Renesas Expands Wi-Fi Roadmap Based on Technology Acquisition of Celeno
Renesas Electronics (TSE: 6723), a global supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has launched a series of advanced Wi-Fi products to complement its extensive industrial and IoT product lines. Renesas completed the acquisition of Celeno last year and used this technology to develop a broad market for Wi-Fi client and access applications for Wi-Fi 6/6E and Wi-Fi 7.
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Today, the high-performance Wi-Fi 6/6E access terminal solution of the CL8000 product family has been mass-produced. Renesas staked out a powerful, highly integrated 2x2 Wi-Fi/BLE combo chip that supports Wi-Fi 6 tri-band switchable (6GHz, 5GHz and 2.4GHz), 160MHz channel bandwidth, and data links up to 2.4Gbps speed. This new low-latency, high-security chipset includes support for Bluetooth and BLE 5.2, addressing multimedia streaming applications, IoT gateways and cloud-connected devices.
Renesas is also developing a Wi-Fi 6 chipset with a unique patented Wi-Fi Doppler imaging technology. This Wi-Fi radar technology uses standard Wi-Fi signals to delineate the range and Doppler signature of people and objects, eliminating the need for multiple cameras or sensors in domestic environments and commercial buildings. For example, it can be used to detect the presence and location of people in a room to redirect and optimize air conditioning flow, saving energy costs. Another example is intrusion detection for secure installations, or for networked cameras activated by motion sensing. The combo chip, which combines connectivity and sensing functions, is currently scheduled to go into production within the next year and a half.
Wi-Fi 7, also known as Extremely High Throughput (EHT) technology, brings significantly improved throughput by adopting faster modulation and doubling the bandwidth. On the 6GHz band, Wi-Fi 7 will more than double the maximum speed and boost speeds on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands by up to 30%. What's more, some of the standout features of Wi-Fi 7 will enhance network reliability, reduce latency, and improve user experience. For example, by providing multi-link operation, the device will monitor multiple links across different frequency bands, enabling combined operations to optimize interference immunity and avoid retransmissions. Users will benefit from a more reliable network with lower, more predictable latency. Wi-Fi 7 is expected to be launched in 2024, with the first adoption in mobile phones, computers and networking equipment. Subsequently, it has been widely used in the fields of Internet of Things, industry, and consumer multimedia.
Renesas Wi-Fi 7 products will support solutions including home networking, IoT, industrial, and consumer multimedia devices.
Andrew Spivey, industry analyst at ABI Research, said: "Many recent developments are converging to create a revolution in the Wi-Fi market for the home and business era. The 6GHz spectrum offers the prospect of vastly improved throughput and latency, and reduces the need for traditional spectrum bands. Driven by the need to utilize the new 6GHz spectrum, the penetration of 6GHz Wi-Fi devices will rise rapidly in the next few years. At the same time, as the protocol is standardized in 2024, new forms of Wi-Fi value-added services ( Things like Wi-Fi motion detection and adoption of Wi-Fi 7 access points) will accelerate and flourish. In just two years, most access point products that support 6 GHz will support Wi-Fi 7."
"Renesas can now offer a truly differentiated Wi-Fi solution that combines our industry-leading MCUs and products with strong performance, safety and cost competitiveness. Our customers are very satisfied with the direction we have chosen, and we are also confident that we will provide the right product to the market at the right time."
Sailesh Chittipeddi, executive vice president and general manager of the Internet of Things and Infrastructure Business Group at Renesas Electronics, said: "In the past year, Renesas completed three acquisitions that greatly enhanced our ability to continuously deliver intelligent technologies from the cloud to the endpoint. With the addition of Celeno's Wi-Fi solutions, Dialog's low-power connectivity solutions, and Reality AI's embedded AI solutions to our industry-leading portfolio of embedded computing, analog and sensor products, Renesas can now Bringing users a complete end-to-end solution that is second to none."
successful product mix
Renesas has built a successful portfolio by combining Wi-Fi 6 and 6E chipsets with components from a broad portfolio of embedded processing, analog, power, timing and connectivity. This portfolio of engineering-proven successes will range from high-throughput Wi-Fi 6 routers for home gateways to wireless IEEE 1588 solutions for 5G networks. More successful combinations featuring Wi-Fi 6 are in development, including video IP phones, smart home security terminals, and Wi-Fi 6 USB sticks for users to quickly prototype and expand as Renesas’ Quick-Connect IoT platform.
Additionally, a new Quick-Connect Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.2 module will be released soon for high-bandwidth, high-performance Wi-Fi 6 client IoT applications requiring 2x2 MIMO. The fully integrated RF-certified module will have a flexible size and include both PCIe and USB interfaces, saving engineering time and simplifying procurement for faster time-to-market.