Reference design for multi-gigabit 802.11ac Wave 2 WLAN access points
This BOM-optimized reference design features OCTEON III CN7130 high-performance low-power quad core processor, Quantenna 802.11ac 4×4 MU-MIMO radio, Aquantia AQrate 2.5/5G PHY, 802.11 a/b/g/n 3 x 3 MIMO radio and Power over Ethernet (PoE) capability.
The reference design delivers multi-gigabit MU-MIMO wireless throughput along with robust secure transport and unique hardware-accelerated deep packet inspection capabilities for application layer security. The modular design is future-proofed to enable smooth upgrades to the next-generation 10G Wi-Fi.
The number of mobile devices simultaneously accessing the corporate network and wireless broadband providers is exploding. Additionally, with the rapid adoption of BYOD and Hotspot 2.0, the security vulnerabilities in existing wireless networks are under increased threats. The ability to authenticate hundreds of users using large key sizes, securely transport data, and provide deep packet inspection (DPI) at multi-gigabit rates is crucial to keep the users and the enterprise safe. These access points also operate in thermally challenging environments with minimal airflow, placing increased requirements for low-power, thermally optimized solutions.
Powered by OCTEON III CN7130 processor with quad high-performance 64-bit processing cores as well as hardware-accelerated DPI and IPsec/DTLS security support, the reference design has the performance to handle these security threats at the multi-gigabit data rates required by 802.11ac Wave 2 while remaining in a very low-power envelope.
“An increasing amount of intelligence is being added to the edge of enterprise WLAN networks to better address the rapidly-growing security, flexibility and scalability needs,” said Steve Klinger, Senior Director, Infrastructure Processor Group, Cavium, Inc. “We are excited to partner with Quantenna and Aquantia to provide an optimized, turnkey platform that enables our OEM/ODM customers to rapidly deliver differentiating products meeting these stringent market needs.”
Cavium’s reference design enables 2.5 and 5 Gbps data rate support on legacy Cat 5e and Cat6 cabling, significantly lowering the system upgrade cost for deploying 802.11ac Wave 2. This provides matching Ethernet backhaul from the access point.
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