Qualcomm targets 5G RAN platforms

Qualcomm introduced a new family of chipsets targetting 5G infrastructure, ranging from macro base stations with massive MIMO to micro base stations with compact designs. There are new three new 5G RAN platform offerings: Qualcomm Radio Unit Platform, Qualcomm Distributed Unit Platform, and Qualcomm Distributed Radio Unit Platform. 

Qualcomm said it took a ground up approach is designing these chipsets to support leading mobile operators in the deployment of a new generation of converged, open and virtualized RAN (vRAN) networks. 

“Our 5G expertise and global technology leadership uniquely positions Qualcomm Technologies to provide a comprehensive horizontal infrastructure platform to enable the deployment of innovative, high-performance, virtualized, and modular 5G networks at scale,” said Cristiano Amon, President, Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are working closely with mobile operators, network equipment vendors, standards bodies and other key stakeholders to make the deployments of these networks a reality.”

Key highlights of the Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms portfolio:

• From Macro to Small Cells: The solutions offer scalable support for a wide range of infrastructure categories ranging from macro base stations with massive MIMO to small cells.
• High performance Modem-RF: Designed for superior radio performance including high-power, high capacity operation, the Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms feature a comprehensive 5G Modem-RF System including baseband, transceiver, front-end and antenna panels.
• Enabling high performance virtualized products with integrated hardware acceleration: Flexible vRAN architecture with hardware accelerators for modem and fronthaul processing designed to enable high throughput low latency network processing for superior power-efficiency and compact equipment designs.
• Flexible, scalable, interoperable interfaces: Support for all key 5G functional split options between Distributed Unit (DU) and Radio Unit (RU), to allow for the disaggregation of the RAN into standards-based and interoperable modular components.
• Integrated Sub-6 and mmWave solution: Natively integrated Sub-6 GHz and mmWave concurrent baseband support in the Distributed Unit along with global support for 5G sub-6 GHz, mmWave and 4G bands in the Radio Unit.