Ahead of a presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm just announced that it has developed an extension for Long Term Evolution (LTE) that will use blend bits of Wi-Fi to enhance cellular reception.
Qualcomm calls the LTE extension "LTE unlicensed," due to the technology's use of spectrum that is shared by Wi-Fi and is not licensed by wireless carriers. Despite the absence of a license requirement, there are still standards LTE unlicensed will have to meet. The San Diego company says it plans to start offering LTE unlicensed hardware later this year.
LTE unlicensed can offer stronger signals over short distances, helping consumers stay connected even when they're in a basement or a subway or any other location where standard LTE could weaken as it penetrates concrete.
It's Qualcomm's job to use all available spectrum as best as it can, said Matt Grob, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
"As the Internet enters a new phase of growth, in which more devices are connected and share richer data, there is a need to cost-effectively address the challenges of a 1,000 times increase in mobile data traffic," said Grob. "To do this, we need a combination of more spectrum, more efficient use of existing spectrum, and more small cells."
The LTE unlicensed transmitters will be similar in size to Wi-Fi routers, allowing them to be placed more discretely and strategically than traditional cellular towers. On the other end of that data stream will be a new FSM99xx family, a system on chip (SoC), which will enable mobile devices to leverage the enhanced LTE.
"The FSM99xx family is designed to bring outdoor, enterprise and small and medium business access points to the next level of value and performance," said Neville Meijers, Qualcomm's vice president of business development. "Adding LTE-U technology to our small cell solutions will provide additional capacity for operators to augment existing mobile broadband and deliver seamless connectivity experiences."
Though regulators are looking ahead to the next generation of wireless technology, 5G, the fundamentals of LTE unlicensed appear to have value in the other side of that transition. Back in October 2014, the FCC announced that it was investigating the feasibility of using wireless frequencies above 24GHz.
"This technology could theoretically [and] dramatically increase wireless broadband speeds and throughput up to 10 gigabits per second," stated FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at the time.
While the speeds may be much faster than 4G, the higher frequencies may still struggle to penetrate walls and floors.
