Earlier this week, the team from SkyCross notified me of a new antenna product using its iMAT technology that allows simultaneous Bluetooth and Wi-Fi operation in netbooks. The issue is that both of these access technologies operate at 2.4GHz, and interference issues can make one function unusable while the other is in operation, especially if the antennas were near each other. (And, judging by the size of today's netbooks, this is very likely.)

The problem hasn't been chipsets that handle both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the hold up has been the antenna. SkyCross had found away around this roadblock with what it reports is the industry's first single-antenna for this application with better than 35dB isolation between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

I've talked to SkyCross in the past about its iMAT technology (which uses a single antenna element with multiple feed points). But, I wanted to know a bit more about this new product, so Joe Gifford, VP SkyCross obliged me. (Thanks Joe!)

TechBites: What inspired this product?
Gifford: Netbooks are a rapidly growing market segment. They are also the epitome of shrinking a device with increasing features and functions. Consumers expect that they should be able to use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth simultaneously so they do not want to sacrifice this functionality in the netbook form factor, although its size is not conducive to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth coexistence. With the growth of both netbooks and Bluetooth accessory products hinging on this challenge, SkyCross saw this as the perfect opportunity to leverage its iMAT technology in yet another application.

TechBites: What technical challenges did you have to overcome for this particular application of iMAT, and how did you do it?
Gifford: The biggest technical challenge with supporting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth simultaneously is space. Because 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth operate at 2.4 GHz, interference between the two RF signals previously made using both functions at the same time nearly impossible, particularly when the two antennas were in close proximity inside a device. iMAT was a natural solution to this problem. iMAT stands for isolated mode antenna technology and enables a single antenna element to be accessed by multiple feeds, each with very high isolation. For netbooks, we were able to achieve greater than 35 dB of isolation, which is enough for these two functions to coexist with high performance.

TechBites:What are its major competitive advantages?
Gifford: For consumers, iMAT antennas from SkyCross enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to operate simultaneously in small devices such as netbooks. Previously, customers were disappointed by netbooks that would disable one operation before starting the other or deliver Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with very poor performance. The iMAT solution enables 50 percent data throughput improvement and consumers can now use a wireless headset while making a Skype call, listen to wireless stereo speakers while streaming audio, or even use a wireless mouse or transfer pictures from one device to another while online.  

For the device manufacturers, iMAT not only enables them to please consumers with a differentiated, high performance netbook, but it also offers integration benefits. The iMAT single-antenna solution reduces the number of conventional antennas by a factor of three, which reduces antenna space and system cost in netbooks to facilitate supporting 3G features.

More on iMAT from SkyCross.