Intel today announced XMM 7560 modem, its fifth-generation LTE modem, and its first one offering gigabit speeds and also its first LTE modem to be manufactured on its 14nm process. It supports LTE Advanced Pro for downlink up to Category 16 with speeds exceeding 1 Gbps, and Category 13 for uplink with speeds of up to 225 Mbps.
It supports 5x carrier aggregation for downlink up to 100 MHz combined bandwidth, and 3x for uplink up to 60 MHz for high-speed data services. It has additional support of 4×4 MIMO and 256QAM and offers scalability. The Intel SMARTi 7 transceiver supports up to 35 LTE bands, enabling customers to build mobile devices with global coverage leveraging a single SKU.
It offers envelope tracking and other power optimization features to help extend battery life within a wide range of form factors, from smartphones and phablets to tablets and PCs.
Highlights of Intel XMM 7560
- Supports 3GPP Rel-13
- MIMO support – downlink: 2×2, 4×2, 8×2, 4×4, 8×4
- LAA – LTE/Wi-Fi link aggregation
- Network Assisted Interference Cancellation and Suppression (NAICS) support
- Carrier aggregation support across TDD and FDD spectrum
- Supports downlink aggregation of four non-contiguous bands up to 100 MHz
- Multi-SIM support including LTE/LTE combinations
- Six-mode operation, including LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, TD-SCDMA, GSM/EDGE, UMTS/WCDMA and CDMA/EVDO for markets worldwide
- Intel SMARTi 7 transceiver-based scalable RF solution with support for up to 35 LTE bands for global coverage and roaming
- All major carrier aggregation combinations fully supported
- Flexible RF architecture to customize devices to operators’ unique geographic requirements
Intel also announced 3rd Generation Intel Mobile Trial Platform that offers a high-performance development platform for faster integration and testing of 5G devices and wireless access points. Intel said that it is currently working with global operators on 5G development, prototyping and testing with this new trial platform, with further evolution of the platform to come.
The 3rd Generation programmable Intel Mobile Trial Platform will double the horsepower of the 2nd Gen Intel Mobile Trial Platform by upgrading from Intel Arria 10 FPGAs to Intel Stratix 10 FPGAs. It will also incorporate fundamental NR air interface physical layer features, such as low latency sub-frame design; flexible and scalable numerology multiplexing; 5G LDPC and Polar channel coding; massive MIMO, and beamforming.
The Intel XMM 7560 modem is expected to sample in H1 2017 and will enter into production soon afterward. The 3rd Generation Intel Mobile Trial Platform will be operational in H2 2017.