Qualcomm Technologies Inc. has announced several new 5G Advanced–ready innovations, gearing up for the next generation of 5G applications. These include the Snapdragon X75 with 3GPP Release 17 and Release 18 features, claimed as the industry’s first 5G Advanced modem-RF system. The sixth-generation modem-to-antenna solution is set to drive new opportunities across a range of industries, including automotive, compute, fixed wireless access, industrial IoT, mobile broadband, private networks and smartphones.
The Snapdragon X75 debuts a new modem-RF architecture and software suite with a converged mmWave and sub-6-GHz transceiver and new mmWave antenna module, the QTM565. The software-upgradeable modem RF delivers up to a 20% power savings, a 25% smaller footprint and up to a 40% reduced eBOM compared with a previous RF transceiver, plus a mmWave IF subsystem, while simplifying design, according to Qualcomm.
The company also unveiled the Snapdragon X72 5G modem-RF system, a 5G modem-to-antenna solution targeting mobile broadband applications. It supports multi-gigabit download and upload speeds. Also launched is the Qualcomm Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Platform Gen 3, claimed as the first fully integrated 5G Advanced–ready FWA platform for 5G fixed internet access, powered by the Snapdragon X75.
Snapdragon X75 modem-RF system
Building on the previous X70, X65, X60, X55 and X50 solutions, the Snapdragon X75 brings lots of performance improvements with a new modem-RF architecture, hardware-accelerated AI and support for upcoming 5G Advanced capabilities. The platform supports 3GPP Release 17 and is ready for Release 18 features.
“This platform is a big step ahead in terms of how we are positioning ourselves for the next phase of 5G,” Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager for cellular modems and infrastructure at Qualcomm, said during a virtual product briefing. “We have designed this modem-RF platform specifically looking ahead and thinking about all the concepts that we want to drive into the ecosystem based on 5G Advanced.”
Fueling the next generation of connectivity, the modem-to-antenna solution brings a new modem-RF architecture and software suite as well as a number of first features that deliver improved coverage, latency and power efficiency.
Click for a larger image. (Source: Qualcomm Technologies Inc.)
Snapdragon X75 is the first modem-RF system with a dedicated hardware tensor accelerator, the Qualcomm 5G AI Processor Gen 2, which is said to enable over 2.5× better AI performance compared with the Gen 1 processor.
The new platform also launches the Qualcomm 5G AI Suite Gen 2, designed to deliver better speeds, coverage, mobility, link robustness and location accuracy. The AI suite claims the industry’s first sensor-assisted mmWave beam management and AI-based GNSS Location Gen 2, which optimizes the Snapdragon X75’s 5G performance and offers up to a 50% improved location-tracking accuracy (compared with non-AI-based location tracking).
The Snapdragon X75 is the first modem RF with sensor fusion for mmWave beam processing. “It’s a combination of sensor plus modem plus RF front end, fusing all of that information for the best possible mmWave beam forming, which allows us to get much better mmWave robustness in addition to improving the range of mmWave-based deployments,” said Malladi.
Other firsts claimed include 10-carrier aggregation for mmWave, 5× downlink carrier aggregation and FDD uplink MIMO for sub-6-GHz bands as well as a converged mmWave and sub-6-GHz transceiver, along with the new QTM565 mmWave antenna module.
Malladi said three key aspects of the platform are the convergence of mmWave and sub-6 GHz in the transceiver, the 5G AI processor Gen 2 (first introduced with the X70) with a dedicated tensor accelerator, and satellite communications with the Snapdragon Satellite direct-to-satellite connectivity.
Qualcomm sees the convergence of mmWave and sub-6 GHz as another step forward in terms “of optimizing the performance, getting the best out of the solution as a modem-RF platform and bringing the power consumption in the right place, while at the same time mixing and matching both sub-6-GHz and mmWave bands in a more elegant manner,” said Malladi. “It’s the first converged architecture that exists out there today.”
The second generation of 5G AI processors is the first dedicated tensor accelerator, specifically for AI-based algorithms, “as we bring them to our modem-RF platform and in the next generation of performance in 5G deployments,” said Malladi. “It is a big accomplishment from that perspective, and it is also a commitment toward thinking in terms of 5G and AI hand in hand.”
The Snapdragon X75 also leverages Qualcomm’s 5G PowerSave Gen 4 and RF Power Efficiency Suite for extended battery life and Smart Transmit Gen 4 for fast and long-range uploads, which includes support for the new Snapdragon Satellite.
Malladi said the X75 brings the next generation of 5G performance and spectrum flexibility thanks to several improvements, including 10-carrier aggregation for mmWave, 5× carrier aggregation for sub-6-GHz bands and 5G uplink MIMO.
The new 5G Advanced modem-RF platform brings “unmatched spectrum flexibility,” he said.
In terms of spectrum flexibility, there are now multiple ways of achieving those multi-gigabit data rates, which include the 5× downlink carrier aggregation in the sub-6-GHz spectrum, FDD + FDD uplink carrier aggregation and uplink MIMO in the FDD spectrum, he added.
The X75 is the first platform that will showcase the 5× downlink carrier aggregation, which is a “pretty important feature,” and the FDD uplink MIMO, said Malladi. “This is the first time the uplink MIMO is brought into the FDD spectrum, and it is a huge boost in terms of the overall throughput by up to 50%.”
This is “in combination with the fourth generation of our PowerSave platform [5G PowerSave Gen 4], always making sure that we have a tight leash on the power consumption, and the fourth generation of Smart Transmit, which allows us to minimize the total amount of power that we actually need on the uplink,” he said.
Malladi said from a mmWave perspective, the new platform provides 10 component carrier aggregation, up from eight; increased the modulation order on both sub-6 GHz (1,024 QAM) and mmWave (256 QAM) and includes the RF Downlink Boost for finetuning and optimizing the RF front end.
Other key features highlighted include a switched uplink, which provides the ability to switch between TDD and FDD and Smart Network Selection Gen 2 that leverages user context, DSDA Gen 2 5G/4G dual-data support and advanced interference cancellation.
Snapdragon X75 is currently sampling, with commercial devices expected to launch by the second half of 2023.
FWA Platform Gen 3
Powered by Snapdragon X75, Qualcomm also introduced its FWA Platform Gen 3, claiming the “first fully integrated” 5G Advanced–ready FWA platform with mmWave, sub-6 GHz and Wi-Fi 7 support, including 10-Gb Ethernet capability.
Qualcomm said the advanced capabilities, fueled by a quad-core CPU and dedicated hardware acceleration will deliver multi-gigabit speeds and “wire-like” latency to almost all home devices. It’s also expected to help mobile operators deliver fast internet speeds wirelessly over 5G to rural, suburban and dense urban communities.
Click for a larger image. (Source: Qualcomm Technologies Inc.)
Key features of the FWA platform include a converged mmWave and sub-6-GHz hardware architecture as well as Qualcomm’s Dynamic Antenna Steering Gen 2 with improved self-install capabilities, RF Sensing Suite for indoor mmWave CPE deployments and Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 with support for up to 320-MHz channels and Multi-Link operation. It supports both 5G Dual-SIM dual active (DSDA) and Dual-SIM dual standby (DSDS) configurations.
Malladi said fixed wireless access is one of the biggest growth segments, and with the Gen 3 platform, it brings even more capabilities, supporting sub-6 GHz, mmWave, GNSS and Triband Wi-Fi 7, accelerating indoor mmWave deployment.
The platform also adds the second generation of 5G RF Sensing, which “makes sure we transmit at the power levels that are necessary for that [environment], while meeting all regulatory constraints,” Malladi said.
“We expect that with this platform and the flexibility that it brings, it will accelerate the overall global adoption of 5G-based fixed wireless,” he added.
The Gen 3 FWA also delivers increased coverage through extended range mmWave, thanks to the Qualcomm QTM567 mmWave antenna module, and extended range sub-6 GHz with eight receiver antennas and support for power class 1.5 (PC 1.5).
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