Qualcomm Technologies has announced a new reference design for 5G-based fixed wireless access (FWA) home gateways. The comprehensive turnkey offering integrates Qualcomm Technologies’ most advanced connectivity offerings, including the second-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System and the Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200 platform for high-performance Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, along with other advanced gateway capabilities and features. With this new reference design, broadband carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can rapidly develop and deploy all-wireless home internet solutions with the latest in Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G cellular and Wi-Fi 6 home networking technologies, transforming the traditional home broadband industry with multi-gigabit, plug-and-play alternatives to digital subscriber line (DSL), cable and fiber.
The new home gateway reference design extends Qualcomm Technologies’ portfolio of offerings for the emerging 5G Fixed Wireless Access segment – including solutions with support for sub-6 GHz and millimeter-wave frequencies. With this new reference design, OEMs have a cost-effective and high-performance alternative to traditional home broadband gateway products, a broad category comprised of DSL, cable broadband/DOCSIS, and passive optical networking (PON) providers. The Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System defines the most significant shift from wireline technologies by supporting multi-gigabit 5G fixed wireless backhaul. The reference design pairs this 5G backhaul capability with the latest in Wi-Fi connectivity, security and high-performance features critical to home broadband gateways, including:
- Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200 platform, a Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 wireless networking offering that supports up to 12 spatial streams of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, multi-user scheduling algorithms, and advanced implementation of Wi-Fi 6 features like MU-MIMO and OFDMA in uplink and downlink across all spatial streams.
- High-performance firewall-router-gateway using 64-bit quad-core CPU giving the reference design computing power for dynamic data processing and management.
- Security acceleration for high-performance Virtual Private Network (VPN).
- Qualcomm Technologies’ highly differentiated Maximum User Networking Architecture, a unique design developed for high-density environments to simultaneously support connected devices.
- Integrated voice-calling support for hardwired Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) with e-911 emergency call support capabilities.
The vision of fully-wireless home internet is being realized through 5G technology. With the high capacity expected by broadband subscribers and ample spectrum for carrier deployments, the era of wireless home internet has begun. This new home gateway reference design can help ISPs and broadband carriers deliver triple-play home internet to customers, including fiber-like high-speed data, television and phone services, all with support for hundreds of devices, in a high-performance single-box solution powered by the latest connectivity offerings from Qualcomm Technologies.
A fully wireless home internet solution is a truly disruptive new path to the connected home, one enabled by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System. This reference design is yet another example of 5G’s potential to transform industries beyond the smartphone, just like we’re seeing in transportation, AR and VR, industrial manufacturing and more.
The new reference design offers numerous stakeholder advantages across the ecosystem. Mobile operators can take advantage of their investments in 5G infrastructure to provide internet access to home users and enable new revenue streams; consumers can truly “cut-the-cord” with additional options for internet access beyond fixed-line broadband suppliers; municipalities can encourage increased investment in high-speed data infrastructure with a larger serviceable opportunity and property owners can enable high-speed internet without the costs of enabling and disabling fixed-line access for new tenants.
The Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200 platform is available for OEM sampling, with commercial devices expected to launch in the first half of 2020. Demonstrations of the home gateway reference design are being given at Broadband World Forum (BBWF), October 15-17, 2019.
