Bristol-based wireless chip designer Blu Wireless Technology is looking at both the next generation of high performance Wi-Fi and 5G telecoms systems.

This is using the next generation of millimetre wave standards for high speed line-of-sight connections and there is a requirement for high performance chip designs.

The 802.11ay group is looking to handle a target speed of 200Gbit/s at 60GHz, says Ray McConnell, chief technology officer of Blu Wireless. The 802.11ay group is starting work on the successor to the 802.11ad standards, and the programmable HYDRA architecture developed by Blu Wireless will scale to that level of performance he says. The challenge is the antenna design.

Blu Wireless is also looking at how HYDRA can be used for the ‘New Radio’ (NR) specification for 5G telecoms system. The NR operates at 28GHz and the standard will be released later this year. Both Intel and Qualcomm have launched development systems for NR so that projects can start working with the technology.

The company, which has over 55 people in Bristol, has raised £17m from companies such as ARM to develop and commercialise the HYDRA technology, which is sold as a design to chip companies.

There’s a demonstration of the technology from www.bluwirelesstechnology.com being used for gigabit Wi-Fi on trains here

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