Closer Examination

There are two primary components of the HIVE wireless docking station, and the first is the Millitronic MG360 WiGig USB 3.1 Gen 1 adapter. This is a 110x59x17 mm part with a right-angled USB Type-A connector to connect to a Windows 10 64-bit system. It was originally designed to pair with existing wireless AD routers from NETGEAR, TPLink, and ASUS, and does effectively the same here, but with the docking station itself. It weighs all of 65 grams and will not fall out of a connected port, although the actual offset before the 90° rise is not much, and you may not have room if you have USB Type-A ports next to each other and one is occupied or at an angle. There is a status LED along the side, and the primary component inside is a 60 GHz radio capable of 2 Gbps throughput and quasi-360° beamforming with a maximum ERP (effective radiated power) of 20 dBm.

Millitronic rates the radio inside to be capable of 360° beam forming FOV on only the horizontal axis, and with a 70° vertical FOV, so keep this in mind should the unit be at a steep height up or down from the docking station. There is also an integrated 8 GB flash memory module, which allows the company to store the drivers installer as well as an installation guide and a video notification on the first setup process. It takes power via the 5 V line from the USB connection, with a maximum power draw of 2.5 W. In practice, the vents at the top do seem necessary as it gets warm to the touch.


The docking station also comes in a plastic wrap and is of course larger while still retaining a plastic housing to keep the weight low. It comes in at 185x121x40 mm and ~250 grams and has a wider base to keep it upright and stable. The HIVE docking station uses Millitronic's MLPB28DL3 series WiGig media server backbone with another 60 GHz radio but 180° beamforming horizontally and and 80° vertical FOV, so you have to have it facing the client device outward and can not just have it in the middle of a room of potential clients. There is a Linux-OS on the module with a hardware video decoder capable of driving media at 1080p and 60 FPS. The company also has a 4K/60 decoder-based media server backbone available, but chose not to use it here to presumably keep costs and latency lower. Going from left to right on the back, we see a VGA port, full-size HDMI port, RJ45 Ethernet jack, USB Type A 3.1 Gen 1 port, power input, and power and reset buttons. There are rubber pads on the bottom for grip and to ensure the dock is stable even with all the ports hooked up to cables.


In perspective, we now better see how small the dock truly is (or how large the adapter is, depending on your mindset). This is an extremely portable solution missing the USB connector capable of being rotated for a flatter profile of the adapter. In practice, you would generally connect the dock to your external display once and call it a day, with the adapter itself going from a client to another, or back into storage somewhere.