As Qualcomm President Christiano Amon said, the significance of this new announcement is that such a solution from modem to RF and across the millimeter wave and below 6 GHz is making mobile 5G networks and terminals ready, 5G will leave the user One step closer.
As we all know, due to many technical and design challenges, millimeter-wave signals have not been used in mobile wireless communications. These challenges cover almost all aspects of terminal engineering. Shen Lei, senior director of Qualcomm product market, accepted the "Communication Industry News" in July. On the 23rd, Qualcomm officially announced the world's first fully integrated 5G new air interface millimeter wave and 6GHz RF module for smartphones and other mobile terminals. QTM052 millimeter wave antenna module series and QPM56xx 6GHz RF module series. Both can be paired with Qualcomm's Opteron X50 5G modem to provide multiple functions from modem to antenna and across frequency bands, and support compact package sizes for mobile terminal integration.
As Qualcomm President Christiano Amon said, the significance of this new announcement is that such a solution from modem to RF and across the millimeter wave and below 6 GHz is making mobile 5G networks and terminals ready, 5G will leave the user One step closer.
As we all know, due to many technical and design challenges, millimeter-wave signals have not been used in mobile wireless communications. These challenges cover almost all aspects of terminal engineering. Shen Lei, senior director of Qualcomm products market, is accepting the "Communication Industry News" The reporter said in an interview that the millimeter wave has a high bandwidth and can better meet the 5G high-speed application scenario, but the propagation performance is limited, which is reflected in the regulatory requirements of materials, dimensions, industrial design, heat dissipation and radiated power. In view of this, many people in the mobile industry believe that the application of millimeter waves in mobile terminals and networks is impractical and unrealizable.
Thanks to Qualcomm's deep accumulation in the field of wireless communications, engineers are gradually making this band realistic and usable.
According to Qualcomm, the QTM052 millimeter-wave antenna module works with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem to form a complete system to cope with the enormous challenges of millimeter waves. As a complete system, it supports advanced beamforming, beam steering and beamforming. Tracking technology to significantly improve the coverage and reliability of millimeter-wave signals. The system includes an integrated 5G new air interface radio transceiver, power management IC, RF front-end components and phased antenna array, and can be used at 26.5-29.5GHz (n257 And support for up to 800MHz bandwidth on the full 27.5-28.35GHz (n261) and 37-40GHz (n260) millimeter wave bands.
Most importantly, the QTM052 module integrates all of these features into a compact package size that supports up to four QTM052 modules in a single smartphone. Shen Lei told reporters that Qualcomm considers OEM Manufacturers need to balance performance and cost. OEMs can choose 1-4 modules for installation. The antennas on each module work together to form beamforming to maintain high-quality signal transmission.
The millimeter wave is suitable for providing 5G coverage in dense urban areas and crowded indoor environments, while the extensive coverage of 5G new airspace will be achieved through the frequency band below 6GHz. In view of this, QPM56xx RF module series (including QPM5650, QPM5651, QDM5650 and QDM5652) It can help smartphones equipped with Snapdragon X50 5G modem to support 5G new air interface in the frequency band below 6GHz. QPM5650 and QPM5651 include integrated 5G new air interface power amplifier (PA) / low noise amplifier (LNA) / switch and filter subsystem. QDM5650 and The QDM5652 includes an integrated 5G new air interface low noise amplifier/switch and filtering subsystem to support diversity and MIMO technology.
All four modules support integrated channel sounding reference signal (SRS) switching to provide optimal massive MIMO applications and support 3.3-4.2 GHz (n77), 3.3-3.8 GHz (n78) and 4.4-5.0 GHz ( N79) Bands below 6 GHz. These RF modules below 6 GHz provide a viable path for mobile terminal manufacturers to support 5G new air interface massive MIMO technology in mobile terminals.
It is understood that at present, QTM052 millimeter wave antenna module series and QPM56xx 6GHz below RF module series are being sampled to customers.
In recent years, the gross profit margin of mobile phone chips has continued to decline, while the mobile phone radio frequency (RF) front-end module and component market has developed rapidly. In 2016, its market size was 10.1 billion US dollars, and it is expected to reach 22.7 billion US dollars by 2022. 14% .
Therefore, many chip manufacturers are extending to the RF + chip integrated solution, horizontally expanding into the industry, rushing to eat big cakes.
Qualcomm is adding more RF pre-business actions, and constantly strengthens its own RF technology. In 2014, Blacksand acquired the PA market. In 2016, it joined forces with Japanese electronic component manufacturer TDK to form a joint venture company into the filter market and began to RF for the 5G era. Front-end technology is laid out in advance. In February 2017, Qualcomm introduced the new RF front-end solution RF360, which provides a complete solution from modem to antenna.
It is reported that a wide range of RF front-end platform products include gallium arsenide (GaAs) power amplifiers (PAs), envelope trackers, multimode power amplifiers and modules, RF switches, independent and integrated filter modules, and coverage cells. Antenna tuner for other connection technologies. Among them, power amplifiers, filters and antennas are the main technologies of RF front-end.
Shen Lei stressed that compared with Skyworks, Qorvo and other RF giants, Qualcomm has its own modem, which is a core differentiation advantage compared to third-party RF component manufacturers. In addition, at the Qualcomm Technology Summit held in January 2018 , Qualcomm and Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, Lenovo four mobile phone manufacturers signed a cross-year purchase order for RF front-end solutions. In the next three years (2019-2021), the four mobile phone manufacturers will purchase a total value of not less than 2 billion US dollars The RF front-end components, which also provide a good boost and window for Qualcomm to develop RF services.
As Amon said, the release of Qualcomm's module is an important milestone in the mobile industry.