Mobile World Congress is the time of the year when major announcements of the wireless communication industry happen in Barcelona. It is an annual event that brings together leaders and innovators in the mobile industry from around the world. Qualcomm had a lineup of announcements and technology demonstrations this year too. Let's have a quick round-up of all the announcements from Qualcomm around connectivity and the Snapdragon ecosystem in this story from MWC23.
Also Read: Deutsche Telekom Updates From MWC23
1. Advanced 5G and towards 6G
Qualcomm says its Snapdragon X75 5G modem-RF system is the world's first integrated 5G AI processor with a dedicated tensor accelerator. Qualcomm has presented its advanced wireless R&D prototypes and technology demonstrations, including AI-enabled end-to-end communication, Expansion into new spectrum bands making new higher-band spectrum viable for future deployments, Cellular air innovations, Precise positioning and RF sensing, Wide-area IoT evolution (Newly announced Snapdragon X35, a brand new 5G Modem-RF system supporting NR-Light (RedCap) Standard), Private Network Innovations, and Advanced automotive connectivity at the event.
2. Viettel and Qualcomm Introduce new 5G Open RAN solutions
Viettal, a Vietnamese operator and original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and Qualcomm introduced new 5G Open RAN solutions featuring Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms. Trial of Viettel's 5G Distributed Unit (DU) and Radio Unit (RU) based on the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform, respectively, is expected in the second quarter of 2023 and commercial launch is expected in the fourth quarter of 2023.
3. Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform
Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Auto 5G Modem-RF Gen 2, the latest addition to its Snapdragon Digital Chassis connected car technology portfolio, and is expected to be commercially available in late 2023.
4. Qualcomm to Bring Snapdragon Satellite to More Smartphones
Qualcomm announced its collaboration with Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi to develop smartphones with satellite communication capabilities using Snapdragon Satellite. Read more about the Satellite Communication capabilities in the story link below.
Also Read: Qualcomm to Bring Snapdragon Satellite to More Smartphones
5. New NEC virtualized distributed unit (vDU) solution
NEC introduced the latest 5G vDC (virtualized distributed unit), powered by the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card, HPE ProLiant DL110 Platform, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
6. Announced Globally Certified Snapdragon Module Reference Designs
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X75, X72, and X35 5G M.2 and LGA Reference Designs with an aim to make 5G readily available for various product segments such as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), compute, gaming, and more. Qualcomm said this product portfolio offers OEMs a turnkey solution, globally certified to work with 5G networks from all key mobile network operators worldwide.
7. 5G Private Network
Schneider Electric, Capgemini, and Qualcomm announced their collaboration on a first-of-its-kind 5G-enabled automated hoisting solution. The 5G Private Network solution from Schneider Electric's industrial automation system showcases its ability to simplify and optimize the deployment of digital technology at scale across industrial sites, ranging from steel plants to ports, by replacing wired connections with wireless and unifying existing wireless connections.
8. Mavenir and Qualcomm Announce AI-Powered Massive MIMO Radio
Mavenir and Qualcomm announced the launch of OpenBean massive MIMO (mMIMO) 32TRX Active Antenna Unit (AAU), featuring the Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN platform. Read more about it from the link below.
Also Read: Mavenir and Qualcomm Announce AI Powered Massive MIMO Radio
9. To develop a virtualized distributed unit (vDU) with Dell
Qualcomm announced plans to collaborate with Dell to develop a next-generation 5G vDU, integrating the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card into Dell PowerEdge servers.
10. Leverage Snapdragon Spaces
Qualcomm is collaborating with operators, such as CMCC, Deutsche Telekom, KDDI Corporation, NTT QONOQ, T-Mobile, Telefonica, and Vodafone, to develop new XR devices, experiences and developer initiatives, with Snapdragon Spaces at the forefront.
11. Accelerate Edge Computing
Qualcomm announced a collaboration with American Tower to advance network architecture and accelerate near-edge applications. This agreement between Qualcomm Technologies and ATC Edge (American Tower) aims to address evolving needs of edge use cases, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, 5G, Cellular Vehicle-To-Everything (CV2X) and autonomous system operations, among others. The initial use case is focused on demonstrating the capabilities of an energy-efficient intelligent edge server based on Qualcomm's QCS8250 chipset and hosted at an American Tower Edge Data Center.
12. First GSMA Compliant iSIM
Qualcomm and Thales announce the certification of the world's first commercially deployable iSIM (Integrated SIM) on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform, enabling the functionality of a SIM within a smartphone's main processor. In addition, the security certification from GSMA (Global Association for the Mobile Communications Industry) ensures that the iSIM meets the same high standards of cyber-protection and flexible "anytime anywhere" connectivity as the latest generation of embedded SIMs (eSIMs).
13. 5G Broadcast Applications
Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm delivered the world's first interactive multimedia emergency 5G broadcast demonstration. 5G broadcast system and 5G communication network offer users with radio and TV programs, provide video on demand, live sports, and other services.
14. First 5G Carrier Aggregation using 5CC
Nokia, Qualcomm and T-Mobile achieve industry first showcase of successfully aggregating the 5G Standalone (5G SA) spectrum using 5 Components Carrier (5CC) aggregation in sub-6 GHz spectrum. Read more about it from the link below.
Also Read: 5G SA Carrier Aggregation With 5 Component Carriers Achieved
15. 5G Upload Speed of Over 1.6 Gbps
Singtel, Ericsson and Qualcomm announced the achievement of a maximum upload speed of 1.6 Gbps on a 5G millimeter wave. Read more about the achievement from the link below.
Also Read: Singtel, Ericsson and Qualcomm Achieve Over 1.6 Gbps 5G Upload Speed on mmWave
16. Wi-Fi 7
2023 makes it the first year of Wi-Fi 7. Qualcomm talks about its Wi-Fi 7 portfolio and advancements in technology. Says its Immersive Home Wi-Fi 7 platforms are purpose-built for the home and designed to blanket every corner of the home with multi-gigabit connectivity and wire-like stability. The extreme throughput and ultra-low latency provided by next-generation Wi-Fi 7 will become essential for work and play.
17. Qualcomm and Quectel Showcase ML/AI Solution
Qualcomm and Quectel, a global IoT solutions provider, showcased the Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (ML/AI) solution for smart modules. This solution can enable various use cases, including dashcams, surveillance, manufacturing line management, etc. The ML/AI solution for smart modules uses a Qualcomm QCM6490 chipset and Quectel smart module SG560D.
That is it from Qualcomm at MWC23. See you next time.
