The Qualcomm
during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress, just announced about the development
of an extension for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) which will use blended bits
of Wi-Fi to enhance cellular reception.
Qualcomm addresses the LTE extension as "LTE unlicensed," because the technology uses spectrum which is shared by Wi-Fi and is not licensed by wireless carrier. The San Diego company plans to start offering LTE unlicensed hardware later this year.
Qualcomm addresses the LTE extension as "LTE unlicensed," because the technology uses spectrum which is shared by Wi-Fi and is not licensed by wireless carrier. The San Diego company plans to start offering LTE unlicensed hardware later this year.
The LTE unlicensed could be capable of offering stronger
signals over short distances which will help the consumers to stay connected
even when they're in a subway or a basement or any other location where
standard LTE could weaken as it penetrates concrete.
The executive vice president and chief technology officer of
Qualcomm Technologies Mr. Matt Grob said that it is the job of Qualcomm to use
all available spectrums as best as it can.
He further adds that the Internet is entering
a new phase of growth, in which more devices are connected which share richer
data. So there is a need to cost-effectively address the challenges of increase
in mobile data traffic. So for this purpose we need a combination of more
spectrum, more small cells and more efficient use of existing spectrum.
The LTE unlicensed transmitters will have same size as Wi-Fi
routers. On the other end of that data stream will be a system on chip
(SoC), the new FSM99xx family, which would enable mobile devices to leverage
the enhanced LTE.
The FSM99xx family would help in bringing the outdoor, small
and medium business and enterprises access points to the next level of performance
and value as stated by Neville Meijers who is Qualcomm's vice president of
business development.
They
are looking ahead to the next generation of wireless technology which is 5G,
the fundamentals of LTE unlicensed appear to have value in the other side of
that transition. Moreover, the FCC even announced that it was investigating if use
of wireless frequencies above 24GHz would be feasible.
The FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler states that this technology
can theoretically and dramatically increase wireless broadband speeds and that
up to 10 gigabits per second. The speeds
may be much greater than 4G, though the higher frequencies may still find
difficult to penetrate floors and walls.