Wireless LAN revolution: from silicon to systems

Advances in silicon technology have brought forth the tremendous success of the modern-day wireless industry, demonstrating a 40% yearly growth in the cellphone industry. The wireless local area network (wireless LAN) has also expanded its deployment in recent years. To increase the performance and to serve various usage models, the wireless LAN industry has proposed a few standards. These approaches, however, are only a small step forward in comparison to what is achievable with current-day CMOS technology, not to mention what will be possible with next-generation processes. The new era of wireless LAN will be built on a combination of breakthroughs in wireless signal processing and the ever more powerful CMOS processes to deliver a ubiquitous wireless fabric, allowing connectivity of a multitude of computation and consumer devices incorporating a variety of data rates and quality of service.