Datasheet for Qualcomm Atheros AR9271

Highly integrated single-chip USB with 802.11n support.

Product Overview
The Qualcomm AR9271 single-chip USB solution provides enhanced Wi-Fi performance and value for home gateways, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, printers and a variety of other embedded wireless products. The solution can also be integrated into wireless USB adapters for notebooks and desktops, to enable simple, low-cost performance upgrades on legacy PCs. The AR9271 WLAN USB single chip features a new architecture that integrates both a CPU and memory to run more of the wireless LAN function on-chip. Unlike competitive 11g and 11n USB solutions, the Qualcomm integrated CPU offloads the wireless processing overhead from the host appliance. This design breakthrough enables consumer electronics devices with host processors not originally intended to support wireless functions, to now offer robust Wi-Fi performance. With the AR9271’s innovative host offload capability, the WLAN operates autonomously and enables the main device application to operate seamlessly.