Qualcomm joins the Wi-Fi 7 competition with Networking Pro Series

Qualcomm joins the Wi-Fi 7 competition with Networking Pro Series

May 5, 2022 — by Giorgio Mendoza

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A few days ago Qualcomm showcased their latest Wi-Fi 7 Networking Pro Series platforms that feature PHY data rates of 10.7, 16.5, 21.5 and 33 Gbps. According to Qualcomm, the Networking Pro 1620 SoC (System on Chip) can provide reliable and stable support for up to 2000 users.

Qualcomm offers three additional products for their Networking Pro series, although their stream count and PHY rate is lower compared to the Networking Pro 1620. As it can be seen below, the specs for these devices target different types of consumers. The Networking Pro 620 (10.8 Gbps) is more suitable for home access points while the Networking Pro 1620 (33Gbps) is capable for larger businesses such as malls, airports, etc. 

Networking Pro Series features
(click images to enlarge) 

There is also 240MHz channel support for regions without 6GHz spectrum availability across 5GHz channels. 

Networking Pro Series spectrum band (click images to enlarge) 

Qualcomm indicated that their Networking Pro devices allow support for the Openwrt (Linux Kernel 5.4) operating system. Additionally, all their networking SoCs include Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi Security Suite which offer WPA3 implementation along with crypto accelerators to provide secure transactions across a full range of Wi-Fi access points.  

Relevant features of the Networking Pro 1620 include:

• Processor System:
  • Quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 (up to 2.2 GHz)

• Process Technology:

• Memory/storage:
  • DDR3L, DDR4 Bit width 16/32
  • eMMC, NAND, Serial NOR
• Wi-Fi:
  • Standards: Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11a/b/g
  • Spectral Bands: 6 GHz, 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz
  • Channel Utilization: 320MHz, 249MHz, 160MHz, 80MHz, 40MHz, 20MHz
  • Spatial Streams: Up to 16 streams
  • Max Band Config: Quad-band
  • Max Speed: Up to 33 Gbps (PHY rate)
  • Security:
    • WPA3 Personal, WPA3 Enterprise,
    • WPA3 Enhanced Open, WPA3 Easy Connect,
    • WPA2, WPS, 802.11i security,
    • AES-CCMP, AES-GCMP, PRNG,
    • TKIP, WAPI2, WAPI1, WEP
  • Additional Features:
    • 320MHz channel support
    • Simultaneous & Alternating Multi Link Puncturing for
    • wideband operation in presence of 5G/DFS & 6G/AFC interferers
    • 4K QAM
    • UL/DL OFDMA, 37 users
    • UL/DL MU-MIMO, 8 users
    • 2000 users
    • 802.11be QoS
• Ethernet:
  • 6 Port Integrated Ethernet Switch 4 x 2.5 GbE + 5 GbE + 10 GbE
• I/O Interfaces:
  • 4x PCIe 3.0 controllers
  • SD/eMMC
  • PTA Coex
  • I2S, I2C, SPI, UART, SDIO
  • 2x USXGMII,
  • 1x USXGMII-M
  • USB 3.0
• OS Support:
  • Openwrt w/ Linux Kernel 5.4
• Other features:
  • Platform Extensions:
    •  Bluetooth, 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread), 4G/5G FWA
  • Packet Processing:
    • WAN tunnel offload engine, integrated Ethernet switch, enhanced security processor, high-performance QoS/TM

Further information

There is no info available on pricing for any of these SoC as of this date. Refer to Qualcomm’s product page for additional details.