Qualcomm has unveiled an immersive home platform, a modular architecture to bring Wifi 6E mesh deployment for delivering wireless gigabit speeds throughout a connected home.

Designed to deploy gigabit-speed wireless performance to every room in the home in form factors as small as the palm of the hand, these devices are said to be cost-effective enough to target low consumer price points. This is achieved through a modular architecture approach, advancements in network packet processing technology and an integration of Wifi 6 and 6E.

The platform has four product tiers – 214, 216, 316 and 318 – to give design flexibility to manufacturers and broadband carriers.

“We have launched the Qualcomm immersive home platforms, a fresh approach to home networking leveraging high powered Wifi 6 and 6E, a fresh architectural design customised for home deployments, and advanced features designed to deliver gigabit performance to every corner of the home,” said Nick Kucharewski, vice president at Qualcomm. “Today, as offices, classrooms, movie theatres and everything in between move into the home, high performance wifi has transitioned from luxury to mission critical utility.”

Representing the firm’s tri-band Wifi 6 platforms within the portfolio, the 310 series is designed to leverage simultaneously all three bands of spectrum to support IoT-class devices (2.4GHz), legacy media devices (5GHz), and congestion-relieving migration of node-to-node backhaul traffic from 5 to 6GHz, while ensuring the network can support devices for emerging 6GHz applications such as VR, XR, live video sharing and streaming, and real-time gaming.

The Immersive Home 318 platform uses eight-stream tri-band in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) plus 2×2 (5GHz) plus 4×4 (6GHz) configuration, for a total of 7.8Gbit/s total available phy rate. Multi-gigabit wireless throughput is available and it supports 160MHz channels in 5 and 6GHz bands. The 4×4 Wifi 6E configuration in the 6GHz band is said to deliver enhanced performance, range and client count.

The Immersive Home 316 platform uses six-stream tri-band in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) plus 2×2 (5GHz) plus 2×2 (6GHz) configuration, for a total of 5.4Gbit/s total available phy rate. It also supports multi-gigabit wireless throughput and 160MHz channels in 5 and 6GHz bands.

The Immersive Home 210 series represents dual-band Wifi 6 platforms. For example the Home 216 uses six-stream Wifi 6 in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) plus 4×4 (5GHz) configuration, for a total of 5.4Gbit/s total available phy rate. There is multi-gigabit wireless throughput and support for 160MHz channels in 5GHz bands.

The Immersive Home 214 platform has four-stream Wifi 6 in a 2×2 (2.4GHz) plus 2×2 (5GHz) configuration, for a total of 3.0Gbit/s total available phy rate.

In both dual and tri-band series, the platforms can deliver gigabit wireless in a form factor optimised for size, scale and performance. For instance, when compared with the firm’s IPQ4xxx family found in most Wifi 5-generation mesh systems, this platform can deliver 2.5 times throughput per watt to keep industrial designs small, heat profiles cool and overall device costs low.

The platforms are built to deliver seamless roaming, band and node client steering, and security safeguards across Wifi 4, 5, 6 and 6E. They support various mesh software protocols including Qualcomm’s Wifi Son, the OpenSync open-source software, Eero’s TrueMesh and the Wifi Alliance’s Wifi Certified EasyMesh standard.

Multi-user traffic management technologies balance and support all the wifi connected devices in a modern smart home, while Bluetooth integration enables seamless onboarding and integration of applications leveraging either connectivity technology.

The platforms can support, in certain configurations with 6GHz operation, emerging latency-sensitive applications such as mobile gaming and XR through latency reduction up to eight times in congested environments and wireless VR-class latency of less than 3ms.