QUALCOMM announces DMMX and HMMX for next-generation wireless roadmap
November 17, 2005
QUALCOMM announced its DMMX (DO Multicarrier Multilink eXtensions) and HMMX (HSDPA Multicarrier Multilink eXtensions) platforms to support the long-term roadmaps of EV-DO and HSDPA. The Company's DMMX and HMMX platforms are a set of technology and product innovations based on three fundamental aspects:
1) 3GPP2 and 3GPP standards-based enhancements to CDMA2000 EV-DO and WCDMA HSDPA,
2) QUALCOMM- developed techniques for improving capacity and speed that do not require changes to current or proposed standards, and
3) chips and software enabling the concurrent operation of multiple radio links such as CDMA, TDM and OFDM -- all working in a backward compatible manner.
The DMMX and HMMX platforms will not only significantly improve the performance of 3G CDMA technology, but will also enable operators to deploy networks and devices that combine different technologies that have been optimized for specific services. These platforms will result in lower costs and higher performance for operators as they launch new services for their customers.
"Consumers may not care about the technologies underlying the amazing new services they want on their phones, but to deliver these services profitably, the wireless operator does. QUALCOMM's DMMX and HMMX platforms encompass an array of advancements being made in CDMA and a broad range of other wireless technologies, enabling operators to expand their service offerings to support consumer desires while improving their business models," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO, QUALCOMM. "DMMX and HMMX concretely represent QUALCOMM's roadmap for innovation, supporting our customers and partners through the year MMX -- or 2010 -- and beyond."
"QUALCOMM is developing products that we expect to announce in 2006 that take full advantage of the unsurpassed data throughput, multicast and capacity benefits offered by DMMX and HMMX that will take us well into the next decade," said Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies.
Multicarrier Multilink
In DMMX and HMMX, "multicarrier multilink" represents the use of multiple wireless transmission protocols in multiple frequency bands -- simultaneously: for instance, an OFDM-based MediaFLO signal transmitted in 700 MHz spectrum for video services combined with the use of a CDMA-based EV-DO reverse link in cellular spectrum for interactive management by subscribers of their "wireless TV" services. Another example is the use of HSDPA in conjunction with assisted-GPS. As more features converge in handsets, more radio links will have to operate concurrently to support them.
The term "multicarrier" also represents enhancements described in the latest version of the CDMA2000 EV-DO standard, Rev. B, which allows data to flow over more than one channel at the same time, thus increasing peak data rates. EV-DO carriers can be deployed in 1.25 MHz increments, filling up to 20 MHz, allowing operators to flexibly tailor their system to the specific ranges of spectrum they have available. While no analogous standard proposal has been made for HSDPA multicarrier, technically, the same principle can be applied -- multiple 5 MHz carriers can be aggregated to increase capacity and throughput.
Rev. B's flexibility will enable significant capacity and performance improvements, while protecting CDMA2000 operators' current investments in both networks and devices. Depending on their capability and the demands of a given application, phones can operate on a single DO channel or on multiple channels. In 20 MHz of spectrum, very high performance devices could simultaneously access up to fifteen 1.25 MHz carriers, resulting in a forward- link peak data rate as high as 73.5 Mbps. For lower cost or pre-existing devices accessing a single 1.25 MHz carrier, a peak forward-link data rate of 4.9 Mbps is possible with Rev. B. Additionally, Rev. B and HSDPA allow more of operators' spectrum to be used for IP-based services -- including wireline- quality voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) -- in a manner that results in lower operator costs through greater efficiencies.
Multilink: Capacity and Throughput Improvements
The DMMX and HMMX platforms also link an array of QUALCOMM-developed techniques that will further enhance the voice and data performance of CDMA2000 EV-DO and WCDMA HSDPA. These techniques include:
* dual and quad receive diversity (multiple antennas and RF receive chains in handsets and at base stations);
* pilot and traffic interference cancellation (techniques implemented at the base station for reducing the interference caused by the pilot and data traffic signals of many devices communicating across a network at the same time);
* quasi-linear interference cancellation (techniques implemented in the handset, including pilot and traffic interference cancellation);
* equalizer (techniques in which the processors in the handset use algorithms to increase the signal-to-noise ratio); and
* Fourth Generation Vocoder (a core voice codec that provides improved voice quality, but also allows continuous tradeoffs between voice quality and network capacity).
Multilink eXtensions
The platforms also support the concurrent and complementary operation of a wide array of purpose-built airlinks. These include:
* OFDM in Platinum Multicast and MediaFLO for cost-efficient multicasting of high-quality video and audio content;
* multi-mode handsets for roaming or for operators with multiple networks;
* GPS in gpsOne for highly accurate position fixes;
* Wi-Fi for wireless local-area network applications in home and business; and
* Bluetooth, for personal area network connectivity;
as well as future OFDM/OFDMA-based airlinks -- all managed in the handset by superscalar processors running at very low power requirements. One of the benefits of this convergence of capabilities is that mass-market content will be able to move "upstream" to multicasting solutions, enabling new services and the economics that drive adoption, while in homes, offices and true high- traffic areas, this same mass-market content will be able to move "downstream" as a result of the vast improvements to Wi-Fi that are being developed by the 802.11n standard proposals.
EXtensions
The DMMX and HMMX platforms represent QUALCOMM's commitment to drive the CDMA2000 and WCDMA roadmaps through a host of interlinked and concurrently operating functions and capabilities that extend fundamental airlink improvements. The enhancements to EV-DO represented by Gold and Platinum Multicast and to WCDMA represented by the multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) standard proposal, performance improvements represented by receive diversity, interference cancellation and signal equalization combined with the integration at the chipset level of additional radio links such as FLO and GPS will enable manufacturers and operators to deploy devices and services of unprecedented value and appeal.
In real-world terms, convergence and concurrence means that a user will do such things as:
* watch TV or listen to music streamed in real-time to their phones while those phones continue to monitor the paging channel for voice calls and cellular data transmissions;
* navigate around a city using a gpsOne-enabled application that continuously takes assisted-GPS fixes and constantly updates a map, downloaded over the cellular network, displaying their location and nearby points of interest;
* have a VoIP-based phone conversation while scanning web pages, or participating in a VoIP-based conference call in which one person makes a point while, at the same time, multimedia content is sent to all participants in the call in support of that point;
* or engaging in a multi-player game that incorporates moves by each participant concurrent with real-time video streams as part of game play, while using a wireless headset to talk with (or taunt) the other players.
Convergence Implies Concurrence
"As the wireless, computing, consumer electronics and entertainment industries converge, the phone will have to do many different things concurrently," concluded Dr. Jacobs. "Convergence became possible during the transition from 2G to 3G, but it will truly be supported as we move towards the fourth generation of wireless. The idea of accessing a single homogeneous network has been supplanted by the notion, in a heterogeneous world, that the device will simultaneously link with multiple networks and protocols. In tomorrow's markets, we will stop talking about voice and data because, by the end of this decade, we will see that voice is data and data is much more than we imagined when wireless first transitioned from circuit-switching to IP- based packet implementations. The DMMX and HMMX platforms are QUALCOMM's roadmap for the 3G CDMA community to achieve its goals for the wireless future."
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