Marvell Announces MU-MIMO Client Chip

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Tim Higgins

Marvell logoMarvell‘s new 2×2 device supports MU-MIMO and includes Bluetooth 4.2.

The Avastar 88W8997 is a 2×2 802.11ac Wave-2 combo device with full support for Bluetooth 4.2. It supports link rates up to 867 Mbps in 5 GHz when used with AC1200 class and higher 802.11ac access points and routers.

The 28nm process power-saving design includes dual band power amplifiers (PAs), low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and switches to reduce parts count and BOM costs.

Marvell Avastar 88W8997

Marvell Avastar 88W8997

In addition to its Bluetooth 4.2 feature set, the 88W8997 supports advanced features such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Direction Finding, 2Mbps LE, and LTE Coex that are part of the upcoming Bluetooth 5.0 Shanghai release planned for 2016 launch. The device also supports Marvell’s BLE Snooze mode, enabling ultra-low power BLE connectivity.

The 88W8997 supports SDIO3.0, low power PCIe, USB3.0 host interfaces and Android, Chrome, Windows, and Linux operating systems.

Marvell did not say whether the device was sampling or provide a release date.

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