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Broadcom Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company in the wireless and broadband communication business. Headquartered in irvine, California, USA, it has r&d centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad in india. rajiv Kapur, managing director, recently spoke
raJiv Kapur manaGinG DireCtOr, BrOaDCOm inDia
What is being done to improve the energy efficiency of devices?
In the wireless space, one of the key metrics is battery life. Our power management strategies are now steered WRwDrds imSrRving WhH SRwHr SrRfiOH Dnd sR DERuW 40 SHr cent of our R&D efforts are steered towards getting the lowest power.
tireless is perhaps the most pressed in terms of power, EuW wH invHsW in imSrRving HIficiHncy HvHn IRr Rur SOuggHdin devices. The reasons are differentW here it is not the battery life but power optimisation that leads to a smaller, cheaper Dnd mRrH HIficiHnW SRwHr suSSOy Rr D SrRducW wiWh IHwHr heat sinks. then we architect our solutions, we think very carefully what can be shut off.
What are the technical challenges in improving the power profile of wireless devices?
tell, the EDA tools for this are not completely available. The lower-power design methodology should be a part of your development but the EDA tools are not yet fully mDWurH. UnifiHd PRwHr FRrmDW is RnH RI WhH ,EEE sWDndDrds relating to this. As the standards evolve, EDA companies are including these methodologies into their tools.
There are a lot of low-power techniques—the simplest one says that you shut off the chip when you are not using it. Most of your chip is either shut off or put into sleep mode by reducing the voltage and underclocking it. So you have to selectively shut off the chip and then wake it up and get iW EDck WR wRrk. HRw WR dR Whis HIficiHnWOy Dnd rHOiDEOy is pretty tricky and one of the high-level challenges.
What led to Broadcom releasing an 802.11ac solution ahead of ratification by ieee and the Wi-Fi alliance?
The ecosystem is committed to building interoperable sROuWiRns EDsHd Rn WhH :i-Fi AOOiDncH cHrWificDWiRn SrR- grDmmH. ThH sWDndDrd usHd Ey WhH :i-Fi AOOiDncH IRr cHrWificDWiRn is IDirOy cRmSOHWH Dnd vHry sWDEOH. ThH SrRgrDmmH shRuOd ODunch Ey WhH firsW TuDrWHr RI 2013. ThH sWrDWHgy WR dHsign chiSsHWs EDsHd Rn drDIW sSHcificDWiRns ODWH in WhH rDWificDWiRn SrRcHss is cRmmRn SrDcWicH, Dnd wH DrH cRnfidHnW RI Rur sROuWiRns’ cRmSDWiEiOiWy wiWh WhH :i-Fi AOOiDncH cHrWificDtion programme when it is launched.
What was the role of your r&D team in india in developing this solution?
The way we work is such that almost every chip tends to have a global footprint. te have expertise centres in vDriRus dRmDins. FRr insWDncH, iI wH hDvH Dn HxSHrW in RF, we start tapping into the expertise of that person or team of people for every chip. te can say that the R&D centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad contribute to almost every programme. The level of contribution could be a module or expertise contribution to a larger project or end-to-end with post-silicon bring-up.
ThH 802.11Dc chip was not executed completely out of ,ndiD. A ORW RI WhH hDndsHW-cHnWric :i-Fi dHvHORSmHnW wRrk is handled out of here.
What’s the latest in the set-top box space?
Analogue cable is being shut off. It is going to get replaced with digital set-top boxes as per the mandate from WhH gRvHrnmHnW. ThH firsW Whing yRu dR whHn yRu gHW D sHW-WRS ERx is Wurn Rn WhH ERx Dnd sWDrW fliSSing chDnnHOs because this is what you are used to in the analogue world. YRu dRn’W gR WR D SrRgrDmmH guidH. YRu MusW fliS WhH chDnnHOs unWiO yRu find sRmHWhing inWHrHsWing. TwR-sHcRnd Rr WhrHH-sHcRnd fliS WimH is cRmmRn in WhH mDrkHW WRdDy.
Broadcom has invented a solution for fast channel zap. :H hDvH ErDndHd iW Ds sRmHWhing cDOOHd FDsWRTV, WhDW brings in a totally new paradigm to channel zapping.