Qualcomm today introduced a pair of new 5G chips for devices that claim to deliver speeds up to 10 Gb/s. The company is targeting a broad swath of applications with its fourth-generation 5G modems, including new services and capabilities for industrial IoT.
The chipmaker claims Snapdragon X65 is the world’s first 5G modem and radio frequency front-end system that delivers features introduced in 3GPP Release 16, the second phase of 5G standards that includes new capabilities such as industrial IoT.
“It will allow us to continuously add new features, extending 5G across multiple application segments beyond smartphones because Snapdragon X65 can be upgraded via software updates over time,” Durga Malladi, SVP and GM of 4G and 5G at Qualcomm, said in a video presentation.
“For example, a more reliable 5G connectivity will help us digitize manufacturing and improve the overall productivity of that sector. It’s a cornerstone of what people call industry 4.0,” he said.
That full support for Release 16 is what makes Snapdragon X65 and X62, a less powerful and lower cost variant, valuable to IoT applications, according to Anshel Sag, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Some of those new features include improved power efficiency, ultra reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), and multiple new power-saving features,” he added.
Both of Qualcomm’s new chips, which are expected to reach commercial devices later this year, feature a 4-nanometer (nm) baseband chip that should require lower power consumption. That feature is critical for IoT applications, Sag explained. “If these new modems can deliver the same or better level of performance at lower power, that’s already a considerable win for IoT in 5G.”
What Makes Qualcomm 5G Chips Different for IoT
Today’s cellular systems that support 3GPP Release 16 URLLC will outperform Wi-Fi on latency, and that’s an important distinction for some industrial IoT applications, Phil Solis, research director at IDC, wrote in response to questions. “The cellular ecosystem also supports lower frequency bands with long ranges that are more appropriate in outdoor settings such as mines, ports, airports, and outdoor campuses, as well as very large indoor factories and warehouses.”
When new capabilities were introduced in the second phase of 5G standardization, it marked the first time industrial companies played a role in defining and driving cellular technology standards, according to Prakash Sangam, founder and principal analyst at Tantra Analyst. Prior to that, industrial sectors were primarily afterthoughts and left to adopt technologies developed for smartphones, he added.
“The industrial IoT sector is evolving, and industry 4.0 is taking shape. There is extremely high interest and scope to utilize 5G for industrial IoT,” Sangam wrote in response to questions.
The collection of segments and needs pertaining to industrial IoT is vast, with variances on speed, capacity, latency, battery life, cost, and longevity, he added. Industrial IoT covers both extremes — a low traffic agricultural sensor or high-bandwidth video surveillance fused with artificial intelligence (AI).
It’s impossible to satisfy all of those industries and requirements with a single silicon, but X65 is clearly targeting the elevated requirements of the industrial IoT spectrum, particularly on capacity, Sangam explained.
“As it pertains to industrial IoT, not every application is going to require 10 Gb/s or even 5G,” Daniel Newman, principal analyst at Futurum Research, told SDxCentral.
Low-end chips are often all that’s required to detect humidity or temperature in a factory or on a farm, for example, but “as we scale up, the volume of sensor data exponentially, capacity requirements will rise and more powerful chips will be useful in dealing with this growing capacity,” Newman explained.
Qualcomm’s new chip is uniquely positioned for industrial IoT applications that require concurrent aggregation of high bandwidth from many devices, he added. “Qualcomm has consistently delivered at the top end of the market for these leading edge 5G systems.”
The difference between high- and low-end IoT comes down to the setting and application, Solis explained. “Industrial IoT suggests a requirement for much higher reliability, perhaps higher data rates, lower latency, and longer ranges. Applications will have different combinations of those requirements.”
10 Gb/s Is Nice to Have, But Not Broadly Needed (Yet)
The 10 Gb/s capability of the X65 modem, while significant, may not fall into the realm of current IoT requirements, but “the width and breadth of IoT is so broad that there will be some applications that can benefit from it,” Sag added.
Bill Curtis, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, concurred with that assessment, adding that most industrial IoT applications don’t need 10 Gb/s. “Although 10 Gb/s is not needed for most IoT devices, industrial IoT has an insatiable appetite for edge intelligence,” he said. “10-Gb/s Ethernet is already becoming commonplace in larger installations to connect compute servers, gateways, and artificial intelligence enhanced IoT end nodes. The X65 will accelerate the transition to wireless connectivity over private networks.”
Solis noted that silicon plays an important role in the industrial market as more systems employ AI, use more sensors, and communicate more frequently across wireless networks. “The market for semiconductors in the industrial market is about $36 billion today and growing to $46 billion per year by 2025,” he said.
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February 10, 2021 at 03:34AM
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