Xu Wei stated that 5G is in the third era of the communications revolution—connecting all things and transforming many industries; at the same time, artificial intelligence has also made great breakthroughs. Both have many similarities, and the technical concept has existed for a long time. For example, 5G millimeter-wave technology has been used in radars and other military applications before, but it has not ushered in a real outbreak. While 5G is ready to explode, deep learning has also made great breakthroughs. Therefore, the future of 5G and artificial intelligence will be closely linked. Our industry and life will have a great influence.
At present, independent networking and non-independent networking have just been completed. Qualcomm has already conducted multiple interactive tests with multiple operators and equipment vendors as a chip supplier. The purpose is to reach the design standard by the end of 2019 when 5G is commercially available. According to the report, 5G is not commercialized overnight. '4G has at least 10 years of standards. After the first generation of 5G standards is completed, there will be new iterations of standards.' In terms of deployment, 5G will be introduced in some hot spots or regions. Large-scale promotion to various places.
What is the difference between 4G and 5G? Xu Wei cited a network experiment in Frankfurt. In the same position, the speed of the 4G network is about 56 Mbps, and the speed of the 5G network is increased by 8.8 times, reaching 493 Mbps. Even weak signals at the edge of the cell. Next, 5G can also reach 184Mbps, which is 9.2 times that of 4G network.
In other words, in the same high-density use environment, 5G can bring faster speeds. This can bring more applications, such as VR. In fact, VR technology has been for many years, limited by delay and speed. The experience it has brought to us has always been very poor. Wearing a VR device will make any time delay dizzy. 'Every time we turn around, if the picture does not come immediately, we can feel the delay, and we will feel dizzy, 5G. This kind of low delay and high speed can do what you really want.
In addition to the improvement of traditional application experience, Qualcomm is also committed to mining new use cases and making full use of the features of 5G networks.
The first is spectrum sharing, spectrum sub-licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum. The authorized spectrum refers to spectrum allocated to operators such as China Mobile. The unlicensed spectrum mainly includes Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is characterized by any person. Can use this spectrum to put their own equipment. Xu Wei told us: 'We are advancing the shared spectrum. After we have used up all the spectrum, how to make the spectrum sharing is the direction of R&D.'
The second direction is the industrial network. Now the factory network operations are all connected by wires and are reliable enough. In the 5G era these lines will be replaced by wireless. Once the reliability of 5G networks reaches the standard of Ethernet, all networks The demand is connected by wireless, which will have a great influence on the vertical industry in the future.
The third industry affected is automobiles. In the intermediate steps from traditional cars to unmanned vehicles, 5G plays an important connecting role. Between the future cars, between cars and pedestrians, between cars and infrastructure. Linkage, this is the C2X technology. I can know in advance what speed the car will turn when the driver has not seen it yet; if there is a pedestrian, if he has a dog.
All of these are very helpful for autopilot. In addition to the high reliability and low latency of 5G technology, there are also many artificial intelligence needs. Nowadays the most used identification is video recognition processing, one is radar. Therefore, Qualcomm is also active. Combine 5G and artificial intelligence to exert the effect.
Qualcomm is pushing the edge of artificial intelligence to put the perceptions, actions, and inferences that we previously handled in the cloud on mobile devices such as mobile phones. The information collected by our mobile phones and microphones is directly processed on the end directly, rather than being transmitted to the cloud. More effective, more time-delayed and more reliable.
The artificial intelligence that can be done in the terminal can be placed on the terminal as much as possible. If it cannot be realized through the terminal, it can be rapidly transmitted to the cloud through the 5G network, and the cloud and the terminal can be effectively connected to effectively allocate resources. The judgment will be decided or reasoned on the cloud to do it. It is still done at the terminal. In the end, everybody’s mobile phone has artificial intelligence. In addition to connecting the cloud and the end reliably, it is also necessary to apply artificial intelligence to the mobile phone, which is very effective and has a low level of energy integration. Qualcomm is in the direction of 5G and artificial intelligence.
Senior product marketing director Shen Lei said: '5G is a revolutionary wireless technology upgrade, social and economic transformation, mobile phone is the largest computing platform, mobile phone is just a vertical industry, after all, mobile phones, many industries will increase productivity, we Think 5G is to promote the vertical industry.
When 4G was just released, it was far from thinking of applications beyond our imagination. Social media, networks, mobile methods, and radical changes in everyone’s lifestyle. After 5G came, it will surpass the mobile phone industry, automotive, and industrial control. , Remote and medical fields will be changed by 5G.
Qualcomm's survey shows that 86% of respondents need or are willing to use faster connections on the next smart phone; 50% of respondents are interested in buying after the 5G mobile phone is listed, and consumers are calling for 5G mobile phones. The soonest arrival.
Shen Lei said that Qualcomm's research on 5G has made 10 years of low-level input, and feedbacks the research and development results to the standardization organization. After verifying whether the paper technology meets expectations, Qualcomm has invested in many interoperability tests and actively developed semiconductor chips. The first-generation 5G chip X50 will provide samples in June 2018. Based on the X50 chip, 20 mobile phone manufacturers have entered the stage of device development, 18 operators have entered the deployment phase, and the first 5G mobile phones will be released in 2019. .
However, 5G mobile phones still face many challenges. For example, the design of mobile phones is constantly evolving. The space for RF devices is getting smaller and smaller. The antenna performance and space size are directly proportional to each other. However, we will use mobile phones to watch video streams for a long time, such as high-speed railways. For use in high-speed sports environments or in very dense buildings, we also need to ensure high-quality calls and data transmission. Therefore, the design requirements for mobile phones are also increasing.
In addition, various frequency bands roaming in mobile phones are experiencing explosive growth. There are 50-60 frequency bands, and a mobile phone covers a very large number of frequency bands. This is also a challenge. Other challenges include power consumption and heat dissipation, which will be more difficult to handle in the 5G era. .
This requires the mobile phone chip has several capabilities, such as mobile phone space is getting smaller and smaller, the chip must be highly integrated, made modular, shorten the development cycle and input costs; all front-end devices must be closely coupled with the Modem.
Due to the difficulty in coordinating work among multiple manufacturers, Qualcomm has the industry's most complete RF front-end for the past few years, integrating modular capabilities, providing system-level optimization, significantly increasing efficiency, and achieving high-quality 5G handset R&D.
The vision of 5G is very attractive, the time is very urgent, and the challenges are also enough. In the commercialization of 5G, Qualcomm is still seriously exploring and pushing forward.