Qualcomm Technologies recently unveiled its latest products with 5G technology, namely the Snapdragon X75 and X72 5G Modem-RF Systems, which feature Qualcomm’s 6th generation modem-to-antenna connectivity solutions. The new systems come with new architecture, a new software suite, as well as overall improvements to coverage, latency, and power efficiency, to name a few.
While most folks will recognize Qualcomm for its Snapdragon mobile chips found in smartphones, the company has also put in a considerable amount of time, research, and investment into 5G technologies, which has resulted in some impressive hardware. Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon X75 is the first Modem-RF System with a dedicated hardware tensor accelerator in the form of the Qualcomm 5G AI Processor Gen 2, and also introduces Qualcomm 5G AI Suite Gen 2 with new AI-powered optimizations for optimized performance.
Qualcomm’s Durga Malladi, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Cellular modems and Infrastructure states:
“5G Advanced will take connectivity to a whole new level, fueling the new reality of the
Connected Intelligent Edge. Snapdragon X75 Modem-RF System demonstrates the full breadth of our global 5G leadership, with innovations such as hardware accelerated AI and the support for upcoming 5G Advanced capabilities, which unlock a whole new level of 5G performance and a new phase in cellular communications.”
The Qualcomm 5G AI Suite features AI-based capabilities including the world’s first sensor-assisted
mmWave beam management and AI-enhanced GNSS Location Gen 2, which Qualcomm says optimizes the Snapdragon X75 for superior 5G performance. The X75 also comes with several other features including:
• 10-carrier aggregation for mmWave, 5x downlink carrier aggregation, and
FDD uplink MIMO for sub-6 GHz bands
• Converged transceiver for mmWave and sub-6 paired with new Qualcomm QTM565
fifth generation mmWave antenna
• Qualcomm Advanced Modem-RF Software Suite
• AI-based sensor-assisted mmWave beam management
• Qualcomm 5G PowerSave Gen 4 and Qualcomm RF Power Efficiency Suite
• Qualcomm DSDA Gen 2 support for 5G/4G Dual Data on two SIM cards simultaneously
• Qualcomm Smart Transmit Gen 4 with support for Snapdragon® Satellite
In addition, Qualcomm also announced its Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 3, which the company boasts as the “world’s first fully integrated 5G Advanced-ready fixed wireless access (FWA) platform” with support for mmWave, Sub-6 GHz, and Wi-Fi 7 support, and 10Gb Ethernet capability.
The platform comes built-in with a quad-core CPU and dedicated hardware acceleration with support for 5G cellular, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Additionally, the Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 is also aimed at delivering improved internet speeds wirelessly over 5G to rural, suburban and dense urban communities.
Other features of the Qualcomm FWA Gen 3 include:
• Converged mmWave-Sub-6 hardware architecture
• Qualcomm Dynamic Antenna Steering Gen 2
• Qualcomm RF Sensing Suite
• Qualcomm Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 with support for up to 320MHz channels
• Flexible software architecture with support for multiple frameworks, including OpenWRT and RDK-B
• Support for both 5G Dual-SIM Dual Active (DSDA) and Dual-SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) configurations.
