Marvell Boosts Wi-Fi With Beamforming Technology

Marvell’s entire family of Avastar 802.11n solutions will leverage a transmitter beamforming technology to dramatically improve link robustness for clients ranging from new and existing 1×1- 4×4 MIMO products to legacy devices.

Beamforming is a specialized method of radio-frequency (RF) transmission used in Wi-Fi access points (APs), substantially enhancing signal reception at the client and, as a result, extending Wi-Fi signal coverage by two to four times. It can also be used between two clients in conjunction with Wi-Fi Direct.

"Existing wireless solutions still present different challenges when it comes to the long range and high throughput required for applications such as HD video streaming," said Weili Dai, Co-founder of Marvell, in a statement. "Marvell raises the technology bar with Wi-Fi solutions leveraging beamforming technology, increasing throughput at range and delivering consistent performance at all times, ultimately providing greater user experience with Wi-Fi than what has traditionally been possible."

Marvell’s beamforming technology does not require special antennae or any other cost increase of the wireless subsystem and provides greater than 10 dB of perceivable gain in over-the-air tests in home and enterprise environments. This gain translates to an increased throughput of 2x to 20x depending on the environment.