802.11ax News - Page 8 of 10 - CNX Software

December 16, 2019December 18, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

OpenWiFi Open-Source Linux-compatible WiFi Stack Runs on FPGA Hardware

WiFi is omnipresent on most connected hardware, and when it works it’s great, but when there are issues oftentimes they can not be solved because the firmware is a closed-source binary. I understand companies do that either to protect their IP and/or make sure end-users do not break FCC compliance. OpenWiFi project aims to deliver a completely open-source SDR (Software Defined Radio) WiFi implementation compatible with Linux and running on FPGA hardware. OpenWiFi currently supported features: 802.11a/g; 802.11n MCS 0~7; 20MHz Mode tested: Ad-hoc; Station; AP DCF (CSMA/CA) low MAC layer in FPGA Configurable channel access priority parameters: duration of RTS/CTS, CTS-to-self SIFS/DIFS/xIFS/slot-time/CW/etc Time slicing based on MAC address Easy to change bandwidth and frequency: 2MHz for 802.11ah in sub-GHz 10MHz for 802.11p/vehicle in 5.9GHz The developers tested OpenWiFi on Xilinx ZC706 FPGA evaluation kit coupled Analog Devices fmcomms2/fmcomms4 RF board to form an access point, and connected it to […]

December 5, 2019July 26, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 865, 765, and 765G 5G Mobile Platforms

Qualcomm-Snapdragon 865 / 765 5G Mobile Platform

Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2019 is taking place in Maui, Hawaii, US on December 3-5, and the company announced three 5G mobile platforms at the event: Snapdragon 865 with Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU, Adreno 650 GPU, and external Snapdragon X55 5G modem up to 7.5 Gbps download Snapdragon 765 with Qualcomm Kryo 475 CPU, Adreno 620 GPU, and external Snapdragon X52 5G modem up to 3.75 Gbps download Snapdragon 765G where G stands for Gaming and the SoC comes with a speed-binned Qualcomm Kryo 475 CPU, while the Qualcomm Adreno 620 GPU provides 10% faster graphics rendering compared to the standard Snapdragon 765. Snapdragon 865 5G Mobile Platform SM8250 specifications provided by Qualcomm: CPU – Octa-core Kryo 585 up to 2.84 GHz GPU – Adreno 650 GPU with support for Vulkan 1.1 API, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenGL 2.0 FP, 10-bit HDR gaming, hardware-accelerated H.265, and VP9 decoder DSP – Hexagon […]

November 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MediaTek Dimensity 1000 Arm Cortex-A77/A55 SoC Targets Premium Phones with 5G, WiFI 6

Arm unveiled Arm Cortex-A77 core and Mali-G77 GPU last May with a 20% boost in performance compared to Cortex-A76 with about the same efficiency. A few days later, MediaTek announced its plans to launch a 5G SoC with Arm Cortex-A77 and Mali-G77 without many details. nor a name for it. But we’ve now got more news and a name! MediaTek Dimensity 1000 is an octa-core processor with four Cortex-A77 cores, four Cortex-A55 cores, a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU, MediaTek’s APU 3.0 with 4.5 TOPS performance, and a 5G multi-mode modem. MediaTek Dimensity 1000 specifications: Processor 4x Arm Cortex-A77 @ 2.6GHz 4x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz DynamIQ heterogeneous multi-processing technology GPU – 9-core Arm Mali-G77 MC9 AI Coprocessor – APU 3.0 hexa-core AI accelerator with 2x big cores, 3x small cores, and 1x tiny core delivering up to 4.5 TOPS. Fully compliant with Android Neural Networks API (Android NNAPI) Memory I/F – […]

September 25, 2019September 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Broadcom BCM7218X STB SoC Comes with AV1 Hardware Decoding, WiFi 6

CNX Software first covered AV1 open-source, royalty-free video codec aiming to compete against H.265 and succeed VP9 in 2016. I also tried the reference implementation and both encoding and decoding were really slow at that time and an AMD FX8350 powered computer would only achieve 0.36 fps encoding on a 352 x 288 video, while decoding was much faster at over 1,000 fps. This was really early work, and the final AV1 specifications were only released in March 2018, before companies like YouTube and Netflix started to publish AV1 video samples, and now I’ve noticed the former is sometimes streaming videos using AV1 codec on desktop computers and laptops. This still relies on software decoding, and most Arm platforms and entry-level level Intel computer may not be able to handle AV1 decoding, so hardware decoding will eventually be required, especially on battery-operated devices since it will consume much less power. […]

September 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Wi-Fi Certified 6 Program Available for Products based on Broadcom, Cypress, Intel, Marvell, and Qualcomm 802.11ax Chips

Last year the WiFi alliance introduces a new naming scheme for WiFi using numbers instead of IEEE standards so that WiFI 4 is 802.11n, WiFi 5 is 802.11ac, and WiFi 6 is the latest 802.11ax standard with data throughput up to 10 Gbps, and a better ability to manage high-density scenarios. Shortly after (November 2018) we also got news of the first WiFi 6 routers from ASUS and NETGEAR, but the WiFi alliance only just announced the launch of their Wi-Fi Certified 6 program that promises optimal interoperability and security. The program will make sure the following features are properly implemented: WPA3 WiFi security Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA): effectively shares channels to increase network efficiency and lower latency for both uplink and downlink traffic in high demand environments Multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO): allows more downlink data to be transferred at once and enables an access point […]

April 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Intel Launches WiFi 6 AX200 M.2 Wireless Card

WiFi 6 (aka 802.11ax) can deliver up to 10 Gbps in theory, and provides better handling of high density scenario in train stations, conferences, etc… We’ve seen it implemented in some routers and smartphones, but most laptops don’t support the new WiFi standard, so in order to solve this little issue, Intel has now launched AX200 M.2 WiFi 6 card in the M.2 2230 and M.2 1216 form-factors. Intel AX200 works in the 2.4GHz band up to 574 Mbps, and in the 5.0 GHz band up to 2.4 Gbps. The “Cyclone Peak” card works with both USB and PCIe signals, support 2×2 MU-MIMO, and also supports Bluetooth 5.0. Drivers are/will be available for Windows 10 64-bit, Google Chrome OS, and Linux via the “IWLWIFI” driver. Pricing for the cards is said to be $10 and $17, but I could not find it listed anywhere just yet. A few more details […]

December 12, 2018December 12, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

TP-Link Archer 802.11ax WiFi 6 Routers Sell for $350 and Up

After NETGEAR and ASUS 802.11.ax WiFi routers introduction earlier this year, TP-Link has now launched their own WiFi 6 routers with Archer AX6000 and Archer AX11000 models. The latter will only be available at the end of January 2019, and full details have not been disclosed yet, but Archer AX6000 has already launched (pre-orders only) and specifications, pricing, and other details are known. TP-Link Archer AX6000 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM49408 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with network packet co-processor WiFi co-processors – 2x Broadcom BCM43684 802.11ax radios System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 128MB Flash Networking Wired 8x 1000/100/10Mbps LAN Ports 1x 2500/2000/1000/100Mbps WAN Port WiFi IEEE 802.11ax/ac/n/a 5GHz up to 4804Mbps IEEE 802.11ax/n/b/g 2.4GHz up to 1148 Mbps Wireless Functions – Enable/Disable Wireless Radio, Guest network, DFS, MU-MIMIO, OFDMA Wireless security – 64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK encryptions 8x High-Performance External Antennas USB […]

December 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Specifications Published

Qualcomm Tech Summit 2018 started yesterday, and while the company mentioned Snapdragon 855, they focused on the benefit of 5G technology. Today is another day, and this time the company released details specifications about the new 5G mobile platform. Snapdragon 855 specifications: CPU – 8x Qualcomm Kryo 485 64-bit cores @ up to 2.84 GHz; 7nm Process Technology; based on leaks, tri-cluster configuration: 1+3+4 Visual Subsystem Adreno 640 GPU OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1 API support HDR gaming Hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder. HDR Playback Codec support for HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision Volumetric VR video playback 8K 360 VR video playback Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine Qualcomm Hexagon 690 Processor Qualcomm Hexagon Vector Accelerator Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant Qualcomm All-Ways Aware Hub Qualcomm Adreno 640 GPU Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU System Memory – 4×16-bit, LPDDR4x, up to 16GB @ 2133 MHz Display […]