Renesas Electronics further expands its Wi-Fi roadmap based on technology acquisition of Celeno

Wi-Fi 6/6E and Wi-Fi 7 chipsets for client and access point solutions are in development,

Includes unique Doppler imaging technology that combines connectivity with WIFI awareness

November 16, 2022, Beijing, China - Renesas Electronics, a global semiconductor solutions provider, today announced the launch of a series of advanced Wi-Fi products to enrich its extensive industrial and IoT product lines. Renesas completed its acquisition of Celeno last year and used this technology to open up a broad market for Wi-Fi client and access applications for Wi-Fi 6/6E and Wi-Fi 7.

Today, the high-performance Wi-Fi 6/6E access solution of the CL8000 product family has been put into mass production. Renesas has 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, solving the problems of multimedia streaming applications, IoT gateways and cloud-connected devices.

Renesas is also developing a Wi-Fi 6 chipset with unique patented Wi-Fi Doppler imaging technology. This Wi-Fi radar technology uses standard Wi-Fi signals to map the range and Doppler signature of people and objects, eliminating the need for multiple cameras or sensors in home 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, thereby saving energy costs. Another example is intrusion detection for security installations, or for networked cameras activated by motion sensing. This combination chip, which combines connectivity and sensing functions, is currently scheduled to go into production in the next year and a half.

Wi-Fi 7, also known as Extremely High Throughput (EHT) technology, brings significantly improved throughput by using faster modulation and doubling the bandwidth. In the 6GHz band, Wi-Fi 7 will more than double the top speed and increase speeds by up to 30% in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. More importantly, some of the outstanding features of Wi-Fi 7 will enhance network reliability, reduce latency, and improve user experience. For example, by providing multi-link operation, devices will monitor multiple links across different frequency bands, enabling combined operations to optimize immunity to interference and avoid retransmissions. Users will benefit from a more reliable network and lower, more predictable latency. Wi-Fi 7 is expected to be launched in 2024 and will be adopted first in mobile phones, computers and network devices. Subsequently, it has been more 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 an era revolution in the Wi-Fi market for homes and businesses. The 6GHz spectrum offers the prospect of vastly improved throughput and latency, as well as reductions in legacy frequency bands. Congestion, driven by the need to utilize the new 6GHz spectrum, 6GHz penetration of 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 Wi-Fi 7 access point adoption will accelerate and in just two years, most 6 GHz capable access point products will support Wi-Fi 7."

Gilad Rozen, CEO of Celeno and vice president of the Wi-Fi Connectivity Division of Renesas Electronics' IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit, said: "Renesas can now offer truly differentiated Wi-Fi solutions combined with our industry-leading MCUs and MPUs. "

Sailesh Chittipeddi, executive vice president and general manager of the IoT and Infrastructure Business Division at Renesas Electronics, said: "In the past year, Renesas has completed three acquisitions, greatly enhancing our ability to continue to provide intelligent technology from the cloud to the endpoint. With Celeno's Wi-Fi solutions, Dialog's low-power connectivity solutions, and Reality AI's embedded AI solutions added to our industry-leading embedded computing, analog and sensor portfolio, Renesas can now Bringing users a complete end-to-end solution that is second to none.”

Successful product portfolio

Renesas has built several successful product portfolios by combining Wi-Fi 6 and 6E chipsets with multiple components from its broad portfolio of embedded processing, analog, power, timing and connectivity. This portfolio of engineering-proven and successful products will range from high-throughput Wi-Fi 6 routers for home gateways to wireless IEEE 1588 solutions for 5G networks. More successful combinations using 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 extend the Renesas Quick-Connect IoT platform.

In addition, a new Quick-Connect Wi-Fi 6 and low-power Bluetooth 5.2 module will be released soon for high-bandwidth, high-performance Wi-Fi 6 client IoT applications that require 2x2 MIMO. The fully integrated RF-certified module will have a flexible form factor and include both PCIe and USB interfaces, saving engineering time and simplifying procurement, accelerating time to market.