Silicon Labs' complete PoE portfolio provides the perfect power for 5G small base stations

Silicon Labs announced the launch of its complete Power over Ethernet (PoE) portfolio, designed to reduce design cost and complexity when adding 90W PoE to power supply devices (PSE) and power received devices (PD). The new 90W PoE portfolio is compliant with the IEEE 802.3bt standard, which more than doubles standard PoE power and expands the capabilities of wireless access points and IoT wireless gateways. The higher power capabilities offered by this portfolio help enable POE-powered 5G small base stations and digital buildings.

Brian Mirkin, vice president and general manager of Power products at Silicon Labs, said: "The Silicon Labs 802.3bt PoE portfolio delivers higher power, superior integration, and more advanced features to help developers simplify system design while meeting stringent power, size, and cost budgets. The new PoE portfolio covers both ends of the Ethernet cable from 15W to 90W, giving developers flexibility for a variety of PSE and PD applications."

The 802.3bt portfolio includes three new PSE and PD products:

● The Si3471 PSE controller is the industry's first fully autonomous 90W single-port, 802.3bt compliant power supply solution. The Si3471 easily adds 90W of power to a single port mid-span or "injection." It automatically manages all the nuances associated with the 802.3bt standard. The Si3471 requires no external host MCU, firmware download, or software programming and can be easily configured using three digital I/O pins. The small 38-pin 5 mm x 7 mm QFN package and simple BOM help reduce system design costs and complexity.

● The Si3474 four-port Ethernet PSE controller can power up to four 90W 802.3bt PoE ports or eight 30W 802.3at/af PoE ports, providing a universal solution for industrial and commercial Ethernet switches and security logging devices. The Si3474 supports running in full power autonomy mode on each port, or in host mode, which enables developers to manage power through a fully functional regist-mapped I2C interface. The Si3474 is available in a 56-pin 8 mm x 8 mm package and features an industry-standard pin arrangement.

●The Si34071 single-chip PD solution combines an 802.3bt interface with an integrated, efficient DC-DC converter to achieve more than 90% end-to-end efficiency. The Si34071 includes a simple 9600 baud rate UART interface for connecting to the system MCU. The Si34071 delivers high power to 5G small base stations, wireless access points, and IoT gateways. The best partner for the Si3471 PSE controller, the Si34071 is available in a small 32-pin 5 mm x 5 mm QFN package.

Jonathan Sohnis, CTO of Altronix, a global leader in power and data transfer solutions, said: "Silicon Labs' new 90W solution helps us simplify our single-port PoE design for the emerging high-power PoE market. Silicon Labs' outstanding technical support has enabled us to lead the market with the latest high-power PoE technology."