Enrico Salvatori had already said it, president of Qualcomm Europe, in an interview granted to Italian.Tech on the occasion of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: “With 2G, 3G and 4G networks we have worked to connect human beings. With 5G, on the other hand, we work on connecting objects ”.
And it is precisely around the connection of devices, but more specifically, the quality of the same, the effectiveness, and the resolution of the problems that these new and more complex challenges entail, that the most important announcements of the Qualcomm’s 5G Summitannual meeting organized by the American company to take stock of the situation on this technology.
Among other things, the meeting has returned in physical version after two years of forced distanceas if to reiterate that yes, smart and remote work is useful, but the exchange of ideas is better done in person, especially when the strength of a technology lies in the people behind it.
The analysis
Cameras, 5G, schools: China uses technology to infiltrate Western democracies
by Emanuele Capone
15 March 2021
A 5G that goes beyond the smartphone
Here we are not just talking about telephones, however: Salvatori had reiterated this, but it is clear even more in the introduction of the speech by Qualcomm CEO, Cristiano Amon, who opens the Summit dances by saying that we will talk about 5G, but also of un 5G “beyond phones”therefore not restricted to the confines of smartphones and the connection useful for communicating, connecting to the Internet, posting a photo on social networks.
A 5G needed to create a connection between “billions of devices”, between metaverse, services, computers, private networks and more still. And Qualcomm wants to become a kind of facilitator, a link between these devices, to the point of wanting to go from being a chip maker to a “connected processor manufacturer”.
On the stage of San Diego (the city that hosts the enormous headquarters of the company) in fact, partners and companies from the most disparate sectors have alternated. There was Verizon, which is among the main operators on American soil, but not to talk about telephone offers or line quality, but how, through 5G, they have made the Phoenix Suns headquarters smarter, a basketball team that has gone from an average of 20 victories per championship to 51. How? Also thanks to targeted training, to devices capable of calculating and analyzing the performance of each individual athlete, offering information on how to perfect shots and tactics. Again, changing the ball and discipline: how it is now possible to go to the stands to see a football game, and enjoy it in every detail on the phone thanks to a series of camerasallowing each user to manage their own direction, without latency or slowdowns of any kind.
Or again, Stellantis, to reaffirm the partnership not only between Qualcomm and the automotive sector, but also between 5G and technological progress, both hand in hand with that of the automotive sector itself. One of the many partnerships signed and announced in recent months, first for Maserati or Ferrari, then also for BMW.
Beyond the panels, many of which can be recovered on demand on Qualcomm’s YouTube channelhowever, some announcements, related to products, services and chip improvements and types of connection, were the masters, some brand new, others related to not exactly recent news.
Snapdragon X70 5G Modem-RF e Smart Transmit 3.0
The first and most important concerns it Snapdragon X70 5G Modem-RF, which in reality has already been unveiled at the last Mobile World Congress: it brings 5G modem-antenna solutions to the fifth generation, adding pieces to what the American giant has done with previous generations (X50, X55, X60 and X65). This is the first “system” (as Qualcomm defines it) to offer a 5G processor capable of exploiting artificial intelligence: an almost inevitable step, which gives the chipset a whole series of suites designed to perfect every aspect, and to allow it to improve without compromising its performance, especially from the point of view of energy consumption (which always remains the needle of the scale, having to take this into consideration when aiming to offer increasingly powerful connectivity).
In Qualcomm’s intentions, AI will help reduce latency, boost downloads, peaking 10 Gbps (already achieved in reality with the previous X65), but above all the upload, which can reach up to 3.5 Gbps. But it will also offer a lot of versatility, guaranteeing the support of all commercial 5G bandsfrom 600 MH up to 41 Ghz, so as to allow the various operators to push the quality of connections to the maximum, without incompatibility problems or bottlenecks.
The real news, however, lies in the support for standalone mmWave technology, therefore without the need to rely on sub-6GHz frequencies (thus arriving at a range that goes between 24GHz and 40Ghz). A result that in practical terms translates, according to the tests of the San Diego company, into taking only 34 seconds to download a 2-hour movie in 4K definition (in ideal conditions, therefore maximum reception, no obstacles or completely saturated bandwidth from other uses), reaching a peak of 8.3 Gbps.
However, it shouldn’t take too long to test the benefits of this technology: the first devices equipped with Snapdragon X70, always according to Qualcommshould arrive on the market by the end of 2022, reducing the usual gap by about a year that until now went from the announcement to the marketing of new processors.
Another technology with which the Snapdragon X70 is compatible is the Smart Transmit 3.0, designed to extend the 5G coverage and improve the uplink speed, necessary to reach the 10 Gbps peak thanks to the optimization it offers (also thanks to AI). What it does is take advantage of a modem-antenna system that intelligently optimizes the uplink speed when the connection is actually used, offering a boost that it activates when needed and deactivates when there is no upload or download of data. Once any process is finished, the technology returns to focus on classic coverage only, therefore without straining the battery and consuming precious energy. The real novelty of version 3.0, however, lies in the support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth frequencies.
Engines
Qualcomm brings 5G to Stellantis cars: it starts with Maserati
by Vincenzo Borgomeo
April 14, 2022
A 5G with an eye on robots
Among the billions of devices that 5G connects, it should be remembered, there are also real robots, designed to improve and make human life and work more effective. With the upgrade of 5G, inevitably also improve everything that exploits it to perform calculations and transfer data and information on the cloud and other devices, and Qualcomm expands its offer by announcing the Robotics RB6 platform and the RB5 AMR Reference Design, which through solutions supported by 5G and Edge-AI, in the intentions of the company, aim to improve the autonomy of robots, their productivity, and more generally their capabilities. Be they robots designed for home deliveries, for improve air and urban transport, for logistics and so on, up clearly to drones, transport and / or defense. A necessary step towards the so-called Industry 4.0, towards which humanity is headed, made not only of automated devices, but connected and as intelligent and autonomous as possible in the performance of their tasks.
Specifically, the Robotics RB6 platform will guarantee manufacturers to connect machines to 5G, supporting the sub-6GHz and mmWave bands in all types of networks (both corporate and private). It also improves processing capacity via artificial intelligence, with support for 70-200 Tops (trillions of operations per second). Reference Design is the first AMR project to offer integrated AI and 5G capabilities at an advanced leveland will mainly benefit commercial, corporate and industrial robot manufacturers.