Silicon Image Develops Super-Small WirelessHD Chip

By Kevin Parrish
published

This is the first single-chip 60 GHz WirelessHD mobile transmitter for tablets and smartphones for beaming HD-quality video directly to an HDTV.

Silicon Image said on Monday that it has developed the industry's first single-chip, ultra-low power 60 GHz WirelessHD mobile transmitter for smartphones and tablets. Called the UltraGig 6400, this chip integrates a 60 GHz RF transceiver, baseband processor, and embedded antenna array into a single IC package. The result is a chip that can wirelessly send high-definition video from a mobile device to a large WirelessHD-compliant display via a cable-like connection, but without the annoying wires.

The chip's 60 GHz RF transceiver employs beamforming, or spatial filtering, a technique used for directional signal transmission and reception. The majority of a signal's energy transmitted from a compatible device is directed in a chosen angular path. Tom's William Van Winkle said it best back in 2009: "you’re controlling the output characteristics of each transmitter within a transmitter array so that the overall signal is optimized to reach a given receiver in a given direction."

Silicon Image said the chip's integrated high-performance baseband network processor ensures that high-quality HD video can be transmitted with near-zero latency (less than 5ms) and without consuming host processor resources. It also not only has a low-power profile, but measures an ultra-small 10-mm x 7-mm, simplifying system integration while eliminating the need for discreet antenna placement.

The new Silicon Image chip includes support for video resolutions up to 1080p full HD with multi-channel audio, full compatibility with Silicon Image Gen3 and all WirelessHD 1.1 compliant receivers, and standard video and control interfaces to popular mobile application processors. This complete WirelessHD solution, according to the company, is ideal for for mobile gaming and interactive video applications.

"By offering superior performance in an ultra-small form factor package, the UltraGig 6400 establishes a new benchmark for mobile HD video wireless connectivity," said Jim Chase, director of marketing of the wireless division at Silicon Image, Inc.  "Mobile devices powered by the UltraGig 6400 will be able to take advantage of a cable-like wireless video connection to other devices in the growing WirelessHD ecosystem."

The UltraGig 6400 mobile 60 GHz WirelessHD transmitter is currently sampling to mobile device manufacturers.

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Kevin Parrish
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • freggo
    10x7mm, the size if a finger nail to make this happen... It is quite amazing how far engineering of these chips has come.
    Reply
  • TeraMedia
    That's rather impressive. 60 GHz means a wavelength of ~5 mm, so a 1/4 wavelength antenna can fit several times on a 10 x 7 mm chip. Pretty amazing that this works, given the max switching/transition speed of Si-based transistors.
    Reply
  • IndignantSkeptic
    Does the stream have to be lossy compressed?
    Reply
  • Onihikage
    Holy smokes. This basically makes it possible to use a PC monitor or TV as a second/alternate screen for your mobile device. Which basically means a Windows 9 or 10 phone could literally be all you needed - use mouse/keyboard/monitor at home, then "sleep" your phone and take it all with you, just to link them back up at work or a friend's house. Very nice to have a single chip to make it possible.
    Reply
  • alidan
    OnihikageHoly smokes. This basically makes it possible to use a PC monitor or TV as a second/alternate screen for your mobile device. Which basically means a Windows 9 or 10 phone could literally be all you needed - use mouse/keyboard/monitor at home, then "sleep" your phone and take it all with you, just to link them back up at work or a friend's house. Very nice to have a single chip to make it possible.
    if we also stagnate everything for 5-7 years also, they may be just powerful enough to match a mid range intel chip

    seriously, the internet changed so much that my old P4 when it was new could handle websites, but by the end... it couldn't even handle one site open at a time without crapping itself.

    -------------

    that said, i want to know if this is as good as the wiiu version which transmits the info from the wiiu to the tablet with less latency than the wired connection to the tv.
    Reply
  • rosen380
    My secondary work machine is a P4-3.6 with 1GB of RAM and it can handle internet and Office tasks just fine; it is mostly used with a remote desktop connection to a more power machine, but that is more because the databases it deals with are offsite and I am remote'ing in to that location.

    I'd guess that a format and fresh OS install would get your P4 back to being a solid machine for internet/email and other basic duties.
    Reply
  • alidan
    rosen380My secondary work machine is a P4-3.6 with 1GB of RAM and it can handle internet and Office tasks just fine; it is mostly used with a remote desktop connection to a more power machine, but that is more because the databases it deals with are offsite and I am remote'ing in to that location.I'd guess that a format and fresh OS install would get your P4 back to being a solid machine for internet/email and other basic duties.
    the motherboard on that machine crapped out after i believe 5 years of 24/7 use.

    and it wasn't a os thing, i fresh installed that every so often, but 1 youtube video, it would make it it 100% utilization on even the lowest setting, lets strip flash out altogether, a few websites without flash would also bring the processor to its knees.

    that doesn't but even than, i still used it like it was i5
    Reply
  • Onihikage
    9436554 said:
    if we also stagnate everything for 5-7 years also, they may be just powerful enough to match a mid range intel chip

    seriously, the internet changed so much that my old P4 when it was new could handle websites, but by the end... it couldn't even handle one site open at a time without crapping itself.

    -------------

    that said, i want to know if this is as good as the wiiu version which transmits the info from the wiiu to the tablet with less latency than the wired connection to the tv.

    There's only so much processing that we will ever need done at any given time. The lower computing and power limitations of mobile devices are causing a shift in how people develop applications, there's more emphasis on efficiency rather than relying on more powerful hardware to mitigate resource hogging apps. There will still be plenty of use for desktops when it comes to developers and enthusiasts, but I think the average user will be satisfied with the computational ability of a phone-sized device 10-15 years from now. Come on, a $400 phone today can do what a midrange laptop could 8 years ago. A midrange laptop today is enough for anyone who isn't gaming or producing (though a midrange laptop today can even render video without much difficulty, if it has the RAM), and have you seen the graphics that some of these mobile games are starting to show off? Once you get past a certain level, one just doesn't really *need* any more computing power.

    Give it a decade, maybe two, it will happen, especially with the kind of tech this article talks about, and with the unified kernel that Windows is moving towards.
    Reply
  • rosen380
    The P4 I have here, with youtube, was hitting about 50-60% utilization when playing a video-- once it was done buffering , it dropped to ~10%.

    The P4 seems capable of handling it, maybe a hardware fault on your machine? Granted, the P4 I have here is one of the more recent ones . The earliest P4s have a Passmark of just 164
    Reply
  • sumpm1
    Okay. With 5ms latency audio, we should be able to replace bluetooth with this right?
    Reply