Qualcomm Latam Summit 2020 shows the full potential of 5G mmWave

The technology 5G soon to be the new standard in network connectivity for mobile devices. This evolution of 4G LTE promises up to 20 times faster speeds, stability and greater coverage area. With that in mind, the Qualcomm held this Wednesday (23/09) the Qualcomm Latam Summit 2020 revealing news about its new technologies and proposals for using 5G.

5G technology and its applications at the Qualcomm Latam Summit 2020

Qualcomm has provided a wealth of information on how the company intends to implement and use future infrastructure and technologies. 5G, in addition to your modems Snapdragon X55 and X60, fully compatible with the new generation of mobile connectivity.

5G intends to serve a connected world that demands higher data traffic speeds. To give you an idea, it is estimated that the amount of data sent and received on the Internet is 25 exabytes for mobile and impressive networks 111 exabytes for wired networks. 1 Exabyte is equivalent to 1024 Terabytes.

Qualcomm and 5G mmWave

5G is the next step in the evolution of Internet technology for mobile devices, succeeding LTE 4G to which we have been connected since 2010. However, few know that there are two types of 5G networks: the mmWave, corresponding to the super fast 5G that most users and companies know and intend to implement, and the sub-6GHz, the 5G that most people will experience at the beginning of this new generation of mobile connection.

As many know, smartphones transmit voice and data over the air using electromagnetic radio frequencies, with these frequencies arranged into different frequency bands. Some of these bands have more capacity than others and are able to provide information more quickly, which is the case with mmWave ("millimetric Waves", millimeter waves, in English).

A mmWave refers to higher frequency radio bands ranging from 24 GHz to 40 GHz, while Sub-6 GHz refers to medium and low frequency bands below 6 GHz. Low frequency bands are below 1 GHz, while medium bands range from 3,4 GHz to 6 GHz and are not considered mmWave.

the networks 5G mmWave are ultra-fast, but also ultra-short-range. to use technology mmWave, you need to be within about a block of a 5G tower, which is not feasible in suburban and rural areas. The spectre mmWave it is also blocked and obscured by doors, windows, trees, and walls, further limiting its available range, and because it requires so many turrets for cover, it is expensive to deploy.

Due to its limited range, access to mmWave spectrum has only become possible over the last few years due to technological advances made by companies such as Qualcomm, which have provided an adaptive beam and miniaturization of complex antenna processing functions, and mmWave is still a nascent technology that is in the process of being adopted.

However, currently the USA, Japan, South Korea e Australia already have infrastructure for the implementation of 5G mmWave, with the China, Europe e Latin America soon getting this kind of technology. Qualcomm's primary focus on expanding network coverage 5G mmWave is to invest in IoT (“Internet of Things”, Internet of Things), enabling the adoption of smartphones, smart devices and 5G-compatible hotspots.

In addition, 5G mmWave aims to reach the maximum potential of consumer experiences (concerts, streaming and virtual conferences, immersive learning in classrooms), high-density connectivity (football matches), industrial (precise positioning, monitoring in 4K, telemedicine) and games (multiplayer games).

It is important to note that mmWave 5G offers greater bandwidth, alleviating network congestion and having speeds up to 20 times faster than 4G.

In crowded areas, LTE speeds can decrease due to the number of connected devices, while mmWave technology is able to handle a greater number of connections without significant speed drops. For this reason, you may see mmWave configured in crowded areas where network congestion is an issue, such as at sporting events, airports, concerts, and other places where many people gather, as well as in urban areas.

5G FWA

Fortunately, there are ways to overcome the physical limitations of 5G mmWave. FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) allows network operators to provide ultra-high-speed broadband to urban and rural areas, supporting domestic and commercial applications where fiber-optic infrastructure it is very expensive to install and maintain.

As such, 5G FWA employs standardized architectures and common mobile components to deliver ultra-high-speed broadband services to residential subscribers and business customers.

With 5G FWA, Qualcomm provides a competitive alternative to fixed-line DSL, cable and fiber in all markets. This provides the means by which urban and rural consumers can receive the bandwidth needed to support high-definition streaming services and high-speed Internet access.

Snapdragon X55 modem

Launched in 2019, the modem Snapdragon X55 da Qualcomm is fully compatible with the new connectivity technology created by 5G mmWave (in addition to the variant 5G FWA). This modem can already be found on the chipset Snapdragon 865 for smartphones.

This modem's modern system is compatible with virtually any combination of 5G spectrum bands and the sub-6 and mmWave modules. In addition, the device features high performance for connectivity with Wi-Fi 6.

Snapdragon X60 modem

Also revealed in February of this year, the modem Snapdragon X60 da Qualcomm promises to be fully compatible with the new 5G mmWave technology. In addition, the modem will use a technique called Carrier Aggregation (“Track Aggregation”, in free translation). The purpose of this approach is to increase the rate of data sent and received from a user, where multiple frequency blocks are assigned to the same user. That is, allow the simultaneous use of bands to maximize data throughput.

Using this technique, Qualcomm's proposal with the Snapdragon X60 is that it will provide the network operator with high flexibility and high performance in the use of 5G. In this way, the modem will allow a greater capacity of transmitting and receiving data and a wider coverage.

The future of 5G with Qualcomm

A Qualcomm already has practically all of its strategy ready for when 5G becomes the most used mobile network in the world. The company wants to invest heavily in IoT and in the diverse business and industrial applications that this new mobile technology provides. Capable of handling the growing demand of data traffic and use of the available frequency spectrum, the modems of Qualcomm bring cutting-edge technology to provide high connectivity and performance.

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