Qualcomm Unveils Release 16 5G Open RAN Platform for Small Cells

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced its second-generation Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx), the industry’s first 3GPP Release 16 5G Open RAN platform. The new platform brings major enhancements to RF with its support for all commercial global mmWave and Sub-6 GHz bands, including the new n259 (41 GHz), n258(26 GHz) and FDD bands. Building on growing commercial momentum with FSM100xx, this next generation platform is primed to take powerful mmWave performance to more places, indoors and outdoors, and around the globe, while, in parallel, introducing new Sub-6 GHz opportunities with small cell densification in public and private networks. These feature advancements and new spectrum support aim to drive unprecedented mobile experiences, accelerate 5G performance and availability to users worldwide, and reshape opportunities for homes, airports, stadiums, hospitals, offices, and manufacturing facilities. Additionally, with its Release 16 support, the new platform is designed to power the transition to the factory of the future with its support for features, including Enhanced Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (eURLLC) that are critical to controlling equipment and machines.

Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx) features include:

• Cutting edge technologies with unmatched data speeds, capacity, and global band support: Designed for extending mobile 5G mmWave coverage and power efficiency, the 3GPP Release 16 Modem-RF solution offers data speeds of up to 8 Gbps with 1 GHz bandwidth support on mmWave and support for wider 200MHz carrier bandwidth. The Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx) is also designed to support spectrum aggregation of 200 MHz of Sub-6 GHz spectrum across FDD and TDD delivering data speeds of up to 4 Gbps. This solution combines performance with power efficient and small form factor designs.
• Flexible and open architectures: The Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx) is designed to support open and virtualized RAN combined with open interfaces to facilitate scalable and cost-effective 5G RAN networks spanning mmWave and Sub-6 GHz. Additionally, the Open RAN (O-RAN) compliant offering is designed to support all key 5G functional split options allowing for the disaggregation of the RAN into standards-based and interoperable modular components, which provides OEMs and operators enhanced deployment flexibility. Overall, the flexible and open architecture is poised to foster innovation across the 5G infrastructure ecosystem, from start-ups to small and large companies, accelerating the transition to infrastructure 2.0 and the adoption of 5G private networks.
• Leading power efficiency for enterprise grade: Leading 4nm process node offers power efficiency, high performance and reliability while being designed to address challenging power, cost, and size requirements for indoor and outdoor deployments. With its lower power operation, the Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx) enables Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, which is designed to allow utilization of power and backhaul from one source, which simplifies deployments and reduces cost. It also is designed to facilitate small form factor designs for indoor deployments in offices, factories, and public venues.  

The Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx), the industry’s first 3GPP Release 16 5G Open RAN platform, aims to help power the factory of the future and accelerate the transition to industry 4.0 with its support of features, such as eURLLC to provide low latency and link reliability (up to 99.9999%) needed for factory automation and mission critical control of equipment and machines. This platform is designed to address the demands of 5G, including public and private networks, indoor and outdoor mmWave and Sub-6 GHz deployments, industrial automation, and more.

The new platform is designed to deliver seamless connectivity in crowded environments, like airports, venues, hospitals, and train stations and enable established and emerging vendors to accelerate the deployment and commercialization of open and virtualized 5G RAN networks. The ultimate goal is to have end users benefit from low latency communications and enhanced experiences across a variety of connected mobile devices.

Further information on ARC’s forecast for 5G and Private Wireless in the industrial cellular router market can be found here