The new Synaptics SYN4381 Triple Combo SoC and its supporting SynFi software simplifies product development and reduces time to market, while accelerating the transition to seamless, secure, and scalable connectivity between devices across heterogeneous smart home networks, regardless of platform, OEM, or brand.
The typical smart home comprises connected devices from multiple vendors with a variety of wireless interfaces and communication protocols. Device developers choose these for their suitability to specific functions, such as high-speed video or data (Wi-Fi), low-power sensor and control networks (802.15.4 with Zigbee or Thread), or point-to-point communication for audio or file transfers (Bluetooth). That these devices cannot interoperate is a constant source of frustration for end users as it prevents them from fully enjoying the promise of a seamlessly interactive smart home.
Instead of forcing developers and end users to choose between the various RF interfaces or “walled garden” brand ecosystems from Google or Amazon, the SYNA4381 Triple Combo combines all three primary interfaces and adds support for Matter. Matter is a unified, standards-based communication protocol that once deployed across all devices enables secure interoperability—regardless of which network the devices use. For example, the user can control window blinds connected to a Zigbee network using commands given to a smart speaker running over the home’s Wi-Fi network.
Now developers can focus on their application instead of the intricacies of inter-platform communication, thereby simplifying development and accelerating device time to market. End users, for their part, get simplified setup and seamless control of all their smart home devices.
The SYN4381 has industry-leading Wi-Fi performance, with Wi-Fi 6E data rates up to 600 Mbps, as well as transmit power and receive sensitivity that together enable sustained high throughput over an extended range for full-home coverage. Along with proximity detection using HADM, its fully featured dual-mode BT 5.2 radio supports best-in-class Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/802.15.4 coexistence performance. Built-in support for the Thread networking protocol allows devices using the SYN4381 to connect to a smart home’s secure, low-power mesh network, while acting as a Thread Router node. The SynFi wireless stack allows developers to use the same software across Triple Combos and future Synaptics Wi-Fi/BLE/802.15.4 chipsets, further reducing overall time to market.
"Synaptics is an established leader in Wireless Combo solutions today with excellent traction at our customers for a wide range of applications such as multimedia streaming, gaming, surveillance cameras, and drones, just to mention a few,” says Alex Chou, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Connectivity Division at Synaptics. “The Triple Combo is the next logical step toward a seamless user experience, while providing industry-leading performance across three of the most popular and widely used networking technologies in the smart home. We expect the market to quickly begin the transition to Triple Combos with launches expected by the end of 2022.”
The SYN4381 (1x1 Wi-Fi 6/6E, 600 Mbps PHY layer) Synaptics Triple Combo is a 16nm ultra-low-power SoC comprising a IEEE 802.11ax-compliant WLAN radio that supports 2.4/5/6 GHz operation and legacy 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, on-chip power amplifiers (PAs) and low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), with support for external PAs and LNAs, as well as multipoint external coexistence interface for LTE, GPS. The SoC also supports Bluetooth 5.2 with Bluetooth low energy (LE) isochronous channels, LE audio, A2DP support, host encryption key size control, and HADM for accurate distance measurement. The third connectivity option includes support for Thread/Zigbee using IEEE 802.15.4-based standard enabling cross-platform interoperability and ultra-low-power mesh networking and security features.
Synaptics will implement Matter interoperability and security support for the SYN4381 Triple Combo SoC, which is sampling now.
www.synaptics.com
