Single-chip, 2.

4/5 GHz, 3-stream

802.11a/b/g/n solution with
SST3 Technology
AR9380
Qualcomm offers the
industry's most innovative
and complete portfolio of
802.11n wireless LAN chip solutions.
Building on the companys Wi-Fi
leadership with enhanced performance,
higher integration, smaller formfactors
and lower overall cost to meet the
needs of todays 802.11n market.
Single-chip, 2.4/5 GHz, 3-stream
802.11a/b/g/n solution with SST3 Technology
AR9380
Technology Overview
Qualcomm offers the industry's most innovative and complete
portfolio of 802.11n wireless LAN chip solutions. This generation
of Qualcomms 802.11n technology builds upon the companys
Wi-Fi leadership with enhanced performance, higher integration,
smaller form factors and lower overall cost to meet the needs
of the rapidly growing 802.11n market. Like all Qualcomms 11n
solutions, the new fourth-generation solutions are compliant to
the IEEE 802.11n specification.
Qualcomm fourth-generation Wi-Fi solutions feature:
Leading Integration that delivers end-product cost and form
factors to drive broad market adoption of 802.11n products
Single- and Dual-Band, and Multiple MIMO Configurations that
enable OEMs to balance product price/performance for specific
applications and market segment requirements
Rich Media and Peripheral Interfaces that anticipate the
requirements for advanced media networking applications
and allow end-product feature differentiation
Easy Network Setup with the industrys simple network
configuration software that supports both the PIN and
push-button setup methods

Product Overview
AR9380 is the single-chip, dual-band (2.4/5 GHz), 3-stream 11n
solution with PCIe interface. It packs the breakthrough Signal Sustain
Technology 3 (SST3) technology that enhances the rate-over-range
(RoR) performance. SST3 is a set of advanced technologies and
features enabled by 802.11n including LDPC, TxBF and MLD.
The end result is an impressive increase in rate-over-range of
~+100% at short range, ~+50% at mid range and ~+25% at long range.
To reduce the manufacturing cost, AR9380 has successfully
integrated external components such as the 2.4/5 GHz LNA and PA,
switching regulators and EEPROMs. It has dramatically reduced the
RBOM and has made the board manufacturing easy and simple.
Despite its mighty performance and high degree of integration,
AR9380 consumes even less power in every operation mode
active TX, active RX, idle associated and sleep. It keeps the
notebook and other computing platforms running much longer
on a single battery-charge, while providing TCP throughput of
more than 300 Mbps when used in 3x3 mode.
AR9380 is also optimized for P2P applications compliant with
Wi-Fi Direct. With its Fast Channel Switch (FCS) feature, the
channel switching time between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz is reduced
from 10 ms to as little as 1 ms.
Solution Highlights
Single-chip, 802.11n-certifed WLAN solution with PCIe interface
- Support for 3-stream 11n MIMO
Conserves power with 1x1 downshift using
Dynamic MIMO Power Save
- Enables PHY rates of up to 450 Mbps
Features optional 11n elements to enhance rate-over-range including:
- Low-density parity check (LDPC) encoding
- Maximum likelihood demodulation (MLD)
- Transmit beamforming (TxBF)
- Maximal ratio combining (MRC)
AR9380 Architecture
PCI-Express GPIOs Serial
EEPROM
40 MHz
Crystal
2.4/5 GHz
Bias/Control
RX Radio
TX Radio
RX Radio
TX Radio
Host and Peripheral Interface
DAC
ADC
DAC
ADC
DAC
ADC
BB Filters
in/out MUX
Baseband
Frequency
Synthesizers
MAC/Cong
Control/
Memory
BB Filters
in/out MUX
RF Switch
RF Switch
LNA
PA
LNA
PA
RX Radio
TX Radio
BB Filters
in/out MUX
RF Switch
LNA
PA
Qualcomm Atheros is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and a leading provider of wireless
and wired technologies for the mobile, networking, computing and consumer electronics markets. Were focused
on inventing technologies that connect and empower people in ways that are elegant and accessible to all.

Our broad connectivity portfolio allows us to ofer our global customer base high-performance, end-to-end solutions,
featuring Wi-Fi

, GPS, Bluetooth

, FM, Ethernet, HomePlug Powerline and PON technologies. By leveraging substantial

expertise in RF, signal processing, software and networking we can deliver highly-integrated, low-power, system-level
solutions that enable developers to create high-performance, diferentiated products.
For more information, please visit us online @ qca.qualcomm.com
2013 Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. All rights reserved. Qualcomm is a registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated.
Atheros is a registered trademark of Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. All other registered and unregistered trademarks are the
property of Qualcomm Incorporated, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., or their respective owners and used with permission.
Registered marks owned by Qualcomm Incorporated and Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. are registered in the
United States and may be registered in other countries.
AR9380-11-4-13
master QC logo (c:100, m:60, y:0, k:0)

AR9380
Single-chip, 2.4/5 GHz, 3-stream 802.11a/b/g/n solution with SST3 Technology
Reference Design Highlights
HB112
Half Mini Card form factor
Compliant with PCI-Express Mini Card 1.1 standard
Driver support for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Linux
Worldwide regulatory compliance
XB112
Full Mini Card form factor
External Front End Module (FEM) for increased Tx power
Compliant with PCI-Express Mini Card 1.1 standard
Driver support for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Linux
Worldwide regulatory compliance
AR9380 Specifications
Frequency Band 2.4/5 GHz
Network Standard 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
Modulation Technology OFDM with BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM,
64 QAM; DBPSK, DQPSK, CCK
FEC Coding Convolution Code
Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC)
Hardware Encryption AES, TKIP, WEP
Quality of Service 802.11e
Host Interface PCI-Express
Peripheral Interface GPIO

Supported Data Rates IEEE 802.11a 6 - 54 Mbps
IEEE 802.11b 1 - 11 Mbps
IEEE 802.11g 6 - 54 Mbps
IEEE 802.11n 6.5 - 450 Mbps