Support

I’m interested in doing a design based on your Wi-Fi chip

Roving is ready to support customers wishing to design in our Wi-Fi silicon.  However, before considering a chip based development, one needs to understand the magnitude of effort required.  

Doing a chip design requires expertise in RF board layout,  2.4Ghz antennas, power supplies and enclosures.  Chip level designs typically take at least 9 to 12 months to get to market and need multiple HW spins to get correct. Roving Networks Wi-Fi SOC needs to be calibrated. This requires building a custom testing and programming test jig. Such a test Jig will cost between $10,000 to $15,000.  Even the most experienced engineering teams will need Roving support and possibly co-development assistance, depending on the level of assistance this may include NRE fees. Another consideration of doing a chip design is certifications, FCC, CE, and IC alone will run $20,000 to $25,000. Wi-Fi alliance certification is work and cost.  In short, the development costs of doing a chip design make the breakeven point between chip based products and those using a fully certified module to be about 100,000 units.

Typically, most customers find starting with a module, such as the RN-171 is the quickest and most economical route to getting a product to market.  Then as volumes ramp, they consider designing in the SOC.