Broadband access will bring Fire Wi-Fi

Every upgrade of the home access network is an opportunity to reshuffle the market. When the bandwidth extends from 2M to 8M, the use of state from fixed development to mobile, services from data upgrades to video, terminals from PC to mobile phones and home appliances, and meters, etc., the home access technologies and access methods supporting upgrades must be diversified. And complex, so its market reshuffle process is also full of competition and variables.

Wi-Fi is considered to be the technology that will dominate in this shuffle. On the one hand, Wi-Fi can supplement broadband technology, and on the other hand, it can complement 3G technology. At present, its tentacles not only extend to PCs and mobile phones, but also can be embedded in home appliances and smart grids. "China has the world's largest broadband network deployment base, but the per capita share of bandwidth is relatively low, and the proportion of users with Wi-Fi is relatively low. From the mobile phone market, China's mobile phone market is huge, but the mobile phone Wi- Fi's deployment rate lags behind other countries, so China's Wi-Fi market has only just begun and there will be significant growth in the future.” Michael Hurlston, senior vice president and general manager of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) at Broadcom, told China Electronics Newspaper reporter said.

Wi-Fi low configuration rate indicates great market space

The global Wi-Fi market is in a rising period. In 2009, a total of approximately 500 million Wi-Fi devices were shipped globally. According to research and consulting company In-Stat, in 2010, shipments of Wi-Fi equipment will reach 800 million units, and shipments in 2012 are expected to reach 1 billion.

However, in the Chinese market, the deployment rate of Wi-Fi in PCs and mobile phones is relatively low, which is in stark contrast to the huge market in China. On the one hand, China has the largest number of broadband users, reaching 112.6 million. China is the world's largest DSL market. In the first quarter of 2010 alone, China added 6 million DSL subscribers, and added 1.6 million subscribers in the United States during the same period. China is still the largest FTTX market, with 23.2 million users, accounting for 37% of the global FTTX market. However, currently, China's users who use Wi-Fi account for only 21% of the total broadband users. On the other hand, China has the largest number of mobile communications users in the world. As of the end of June this year, mobile phone users exceeded 800 million, but the ratio of Wi-Fi in mobile phones is still low. It is estimated that the number of Wi-Fi handsets sold in the Chinese market in 2010 will reach 28 million.

The opportunity for Wi-Fi is obvious, because China's broadband access market is experiencing explosive growth regardless of the connection method. In order to meet the connectivity and data needs of China's broadband access, manufacturers and service providers must make sensitive and forward-looking decisions. They must deploy a combination of technologies to ensure that customers get the necessary profits after huge investments. -Fi is the key technology to accomplish this task.

3G and Wireless Cities Drive Wi-Fi Deployment

Mobile data traffic around the world is exploding. By 2014, mobile data traffic in Asia will account for about one-quarter of the world's total. According to In-Stat analysts' estimates, data demand for mobile video traffic from now to 2014 will increase by an average of 126% per year in China. For mobile operators, the flexibility to divert data to Wi-Fi networks allows phased investment in 3G infrastructure construction, adding value. In 2009, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom operated a total of more than 210,000 hotspots, a significant increase from last year. Analysts estimate that hotspots will increase by another 60% this year. According to research firm ABI Research, the penetration rate of Wi-Fi functionality in the mobile phone market will increase year by year, from approximately 20% penetration in 2010 to 40% in 2014.
China's development of wireless cities has brought another opportunity for Wi-Fi. The Shanghai World Expo's wireless network covers all Expo venues through more than 2,500 wireless access points and enables every visitor to enjoy a seamless connection experience. Shanghai Telecom plans to establish Wi-Fi hotspots in more than 6,000 public places this year to form a seamless high-speed broadband network covering the entire city, making Shanghai a truly "wireless city." Once Wi-Fi becomes the basis of the "wireless city", the depth of Wi-Fi infrastructure in smart grid and IoT applications will promote the further development of Wi-Fi in China.

Digital home application upgrade Potential market remains to be tapped

Wi-Fi technology is now used in almost all laptops, netbooks, smart phones, and gaming devices, as well as phones, audio players, printers, set-top boxes, and other consumer products. Domestic TV manufacturers are more keen to develop network TV products than foreign companies. Changhong, TCL, Hisense, Konka, Skyworth and other manufacturers all launched their own network TV series in 2009, and some also embedded Wi-Fi chips in TVs. . "With the penetration of Wi-Fi devices increasing, Wi-Fi will become the core in many new applications, such as integrating Wi-Fi with DLNA to share services for home media, or displaying movies and pictures on connected TVs. Applications such as Samsung, Apple, OVI, etc., are constantly launching Internet applications and are driving forces for this change.” Michael Hurlston said, “Wi-Fi's challenges in design embedded in multiple applications There are five aspects, namely how to achieve lower power consumption, longer battery life, smaller size, more adaptable software, and lower cost.”

In response to the above requirements, Lantiq recently introduced the WAVE300 802.11n chip, which has a threefold increase in wireless coverage distance. According to Huang Ling, a senior application engineer at Wright, the most prominent feature of the WAVE product is the use of a Thick MAC integrated processor. Through this auxiliary processor, many data processing tasks originally performed by the main CPU can be completed, thereby reducing the load on the main CPU. Efficiency can be doubled. One of its unique technologies is the LDPC coding standard. With this coding specification, its gain can be increased by 3dB. Second, NML MIMO technology, used for decoding, can greatly increase the decoding rate, and can also increase the gain by 3dB. Third, beamforming. Technology, which provides bandwidth rates based on distance, ensuring optimal coverage.

Wi-Fi potential applications also include smart grids, home appliances, medical monitoring, user-friendly interface devices, security and home monitoring. On the basis of deep embedding, an intelligent home connected by Wi-Fi will be formed, and achieving this requires a stronger product portfolio capability. Michael Hurlston said: "Broadcom is currently the only semiconductor supplier with a complete wireless connectivity portfolio. Its product line covers broadcast TV such as FM and mobile TV, wireless personal area network communication technologies such as Bluetooth and Near Field Communication technologies such as NFC. Digital smart homes can do more."