Akoustis Technologies, an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today it has secured Wi-Fi 6E reference design with a new Tier 1 System-on-Chip (SoC) vendor.
The 5.5 GHz filter module covers the UNII 1-3 spectrum of the Wi-Fi 6E standard, while the 6.5 GHz filter module covers the entire UNII 5-8 spectrum. The SoC vendor is building a MU-MIMO reference design for next generation routers and other connected devices. The Company expects the reference design to be made available in the second half of calendar 2021.
Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “We continue to see strong interest in our leading WiFi 6E XBAW® micro-filter solutions given the superior selectivity performance.” Mr. Shealy continued, “This is our first reference design in WiFi 6E, which should help create an additional sales channel for Akoustis through the existing customer base of our new SoC client.”
The FCC announced in late April the approval of 5.9 to 7.1 GHz for unlicensed use, which is the largest spectrum addition since the FCC allocated unlicensed spectrum for WiFi in 1989. The next generation of WiFi that is expected to use these new frequency bands is called Wi-Fi 6E. This approval will create another significant new band, or combination of bands, over the next several years. Since the FTC’s April announcement, governments around the world have begun allocating the same or similar spectrum for future WiFi use. As spectrum is scarce, many nations are limited in the amount of new, available unlicensed spectrum above 6 GHz. This is driving great demand for high-performance coexistence filters that allow the use of all available spectrum.
Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its WiFi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW® filter solutions, delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and is now entering the market with its WiFi 6E coexistence XBAW® filter solutions. Company management expects continued top-line growth moving forward and given the growing backlog of commercially available RF filter products and technology aimed at large and growing markets, it plans to significantly expand the capacity at its New York fab in calendar 2021.
Akoustis has added 15 filters to its product catalog including a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.
