Qualcomm Technologies unveiled a new family of WiFi chipsets that rely on millimeter wave spectrum to deliver 10 Gbps speeds.
The 60 GHz WiFi chips—QCA64x8 and QCA64x1—are the first on the market with optimizations based on the 802.11ay specification, Qualcomm noted.
Separate from the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands that are commonly used for WiFi, the 60 GHz band offers increased bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and multi-gigabit speeds. Qualcomm says these characteristics make the band ideally suited for a range of wireless ecosystems including mobile, enterprise, outdoor backhaul, and the smart home.
“mmWave holds enormous potential to support a new class of user experiences,” says Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager, connectivity and networking, Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement. “Our 11ay solutions were developed with the flexibility to support a broad ecosystem of smartphone, router or fixed wireless access platforms and provides the industry with the critical building blocks needed to take connectivity performance to the next level.”
Qualcomm’s 11ay 60 GHz WiFi chipset family also includes QCA6438 and QCA6428 for infrastructure and fixed wireless access, and the QCA6421 and QCA6431 for mobile applications.
Providing wire-equivalent latencies, Qualcomm says the products can enable new entertainment and gaming experiences, like 4K streaming, lag-free mobile screen casting, and enhanced wireless VR and AR capabilities.
The family of chipsets also support new WiFi sensing capabilities such as proximity and presence detection, gesture recognitions, room mapping with precise location, and improved facial feature detection.
In May, Qualcomm and Facebook announced a collaboration to deliver improved high-speed connectivity in urban areas by developing a multi-node wireless system that integrates Qualcomm’s QCA6428 and QCA6438 chipsets with Facebook’s Terragraph technology.
Filed Under: Wireless Week
