Only a few years ago, sending a photo or calling a friend from the valleys between downtown skyscrapers or from the middle of a packed stadium was a frustrating, confounding experience. The limitations of traditional cellular networks made staying consistently connected a tough assignment, but the increased demand for robust, high-speed connectivity has led to denser, high capacity networks using small cell radio access nodes that are ushering in a new era of communication.

That innovation opened the door for new layers of connectivity and accelerated transformation for industries from manufacturing to retail to finance.

Imagine the transformation that 5G — with its ultra-reliable, low-latency connections between devices and the network — could make happen in places like factories, container ports, warehouses, airports, and hospitals. For example, an assembly line-type factory could be configured in the morning to produce one type of product and then quickly reconfigured in the afternoon to produce another type of product. How? Assembly machinery that was once connected (tethered) with wires or cables to the company network can be connected via the company’s private 5G network. Efficiency could also be improved. Let’s go back to that same factory… devices that scan for imperfections or errors could be connected via the private 5G network. As soon as a device detects an error, the quality control device could communicate the error to another device that pulls the defective product from the assembly line without slowing the process.  

Now think about a warehouse with its own 5G private network. Automated, guided collection vehicles — connected via 5G — could safely navigate warehouses and pull from shelves necessary parts and deliver them to the shipping department. They could also simultaneously track supply chains and monitor inventory. That’s the power of 5G and the opportunities it opens up.

From its inception, to today, to the future of 5G, Qualcomm Technologies has played a significant role. We’ve been working on the infrastructure for more than 10 years. In recent years we’ve focused on small cell technology producing high-performance 5G , from silicon to software. And our small cell solution has been deployed by many customers and operators.

One key example of these deployments is the Rakuten network. Rakuten is a Japanese operator that has embraced the open vRAN and their network deployment for mmWave is powered by our 5G platform for small cells. Another example is Verizon's deployment of in-building small cells for enterprise solutions.

We’re always working toward ways to take wireless systems to new heights. That’s why today we are announcing a new offering in our 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) Platform portfolio: our second-generation Qualcomm 5G RAN Small Cells Platform – FSM200xx. The new platform is uniquely positioned to deliver next-generation indoor and outdoor networks at scale by supporting the deployment of high-performance, virtualized, interoperable, and modular 5G networks.

Here are key highlights of this new platform:

Industry’s first Release 16 small cell platform

This platoform is designed to support Industry 4.0, including the Factory of the Future with its support of features such as eURLLC to provide low latency and link reliability (up to 99.9999%) needed for factory automation, mission critical control of equipment and machines. Moreover, it's designed to address the demands of 5G, including public and private networks, indoor and outdoor mmWave and Sub-6 GHz deployments, industrial automation, and more.

Cutting edge technologies with unmatched data speeds, capacity and global band support

The platform offers unmatched data speeds of up to 8 Gbps with 1 GHz bandwidth support on mmWave and support for wider 200 MHz carrier bandwidth.

The Qualcomm 5G RAN Small Cells Platform (FSM200xx) is also designed to support spectrum aggregation of 200 MHz of sub-6 GHz spectrum across FDD and TDD delivering data speeds of up to 4 Gbps.

Flexible, scalable, interoperable interfaces

The Qualcomm 5G RAN Small Cells Platform (FSM200xx) is designed to support all key 5G functional split options allowing for the disaggregation of the RAN into standards-based and interoperable modular components, which provides OEMs and operators enhanced deployment flexibility.

Outdoor /indoor solution

The new platform brings major enhancements to RF with its design to support all commercial global mmWave and Sub-6 GHz bands, including the new n259 (41 GHz), n258(26 GHz), and FDD bands. This next-generation platform is primed to take powerful mmWave performance to more places — indoors and outdoors around the globe — while introducing new Sub-6 opportunities with small cell densification in public and private networks.

Power efficiency platform for enterprise grade

Leading 4nm process node offers superior power efficiency, high performance, and reliability while being designed to address challenging power, cost, and size requirements for indoor and outdoor deployments. With its lower power operation, the Qualcomm 5G RAN Small Cells Platform (FSM200xx) enables Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, which is designed to allow utilization of power and backhaul from one source, simplifying deployments and reducing cost. It also facilitates small form factor designs for indoor deployments in offices, factories, and public venues.   

With decades-long experience in wireless, Qualcomm Technologies is driving the advances and deployment of 5G as well as the innovative use cases that were once thought impossible. Enterprises — from factories and warehouses to airports and sporting venues — should reexamine how their businesses operate and explore what’s possible with 5G and the opportunities it opens up. 5G and the technologies we’ve built around it, like our 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells (FSM200xx), are truly the foundation for tomorrow’s mobile connectivity.