Wavesat Receives Technology Leadership Award for OFDM Chip Innovation and its Overall Contributions to WiMAX

Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, Advances in Wireless Communications Technologies - WiMAX, selected Wavesat, Inc. as the recipient of the 2005 Technology Leadership Award in recognition of the company's significant contributions to improving and advancing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) chip technology.

OFDM is emerging as a key technology for broadband wireless networks and applications used by (WiMAX), which is a key driver for the high-speed proprietary broadband wireless access for point-to-multipoint market.

Each year the Technology Leadership Award is given to a company that has pioneered the development and introduction of a technology, which has either impacted or has the potential to impact several market sectors. The Award recognizes contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change, competitive posture, and technology commercialization.

The most stringent limitations to wireless transmission are line of sight constraints and unpredictable channel conditions. OFDM is a high performance near line of sight and channel optimization technology and Wavesat has been the first to develop and demonstrate point-to-multipoint OFDM for broadband wireless access in non-line of sight environments.

Wavesat started an OFDM modem project in 1997 and successfully introduced the first prototype based on digital signal processor (DSP) technology in 2000. Its chip is, in essence, the sixth generation OFDM modem. The first two generations were based on DSP technology and next two on staggered pin grid array (SPGA) technology. Wavesat's scientific team, which comprises of several top PhDs and researchers, has patented several innovations related to equalization, synchronization, and error correction complex algorithms that are essential to OFDM performance.

OFDM is a very spectrally efficient technique to transmit wireless data. It permits digital signals to be sent out simultaneously on multiple radio frequency (RF) carrier waves, allowing non-line of sight operation. It is also resistant to multipath effects that degrade the overall received signal and have been a challenge to the deployment of wireless broadband systems.

"While OFDM technology's complexity and relatively high cost have prohibited widespread commercialization until recently, advancements in integrated circuit technology have made possible the design of cost-effective OFDM modems," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Arjun Chokkappan. "OFDM's technical advantages translate directly into benefits for both service providers and customers."

For the system manufacturers to widely adopt the broadband wireless access IEEE 802.16 standard compliant chipset, the architecture must be flexible enough to protect the manufactures' business models. Wavesat's chipsets (DM series) meet all these manufacturing requirements. In fact the main features of Wavesat's DM256 architecture are its high degree of flexibility and ease of use.

"Being the first component company in the world with working OFDM chips, Wavesat sustains its edge by paying close attention to customer needs," notes Chokappan. "Rather than showing the customer what needs to be done, the company follows a two-way feedback."

Thus, Wavesat's OFDM chipsets not only comply fully with the Stanford University six mathematical models for non-line of sight performance evaluation, but are also the most efficient. These chipsets deliver superior performance in harsh channel conditions and help reduce cost of RF implementation. For these unique achievements, Wavesat is the deserving recipient of the 2005 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Leadership.

About Wavesat

Founded in 1993, Wavesat Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company focused on the development and supply of baseband chips for WiMAX compliant systems. Wavesat is headquartered in Montreal, Canada where it conducts research and development activities. Wavesat is a privately held company. Key investors include, BDC Venture Capital, Monet Capital, Multiple Capital, Pac-Link Management Corp., Skypoint Capital Corporation, Solidarity Fund QFL and Sunsino Ventures Group.

Wavesat is a Principal member of the WiMAX Forum, a nonprofit corporation formed to certify the compatibility and interoperability of Broadband Wireless devices conforming to the 802.16 wireless MAN and ETSI HiperMAN specifications and to help accelerate the introduction of these devices into the marketplace.

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