Qualcomm announced plans for a 28 GHz modem that will be used in separate pre-standard 5G cellular trials by Verizon and Korea Telecom.
The Snapdragon X50 delivers 5 Gbits/second downlinks and multiple gigabit uplinks for mobile and fixed-wireless networks. It uses a separate LTE connection as an anchor for control signals while the 28 GHz link delivers the higher data rates over distances of tens to hundreds of meters.
The X50 uses an 800 MHz channel, a 2×2 MIMO antenna array, adaptive beamforming techniques and 256 QAM to achieve a 90 dB link budget. It works in conjunction with Qualcomm’s SDR05x mmWave transceiver and PMX50 power management chip. So far, Qualcomm is not revealing more details of modem that will sample next year and be in production before June 2018.
Verizon and Korea Telecom will use the chips in separate trials starting late next year, anticipating commercial services in 2018.
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