Qualcomm Dramatically Extends Wi-Fi Experiences to the 5G Era with 60GHz 802.11ay Solutions
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced a family of 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets, the QCA64x8 and QCA64x1, delivering 10+ gigabit-per-second (Gbps) network speeds and wire equivalent latency, while setting the industry low-power benchmark for extended device battery life.
As a new connectivity era dawns, reliance on high-bandwidth mmWave spectrum will increase, bringing powerful new wireless experiences like ultra-high-definition video streaming, Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR), mobile screen casting and fixed wireless mesh backhaul. Qualcomm Technologies’ 60GHz Wi-Fi portfolio has the flexibility to meet those challenging demands while harnessing unique capabilities that support new 60GHz Wi-Fi Sensing applications like proximity and presence detection, gesture recognitions, room mapping with precise location and improved facial feature detection. Qualcomm Technologies is the first-to market with a 60GHz Wi-Fi solution with optimizations based on the 802.11ay specification, enabling best-in-class 60GHz Wi-Fi speeds and unmatched coverage performance.
“mmWave holds enormous potential to support a new class of user experiences, and Qualcomm Technologies is leading the charge with both its Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X50 5G NR modem family and unlicensed 60GHz Wi-Fi mmWave solution,” said Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity and networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Our 11ay solutions were developed with the flexibility to support a broad ecosystem of smartphone, router or fixed wireless access platforms and provides the industry with the critical building blocks needed to take connectivity performance to the next level.”
Qualcomm Technologies’ industry-first family of 11ay 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets includes
QCA6438 and QCA6428 for infrastructure and fixed wireless access, and the QCA6421 and QCA6431 for mobile applications. Earlier this year, Qualcomm Technologies, and Facebook announced they are working together to deliver high-speed internet connectivity with Facebook’s Terragraph technology through the development of a multi-node wireless system based on the QCA6438 and QCA6428 chipsets. Distinct from the 2.4 and 5GHz bands commonly used in Wi-Fi networks all over the world, mmWave-based 60GHz Wi-Fi is a low interference, bandwidth-rich spectrum that delivers increased wireless capacity, multi-gigabit speeds, and ultra-low latency. These attributes make 60GHz Wi-Fi ideally suited across a wide range of wirelessecosystems spanning mobile, enterprise, outdoor backhaul, and the smart home.
“We are excited to work with Qualcomm Technologies to develop 60 GHz solutions based on Facebook’sTerragraph technology and Qualcomm Technologies’ chipsets,” said Anuj Madan, Product Manager at Facebook. “By enabling service providers to offer high-quality internet connectivity in dense urban and suburban areas, this collaboration supports our work to bring more people online to a faster internet.”
Empowered by double-digit gigabit-per-second speeds, this new family of solutions provides wire-equivalent latencies enabling new and exciting gaming and entertainment experiences such as 4K streaming, virtually lag-free mobile screen casting to an entertainment system and truly immersive wireless virtual and augmented reality experiences, all while providing high power efficiency to significantly extend battery life.
“As consumers all around the world are increasingly relying on mobile devices to power their gaming and entertainment activities, they expect seamless experiences powered by unrivalled speed and ultra-low-latency,” said Bryan Chang, General Manager of ASUS Mobile Business Unit. “Our latest line of Republic of Gamers (ROG) mobile devices are designed specifically to meet these high-performance mobile gaming needs while leveraging Qualcomm Technologies’ existing 60GHz Wi-Fi solutions. We are happy to see Qualcomm Technologies continue their innovation on 60GHz Wi-Fi technology.”
Signature attributes of 60GHz Wi-Fi go far beyond high performance throughput, as Qualcomm Technologies’new chipsets enable unique, always-on ambient Wi-Fi sensing capabilities, enabling devices to identify people, objects, movements and precise location without being affected by light conditions. Networking and mobile devices alike can take advantage of these new Wi-Fi sensing features to provide new and differentiated experiences to end users.
“802.11ay brings unprecedented connectivity for wireless devices, providing the best-to-date alternative to cable and fiber,” said John Tully, chief executive officer, MikroTik. “Qualcomm Technologies’ new family of 11ay 60GHz Wi-Fi solutions helps us enable countless new use cases across the Enterprise.”
