Metalink's 802.11n SoC supports 2.4- and 5-GHz bands

By concurrently supporting both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Metalink's MtW8200 enables transmission of HD multimedia in the 5-GHz band, while supporting data networking and other legacy applications that utilize the 2.4-GHz band.

Metalink's entire WLANPlus 802.11n SoC product family includes the following:

• MtW8200, a concurrent dual-band 2x3 SoC
• MtW8201, a single-band 2.4GHz 2x3 SoC
• MtW8202, a single-band 5GHz 2x3 SoC

All are 2x3 solutions that support data rates of up to 300 Mbps throughout the home. In line with the IEEE's draft 2.0 specification for 802.11n (Wi-Fi) certification, the SoC product family is fully compliant with IEEE 802.11a/b/g-based legacy devices.

Features include a cost effective MIPS-based processor core with CPU clock rate of 200 MHz; a high performance multi service bus architecture at 4.25Gbps; Ethernet ports for LAN and WAN connectivity; a high-speed SDRAM memory controller; and on-chip cache and scratchpad memory.

They also offer a variety of host interfaces, including cardbus, mPCI, and PCI 2.3, and support Linux 2.4, Linux 2.6 and Windows CE.

MAC efficiency is enhanced through frame aggregation and block acknowledge. The SoC product line also supports 802.11n optional features to enhance performance, including:

• Full ML detector, resulting in a range improvement of approximately 40% while doubling the coverage area
• Advanced FEC scheme, enabling an additional 30% range improvement or increased speed
• Optimization for low latency applications, enabling unmatched performance by gaming and multimedia applications
• Space Time Block Coding (STBC), enabling a broader reception range for WiFi-enabled cellular phones
• Enhanced Quality of Service through implementation of EDCA Plus Admission Control
• Optimized bandwidth exploitation through implementation of Fast Link Adaptation