Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms: Driving for Full-Scale Open vRAN Commercialization

From the earliest days of 3G to the advent of 5G and beyond, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has continually re-defined wireless networks as we know it today. That innovation continues as we shape the networks of the future, especially as the sampling of the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform has begun.

This Qualcomm Technologies 5G milestone is a major turning point in the quest to boost the Open RAN and vRAN ecosystem with innovative and efficient solutions. Currently, our customers and partners are verifying and testing Qualcomm 5G RAN solutions in their labs. With these platforms in their hands, the next generation of 5G mobile infrastructure — and the next wave of digital transformation — will begin to take shape.

The sampling of the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform is beginning at an exciting time in 5G.  As the global proliferation of 5G continues, we’re in the midst of an unprecedented expansion of 5G into new services, verticals, and use cases. Everywhere you look, wireless networks are getting faster, larger, and more complex. It’s clear that today’s interconnected world is increasingly reliant on wireless connectivity.

Mobile network operators are adjusting to this new reality by offering novel services like fixed wireless access (FWA) while eliminating bandwidth-controlling measures like data caps. Deploying 5G network infrastructure that can meet contemporary demands poses a major challenge for operators and OEMs. It’s increasingly difficult to achieve the perfect balance between high capacity, low latency, and cost-effective network infrastructure.

That’s where the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform come in. These transformative platforms aim to help operators and OEMs enable flexible network deployments by delivering high-performance, O-RAN-compliant, energy efficient, virtualized, cloud-native 5G solutions.

A closer look at the 5G RAN platforms

The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform are built on the pioneering wireless experience and long-standing heritage of delivering superior technology for cellular infrastructure that Qualcomm Technology is known for. Here are some key highlights:

Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card

• High-Performance Cloud-Optimized Solution with Leading Power Efficiency

The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card is designed to deliver a high-performance, low-latency, and power-efficient solution which aim to help enable cloud-native and virtualized 5G networks deployments.  With its integrated hardware acceleration that is completely independent of CPUs, this card will help offload server CPUs from compute-intensive 5G baseband processing.  This will result in increases performance and lowers total cost of ownership (TCO) by reducing power consumption and the number of CPUs and cores required by up to 50 percent.

• O-RAN Compliant with Architectures flexibility

The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card is an O-RAN compliant solution that is designed to support  a range of baseband function split options which spans support of all 7.x split functions, including future split options such as 7.3. The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card comes with an integrated network interface card (NIC) for Fronthaul. This integrated and flexible solution provides OEMs and operators with deployment flexibility and facilitates scalable and cost-effective 5G RAN networks spanning mmWave and sub-6 GHz. The PCIe card helps harness the benefits of virtualized RAN architectures, including lower OPEX/CAPEX for deployments at scale.

• Fully Integrated & Customizable Turnkey Solution

The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card is a PCIe inline accelerator card with concurrent Sub-6 GHz and mmWave baseband support which is designed to simplify 5G deployments by offering a customizable plug-in solution with commercial-grade Layer 1 (L1) software updated to the latest 3GPP specification. The Qualcomm X100 5G RAN accelerator card with integrated O-RAN fronthaul and 5G NR layer 1 High (L1 High) processing, including beamforming processing and support for simultaneous massive MIMO 64T64R sectors, will improve user experiences by helping virtualized and open RAN platforms to support the high-capacity and low-latency workloads of future networks.

Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform

• Comprehensive High-performance Modem-RF solution

The Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform is designed for superior radio performance, including high-power, high-capacity operation. The Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform features a comprehensive 5G Modem-RF System including baseband, transceiver, and, in case of mmW, front-end and antenna modules. The high-performance and power-efficient Release16 compliant solution supports Massive MIMO capabilities with configurations of up to 64T64R, which will improve network coverage and capacity.

• O-RAN Compliant with Architectures flexibility

The Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform is O-RAN compliant solution that supports a range of baseband function split options that span support of all 7.x split functions, including future split options such as 7.3. This flexibility provides OEMs and operators with deployment flexibility and facilitates scalable and cost-effective 5G RAN networks spanning mmWave and sub-6 GHz. This will provide operators with tremendous flexibility to deploy unprecedented peak speeds with available spectrum resources.

• Advanced Cellular technologies

The Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform applies leading 5G mobile expertise to support feature-rich cellular infrastructure that combines powerful performance with leading power efficiency. The Qualcom QRU100 platform supports advanced features that include Multi-operator RAN sharing, Dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), and Digital beamforming. This platform is a scalable solution with support for Massive MIMO with 64T64R, 32T32R, 8T8R, and 4T4R configurations in addition to legacy RRHs, allowing customers to maximize engineering efficiency and time to market.

Furthermore, the Qualcomm QRU100 platform offers highly optimized and flexible Crest Factor Reduction (CFR)/Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) architecture, delivering end-to-end complete DPD solution to address various Power Amplifier (GaN and LDMOS) characteristics and challenges.

What’s next?

The Qualcomm  X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform are high-performance, energy-efficient solutions that aim to support established and emerging infrastructure vendors to simplify network deployments and fast-track the commercialization of innovative, cost-effective, and virtualized networks at scale. In this new phase of digital transformation, solutions like the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform will help meet the performance challenges posed by the ever-evolving connected intelligent edge.

Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.