Akoustis Technologies has received a pre-production order for its 5.2 GHz XBAW filters from a leading WiFi system-on-chip (SoC) company. The filters will be evaluated for a reference design targeting tri-band WiFi customer premise equipment (CPE).
The reference design is expected to be compatible with both 4x4 and 8x8 multi-user, multiple-in, multiple-out (MU-MIMO) architectures for the 802.11ax WiFi radio standard. Tri-band MU-MIMO architectures demand significantly higher filter content than dual band architectures. A 4x4 MU-MIMO design requires a total of 12 filters; four 2.4 GHz, four 5.2 GHz, and four 5.6 GHz filters, meanwhile an 8x8 design requires a total of 24 filters; eight 2.4 GHz, eight 5.2 GHz, and eight 5.6 GHz filters. The AKF-1252 was chosen for evaluation in this reference design due to its high performance and significantly smaller size relative to incumbent dielectric resonator filters. This initial shipment is for evaluation and approval, which is expected by the end of Q2 CY19.
This is Akoustis’ third purchase order for its 5.2 GHz WiFi BAW filters. Akoustis has received pre-production orders for the AKF-1252 from a separate multi-billion-dollar Tier-1 WiFi SoC company as well as a distribution partner. In addition, the Company has shipped pre-production AKF-1252 XBAW filters to be evaluated for reference designs targeting tri-band WiFi applications to a multi-billion-dollar Tier-1 WiFi OEM.
The AKF-1252 is a high performance, ultra-small passband 5.2 GHz BAW RF filter designed for use in tri-band WiFi router applications. The filters are produced using Akoustis’ proprietary XB1 single-crystal BAW manufacturing process, which delivers high-performance RF filter solutions for frequencies up to 7 GHz to address critical RF filter requirements for existing and next-generation communications applications, including the emerging 5G mobile network. The AKF-1252 filter is up to 23 times smaller than existing dielectric resonator (DR) solutions in the market, making it increasingly compelling given the introduction of MIMO and MU-MIMO architectures and the rapid adoption of small form-factor end-user devices.
The 5.2 GHz AKF-1252 pairs with Akoustis’ recently announced 5.6 GHz AKF-1256 XBAW WiFi filter - the two working in tandem to deliver the world’s first BAW coexistence micro-filter solution for 5 GHz tri-band WiFi.
