SAN DIEGO, Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- To address the
increasing demand for mobile data, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a
subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is extending LTE
to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U), and today announced that it has
integrated the technology into its latest small cell solutions
and RF transceivers for mobile devices. Qualcomm Technologies also
announced that it successfully completed over-the-air testing to
prove co-existence between multiple LTE-U and Wi-Fi access points
in the unlicensed spectrum under extreme load conditions. Qualcomm
Technologies will showcase its new solutions with a number of LTE-U
demonstrations at Mobile World Congress, March 2-5 in Barcelona,
Spain.
"As the Internet enters a new phase of growth, in which more
devices are connected and share richer data, there is a need to
cost effectively address the challenges of a 1000x increase in
mobile data traffic. To do this, we need a combination of more
spectrum, more efficient use of existing spectrum, and more small
cells," said Matt Grob, executive
vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and chief technology
officer. "Our job is to help the industry make the best use of all
available spectrum, using both LTE and Wi-Fi technologies, to
increase capacity."
Extending LTE Advanced to unlicensed spectrum helps operators
meet increased capacity needs and enhance their mobile broadband
services. LTE-U is designed to augment operators' services to use
channels in the less crowded 5 GHz unlicensed bands, and uses
several coexistence features to support fair share use among the
multiple users and technologies that access those bands.
Extending the benefits of LTE to unlicensed spectrum is designed
to provide:
- Reliable and predictable performance with an anchor in the
licensed spectrum;
- Seamless user experience/mobility;
- Better performance than either LTE or Wi-Fi used individually,
with longer range and more capacity; and,
- Additional capacity for carriers to augment mobile
broadband.
Integration of LTE-U into Qualcomm Technologies small cells
solutions portfolio
Qualcomm Technologies is announcing the
first integration of LTE-U into a small cell SoC to expand capacity
and seamlessly extend LTE networks. The FSM99xx, a family of small
cell SoCs, will add LTE-U and be available in the second half of
2015. The FSM99xx solutions integrate Qualcomm Technologies' 3G and
4G and support its Qualcomm® VIVE™ 802.11ac/n Wi-Fi to enable
full-featured small cells that provide superior performance with
greater power efficiency.
"The FSM99xx family is designed to bring outdoor, enterprise and
small and medium business access points to the next level of value
and performance," said Neville
Meijers, vice president of business development, Qualcomm
Technologies, Inc. "Adding LTE-U technology to our small cell
solutions will provide additional capacity for operators to augment
existing mobile broadband and deliver seamless connectivity
experiences."
Along with integration of LTE-U into the FSM99xx product family,
Qualcomm Technologies is announcing the FTR8950 as the first
dedicated RF solution for small cells designed to meet the
requirements of LTE-U operation and network listen in unlicensed 5
GHz bands. Qualcomm Technologies' newest small cell RF transceiver
is a successor to the FTR8900 RFIC and supports features such as
digital pre-distortion and dedicated network listen.
First announced commercial RF transceiver for
LTE-U
Qualcomm Technologies is also announcing the WTR3950
as the industry's first dedicated RF solution for mobile devices
designed to meet the requirements of LTE-U operation in unlicensed
5 GHz bands. Qualcomm Technologies' newest 28 nm RF transceiver
offers an industry-leading footprint and will be commercially
sampling in the second half of 2015.
The WTR3950 extends Qualcomm Technologies' RF product leadership
in LTE Advanced, which is based on successful commercialization of
single-chip RF transceivers for LTE carrier aggregation. The
WTR3950 pairs with the WTR3925, the first 28 nm RF for single chip
Cat 6 carrier aggregation, to support up to 3x20 MHz carrier
aggregation across licensed and unlicensed spectrum. The WTR3950
can also support up to 40 MHz intra-band contiguous carrier
aggregation in the 5 GHz bands.
Successful testing of LTE-U and Wi-Fi coexistence
In
order for LTE-U to provide maximum benefit, it must operate
harmoniously alongside billions of existing Wi-Fi devices. Qualcomm
Technologies is working to integrate LTE and Wi-Fi at the system
level, and employs a robust set of protection features to promote
the best possible co-existence between LTE-U and Wi-Fi networks.
These innovations are designed to ensure users can connect to the
Internet however they prefer, while operators can make unified use
of all available spectrum to increase capacity. This is designed to
result in easier and cost-effective network deployment and
operations for carriers and a seamless experience for their
consumers.
In its San Diego, Calif.
headquarters, Qualcomm Technologies engineers deployed a
state-of-the-art network comprising multiple Wi-Fi access points
and LTE-U small cells – all operating in a single channel in the
unlicensed 5GHz band – to evaluate real-life performance and
interference in multiple scenarios. After extensive testing that
replicated extremely dense radio conditions, the data concluded
that LTE-U can not only provide superior performance than either
LTE or Wi-Fi used individually, but fairly coexists with Wi-Fi. In
many cases, shifting traffic from Wi-Fi to LTE-U can actually
improve performance for Wi-Fi users, due to the efficient way that
LTE uses the unlicensed spectrum.
Testing scenarios included both "adaptive duty-cycle" based
coexistence which is suitable for commercial LTE-U deployments in
countries such as the US, China
and Korea using LTE Release 10 and beyond, as well as Listen Before
Talk (LBT) based techniques that are proposed through a work item
for an upcoming release of the LTE standard, Release 13, which is
expected to define a version of LTE-U known as Licensed-Assisted
Access (LAA), suitable for deployments in other regions such as
Europe and Japan.
LTE-U demonstrations at Mobile World Congress 2015
At
Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona March
2-5, Qualcomm Technologies will conduct live demonstrations
of the co-existence between LTE-U and Wi-Fi at booth #3E10. Also at
the show, Qualcomm Technologies will participate in a number of
live LTE-U demonstrations using Qualcomm's test user equipment. At
the show, Qualcomm Technologies is collaborating with operators,
such as KT, and infrastructure vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent,
Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia Networks, Samsung, and test and measurement
equipment manufacturer Rohde & Schwarz.
About Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated
(NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation
wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm's
licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent
portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries,
substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and
development functions, and substantially all of its products and
services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For
more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the
evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more
closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more
information, visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and
Facebook pages.
Qualcomm and VIVE are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated,
registered in the United States
and other countries. Other product and brand names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
VIVE and FSM are products of Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.
Qualcomm Contacts:
Laurie Falconer, Qualcomm
Atheros
Phone: 1-408-652-0632
Email: laurief@qti.qualcomm.com
Emily Kilpatrick, Corporate
Communications
Phone: 1-858-845-5959
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com
Warren Kneeshaw, Investor
Relations
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qualcomm-extends-lte-to-unlicensed-spectrum-to-enhance-mobile-experiences-and-help-operators-meet-network-capacity-demand-300042427.html
SOURCE Qualcomm Technologies