Qualcomm Atheros Introduces QCA7500 HPAV2 Powerline Solution with MIMO Capabilities
by Ganesh T S on October 21, 2013 11:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Networking
- Powerline Adapters
- Qualcomm Atheros
In October 2012, Qualcomm Atheros introduced their first HomePlug AV2 (HPAV2) solution in the form of the QCA7450/AR1540 chipset. It did boast of theoretical speeds up to 500 Mbps, but lacked support for all the MIMO profiles.
Today, Qualcomm Atheros is announcing the QCA7500 HPAV2 solution to deliver gigabit-class performance using existing electrical wiring. The QCA7500 is highly integrated, with no need for an external AFE (analog front end). An integrated 2x2 MIMO AFE line driver reduces system cost. It also includes TR 069 remote management support. The MIMO feature comes with optimized beamforming coefficients. As expected, kits based on the QCA7500 will be interoperable with the already installed HomePlug solutions.
The QCA7500 has an operational frequency band between 2 and 68 MHz and boasts compatibility with IEEE 1901 and HPAV, and pre-compliance with HPAV2. 128-bit AES encryption is available along with a hardware QoS engine. An integrated ARM1156 CPU manages the Ethernet and HPAV2 subsystem and interfaces with the rest of the SoC components.
Qualcomm Atheros has been promoting the Hy-Fi hybrid networking solution heavily over the past couple of years. They claim that the QCA7500, coupled with the VIVE 11ac solutions will be compliant with the nVoy / IEEE 1905.1 hybrid networking standard.
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lokhor - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
I'm using a TP-Link AV500 (TL-PA411) in my house and it usually only achieves speeds ~100mbps. This will be a nice upgrade.menting - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
I won't expect a huge increase. But hopefully I'm wrong.nkl - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
The maximum PHY rate is double. Depending on setup you should see a hefty increase. Coverage should also improve substantially.SpaceRanger - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
I have those same units in my house. Provides just enough bandwidth for my kids computers. Web browsing and Minecraft don't eat up that much bandwidth.. :)MadMan007 - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
For anything not on a LAN, 100mbps really ought to be enough for household networking because (at least in the vast majority of the USA) ISP bandwidth is lower than that anyway.djscrew - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
cool, but I want to know so much more... do a full Anandtech workup please! <3jojo45 - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
How much would devices using these cost? Am I better off investing in 802.11ac? That also boasts "up to" speeds of greater than 1 Gbps.nkl - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
The speeds may be similar, but you should be able to get a better coverage with powerline. Speed above 1Gbps is a phy metric, the actual throughput depends on many factors. In any case, MIMO should boost performance substantially, since it uses 3 wires instead of 2.jmaier - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
With MiMo you can expect a PHY rate of ~ 1.5Gbps and a UDP throughput of ~ 600Mbps. There are only 2 line drivers therefore only 2 wires will be used (2x2).mide123 - Thursday, December 3, 2015 - link
2 line drivers implies 2 transmitters. But it could have up to 4 receivers with the 3 wires. So I expect it to work as 2x4 MIMO.