Chip manufacturer Qualcomm and tech behemoth Samsung have asserted their achievement of a global first – a simultaneous 2x uplink and 4x downlink carrier aggregation for FDD spectrum within the realm of 5G. The integration was tested through the application of a mobile phone shape test device, utilizing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System and Samsung’s 5G multi-band radios.
To elaborate, this trailblazing trial achieved a whopping 200 Mbps uplink peak speed, using 35 MHz of 5G spectrum through FDD bands n71 and n70, and also an impressive downlink speed of 1.3 Gbps with 75 MHz of 5G spectrum in FDD bands n71, n70, and n66.
The aim of this venture, according to Qualcomm, is to provide increased flexibility to operators using fragmented FDD spectrum assets, and to resultantly deliver faster upload speeds to users. Previously, the merger of uplink CA was accomplished utilizing configurations combining FDD+TDD or TDD+TDD.
Sunil Patil, vice president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies, stated, “Our sixth-generation modem-to-antenna solution was designed to future-ready 5G launches globally and bring numerous world’s first connectivity features to support the wide range of consumer and enterprise use cases.” He went on to express his satisfaction at the successful collaboration with Samsung.
Ji-Yun Seol, Vice President, Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics also highlighted the significance of this achievement, stating: “This achievement represents Samsung and Qualcomm Technologies’ ongoing efforts in pushing the boundaries of what is possible with mobile technology.”
The underlying message from this trial seems to be that the Advanced 5G modem is a key factor in escalating 5G connections using CA.
The Snapdragon X75, announced back in February, was marketed as a new architecture providing better coverage, latency, power efficiency, and mobility compared to its predecessors. Commercial devices that harness this technology are projected to be launched in the latter half of 2023.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm claimed a sub-6 GHz speed record last month where an aggregation of four carriers of sub 6-GHz spectrum delivered a total of 300 MHz. This record-breaking speed translated to an apex downlink speed of 7.5 Gbps. Ultimately, Samsung and Qualcomm’s continual strides forward in the realm of 5G technology are sure to be closely watched by the entire industry.
