor resources are required for video streaming.
The chip is WirelessHD 1.1 compliant with both the transceiver and the baseband processor. The entire chip consumes 500mW of typical power, and supports up to full HD resolution.
Unfortunately, there is no indication of when products using the UltraGig 6400 might come to market, although we expect it to be some time in the near future.
