Qualcomm’s latest chip brings AI to Wi-Fi

Radio spectrum is always at a premium. If you’ve ever tried to connect to Wi-Fi in a crowded airport or stadium, you know the pain that can be caused by using a congested spectrum. Therefore, the industry continues to look for ways to make the most of the available spectrum. The latest example is Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7900 chip, which the company announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.

Qualcomm touts the FastConnect 7900 as an “AI-enhanced” Wi-Fi 7 provider, and the company sees this as an opportunity to establish more reliable wireless connections. The chip is expected to better integrate disparate technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ultra-wideband for consumer applications. Additionally, this chip can support two connections to the same device on the same spectrum band.

FastConnect 7900 arrives as the wireless industry refocuses on the reliability of Wi-Fi 7, the latest generation of wireless technology standards. In addition to increasing throughput and reducing latency, the focus is on the contributions of every Wi-Fi generation.

(Wi-Fi is a set of wireless networking protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 series of standards. IEEE spectrumparent organization. )

AI-enhanced Wi-Fi

“[Wi-Fi’s] It’s a bit like the Wild West,” says Javier del Prado, vice president of mobile connectivity at Qualcomm. “There are all kinds of devices out there, congestion, devices coming in and out, access points doing this, access points doing that, and it’s very difficult to guarantee service,” del Prado said. says it’s the “perfect tool” to change that.

Key to FastConnect 7900’s functionality is the chip’s ability to detect the applications being used on the device. Different applications use Wi-Fi differently. For example, streaming video requires more data throughput, while voice chat requires low latency. The chip can optimize power and latency on a case-by-case basis after determining which application is being used.

Using AI to manage wireless spectrum connectivity isn’t a new problem or solution, but Qualcomm’s chip benefits from running everything on-device. “It has to run on the device to be effective,” Del Prado said. “We need to make decisions at the microsecond level.”

In other words, using the Wi-Fi connection itself to send information about how to adjust the Wi-Fi connection defeats the purpose of AI management in the first place. By the time the chip receives the information, the purpose of AI management will have been completely lost. Outdated.

This is also important. The chip consumes no power. In fact, it saves overall power. “These are fairly simple models,” Del Prado says. “It’s not a 5 billion parameter AI. It’s a much smaller model. The key performance metrics are speed and accuracy.”

Del Prado said the chip’s power consumption is negligible. In fact, with the ability to optimize power depending on the application you are running, this chip saves your device up to 30% power.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ultra-wideband all in one

Outside of mobile phones, Wi-Fi is the most common way our phones connect to the world. But this is not the only technique. Bluetooth is used in things like wireless earbuds, and ultra-wideband (UWB) is also used in applications like item tracking (think Apple’s AirPods) and remote car locking and unlocking. All three technologies rely heavily on proximity and distance range to maintain wireless connectivity.

“There are all kinds of use cases that take advantage of proximity and use different technologies,” Del Prado said. “Different technologies have different benefits. There’s not always a single technology that fits all use cases. But that creates complexity.”

Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7900 hides that complexity, Del Prado said. “We’re making technology agnostic for consumers.”

Spectrum band sharing

The final trick that FastConnect 7900 offers is the ability to host two Wi-Fi connections on the same spectrum band. Here, the chip is built on the previous FastConnect generation. “We have already introduced what is called ‘hybrid concurrency,’ which is the ability to run multiple channels simultaneously in the 5 and 6 GHz bands,” Del Prado said.

Del Prado said a new feature of the 7900 is audio over Wi-Fi. Qualcomm calls this “XPAN.” This is a separate channel dedicated to audio in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands.

This is important because these spectrum bands can provide devices with much higher sound quality than, for example, Bluetooth, which operates in the 2.4 GHz band. Del Prado says the 7900 chip provides much better audio quality by carving out a separate channel dedicated to audio, without the strain that typically occurs when multiple connections demand the same wireless signal. says it can be done. “This is something that cannot be achieved with Bluetooth today because of limited bandwidth,” Del Prado says.

Qualcomm has already provided samples of the FastConnect 7900 to customers, namely manufacturers of phones and similar devices. Del Prado expects the first products equipped with the chip to hit the market in the second half of this year. “When new premium Android smartphones hit the market later this year, they should support this feature.”