Intel is struggling to meet market expectations for wireless broadband, and today warned device manufacturers to be patient and avoid rushing into adopting unworkable solutions based on multiple radio components.

The chip maker is devoting significant research and development resources to solving the problem of providing laptop, handheld PC and smartphone makers with the small form factor silicon they need to match customer demand for high-speed, mobile wireless broadband internet access from any device and location.

But it must first deliver new communications chips that will accommodate Wi-Fi, WiMax, Bluetooth, ultra wideband (UWB) and other wireless technologies into a single device, while solving interference and power consumption issues and providing access to services provided in different radio frequency wavebands across the world.

“If you think that as an OEM you can buy a WiMax radio from this manufacturer, a Wi-Fi radio from another and Bluetooth from another, for example, and stick them all in a laptop and they are just going to run, you are not going to get a very good product in the end," said Kevin Kahn, Intel senior fellow and director of the Intel communications technology lab, who was speaking at today’s Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. “Mixing and matching components does not work very well – you need to either co-ordinate the radio [to access different frequencies] or integrate multiple radios on one chip.”

“Delivering high performance in dense wireless environments is a big challenge, and what Intel is doing with multi-mode wireless is key to increasing bandwidth and coverage in high-density environments,” added John Du, general manager for Intel’s China research centre.

Intel has developed prototype chips that can be reconfigured to switch across different wireless bands and services. These are based on embedded antennae that listen to only one part of a band to minimise interference problems; tunable power amplifiers that boost only specific frequencies to improve signal strength and connection reliability; and co-ordination techniques that ensure multiple radios never operate simultaneously.

It will be some time before these chips will be commercially available though, while Intel must work closely with the IEEE to ensure the required interoperability across various Wi-Fi and WiMax standards, including 802.11n, 802.16e and 802.16f.