MURRAY HILL, N.J.--Lucent Technologies Inc.'s R&D arm, Bell Labs, here today said it has designed two prototype chips that enables wireless data at 19.2-megabits-per-second.
The chips are based on a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) wireless network technology, dubbed Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST).
BLAST uses multiple antennas at the terminal and base station to send and receive wireless signals at ultra-high speeds. When utilized in base station equipment and mobile devices, it permits higher-speed mobile data connections for notebook PCs and handheld data devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs).
Lucent is also working to speed the commercial introduction of MIMO by deploying the technology on its family of Flexent OneBTS basestations. The company also plans to license the chips' designs to mobile handset, PC card and other device manufacturers that may be interested in integrating MIMO into future products.
"There has been a scramble around the world to put MIMO in silicon," said Ran Yan, vice president of wireless research at Bell Labs, in a statement. "We believe ours are the world's first chips that can be used in handsets with four antennas, and therefore the first capable of such high transmission speeds."
