Qualcomm Announces Second Generation Networking Pro Series Platforms For Wi-Fi 6

[Julio Urquidi]

Consisting of four separate platforms, this next-gen set of Wi-Fi 6 products is supposed to improve upon earlier performance benchmarks and give a better user-experience during mass device on-boarding – particularly for dense networks and across a wide range of applications.

Each of the four new Wi-Fi 6 platforms differentiate from each other by format, scale of application, and computing profile:

• Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200 Platform (supports up to 12 spatial streams of Wi-Fi connectivity with up to 2.2GHz Quad-core A53 processor)
• Qualcomm Networking Pro 800 Platform (supports up to 8 spatial streams of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with up to 1.4GHz Quad-core A53 processor)
• Qualcomm Networking Pro 600 Platform (supports up to 6 spatial streams of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with up to 1.0GHz Quad-core A53 processor)
• Qualcomm Networking Pro 400 Platform (supports up to 4 spatial streams of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with up to 1.0GHz Quad-core A53 processor)

Features in the new platforms include:

• 8x8 radio support, including 8 streams of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity in the 5GHz band.
• MU-MIMO support in the uplink and downlink across all bands with up to 12 independent chains of Wi-Fi to simultaneously connect MU-MIMO capable clients.
• OFDMA support in the uplink and downlink across all bands, with support for up to 37 users per each 5GHz channel.
• Enterprise-class architecture designed to handle up to 1500 clients simultaneously.
• Supports the 1024QAM Wi-Fi 6 modulation scheme.
• Support for the full WPA3 security suite, including Personal, Enterprise, Opportunistic Wireless Encryption, and Easy Connect.
• The Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200 Platform can be designed for either dual- or tri-radio operation (8x8 + 4x4 or 4x4 + 4x4 + 4x4) without the need to having to add a separate radio component.

The new Qualcomm Networking Pro Series platforms are now available. If you want more information, visit https://www.qualcomm.com/wi-fi-6.

 

[RMerlin]

Interesting. It appears the IPQ8074 that was used by some early 802.11ax products completely lack OFDMA uplink support... Might be part of why none of the early products launched with OFDMA support, and Broadcom is only recently enabling it on their existing product.

The Wifi 6 platform is already getting quite fragmented and we're not even at the non-draft stage yet...

 

[TheLostSwede]

Interesting. It appears the IPQ8074 that was used by some early 802.11ax products completely lack OFDMA uplink support... Might be part of why none of the early products launched with OFDMA support, and Broadcom is only recently enabling it on their existing product.

The Wifi 6 platform is already getting quite fragmented and we're not even at the non-draft stage yet...

And this is the reason you don't buy first gen anything Wi-Fi...

 

[Killhippie]

Netgear may well be updating their 12 stream Star Wars imperial shuttles then.

 

[thiggins]

Interesting. It appears the IPQ8074 that was used by some early 802.11ax products completely lack OFDMA uplink support...

Where did you get this from the announcement?

I think you mean products launched WITHOUT OFDMA support.

Don't forget none of the first generation chipsets support AX Uplink MU-MIMO.

 

[RMerlin]

Where did you get this from the announcement?

It was mentioned in Anandtech's article about the announcement.

Qualcomm is also finally enabling uplink OFDMA in the new products - this was one of the features supported by both Broadcom and Intel in their first-generation portfolio, but not by the Qualcomm IPQ8074 launched in 2017.

 

[thiggins]

It was mentioned in Anandtech's article about the announcement.

Thanks. I was aware of the limitation. But I don't think that information was public until now.

 

[Krisbi]

So, HPE / Aruba AP-515 has BCM43694 integrated according to wiki devi, but it doesn´t support UL MU_MIMO. AP-535 / AP-555 will have support for this. For UL MU-MIMO it still says "future":

 

[thiggins]

None of the current generation AX AP devices support UL MU-MIMO. It's not even part of 802.11ax Release 1, i.e. the first version to be approved. UL MU-MIMO is supposed to be in Release 2.

Qualcomm is clearly selling future here by saying devices support UL MU-MIMO. Note that AX DL MU-MIMO is not even enabled in any consumer routers at this point.

 

[avtella]

NG enabled OFDMA on the RAX120 (uses an IPQ8078) with the last firmware update but I’m not sure if it’s only on the DL side.

As for MU, Qualcomm’s own info regarding the IPQ8074 in 2017, mentioned support for both downlink and uplink MU so it must have support unless they backtracked.

However the data sheet for the Arista C-250 which also uses the same IPQ8078 clearly mentions both UL and DL OFDMA/MU being supported in an upcoming update.
https://www.arista.com/assets/data/pdf/Datasheets/Arista-C-250-Datasheet.pdf

An IPQ8074 device with certification mentioning both UL/DL OFDMA. Though Uplink MU is missing on this one.
http://certifications.prod.wi-fi.org/pdf/certificate/public/download?cid=WFA82934

I wonder if this is just minor changes like PCIE3.0 and EMMC support and mostly just rebadging of IPQ series like QCA did with the Snapdragon series a long while back.

 

[thiggins]

UL OFDMA is not a firmware upgrade unless the newer rev of the IPQ8078 is used.

 

[Dave Fey]

I'll be interested if anyone hears if this chipset/client set has implemented fixes for WPA3 dragonblood #2 revealed in August. I know that sounds too recent but the disclosure indicated that fixes were already being tested and required silicon changes (that was a guess from what I read so not guaranteed). The theory was that WPA was going to need a 3.1 version to fully fix. While I do like Qualcomm chipsets, they may well have leaped at a bad time when the current gear isn't ratified "fully" and the fixes for what has been deemed broken on the current standards has not been fully fixed.

And yes as always, don't go spending money until the right products are fully out of the oven.

 

[RMerlin]

I'll be interested if anyone hears if this chipset/client set has implemented fixes for WPA3 dragonblood #2 revealed in August. I know that sounds too recent but the disclosure indicated that fixes were already being tested and required silicon changes (that was a guess from what I read so not guaranteed). The theory was that WPA was going to need a 3.1 version to fully fix. While I do like Qualcomm chipsets, they may well have leaped at a bad time when the current gear isn't ratified "fully" and the fixes for what has been deemed broken on the current standards has not been fully fixed.

And yes as always, don't go spending money until the right products are fully out of the oven.

I don't think that any fix to WPA3 would come from silicon, but from software. The hardware only needs to handle the required ciphers.

 

[shareout]

None of the current generation AX AP devices support UL MU-MIMO. It's not even part of 802.11ax Release 1, i.e. the first version to be approved. UL MU-MIMO is supposed to be in Release 2.

Qualcomm is clearly selling future here by saying devices support UL MU-MIMO. Note that AX DL MU-MIMO is not even enabled in any consumer routers at this point.

I suppose upload mu-mimo is quite important if the plan for me is to use my wireless for gaming? Or are there enough improvements to shift when release 1 routers are out? My AC66U is not good enough in my new apartment with the busy network here (Tried both Asus Pcie-68 and DWA-192, both spike ones in a while which makes me think its the router)

 

[thiggins]

I suppose upload mu-mimo is quite important if the plan for me is to use my wireless for gaming? Or are there enough improvements to shift when release 1 routers are out? My AC66U is not good enough in my new apartment with the busy network here (Tried both Asus Pcie-68 and DWA-192, both spike ones in a while which makes me think its the router)

Upload MU-MIMO requires an AX client device.

I don't understand your question "are there enough improvements to shift when release 1 routers are out". The current crop of routers are all based on the Release 1 draft (which is now at rev 4 I think).

 

[shareout]

Upload MU-MIMO requires an AX client device.

I don't understand your question "are there enough improvements to shift when release 1 routers are out". The current crop of routers are all based on the Release 1 draft (which is now at rev 4 I think).

I thought Release 1 was the first none-draft release and my plan is to buy a router when draft period is over, hopefully end of this year? But my question is irrelevant as it sounds like the first none-draft routers will have upload mu-mimo then

 

[RMerlin]

I thought Release 1 was the first none-draft release and my plan is to buy a router when draft period is over, hopefully end of this year?

Latest timeframe is January 2020 now for the final draft approval by the IEEE. Further approval are to follow, with publication in June 2020.

http://www.ieee802.org/11/Reports/tgax_update.htm

Maybe it will be finalized before manufacturers start releasing 802.11ay silicon... This is silly at this point.

 

[shareout]

Latest timeframe is January 2020 now for the final draft approval by the IEEE. Further approval are to follow, with publication in June 2020.

http://www.ieee802.org/11/Reports/tgax_update.htm

Maybe it will be finalized before manufacturers start releasing 802.11ay silicon... This is silly at this point.

Hope they release routers late this year that can just be firmware updated for the last details

Another thing, with the Intel AX200, can I just use the antennas from the Asus PCIE-68 or have antenna designs changed to support new features?

 

[thiggins]

Your existing antennas are fine. But if your laptop uses a whitelist, you might not be able to upgrade your Wi-Fi adapter. I've found Dells generally allow upgrading, Lenovos, not so much.

 

[shareout]

Your existing antennas are fine. But if your laptop uses a whitelist, you might not be able to upgrade your Wi-Fi adapter. I've found Dells generally allow upgrading, Lenovos, not so much.

I can test if it works in my Thinkpad T470P, but its actually my desktop where I bought a Asus Crosshair VI Hero that have an empty wifi slot, my laptop do not have many issues with wifi as I dont do any "realtime gaming" on it, so mostly my desktop where I would like an upgrade as I get random spikes with both the D-link DWA-192 usb and the Asus Pcie-68 adapter