BARCELONA, Spain—Revving up for commercial availability the second half of this year, Qualcomm's cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) chipset solutions are getting featured in at least two demos at Mobile World Congress this week.
Qualcomm’s 9150 CV2X chipset, which is used in separate demos by ZTE and Rhode & Schwarz, enables low latency communications for vehicles in use cases such as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V). The chipsets operate on designed and harmonized 5.9 GHz ITS spectrum.
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ZTE Mobile Devices announced it is working with Qualcomm Technologies to demonstrate connected car solutions at its booth at Mobile World Congress. ZTE VP of product marketing and strategy Jeff Yee touted the company as being “the first Chinese module manufacturer” to announce a C-V2X module and test terminals based on Qualcomm’s 9150 C-V2X chipset. The company said it has connected car solutions already available commercially in China and parts of Europe.
Yee said in a statement the company is “committed to the development of technologies that will lead the way to the 5G, connected car, and IoT future,” and that the company will “develop and implement C-V2X wireless communication technology to drive the commercialization of C-V2X in the near future.”
Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) technology group is showcasing its successful implementation of C-V2X direct communications signaling tests. R&S says its test capability of 3GPP C-V2X technology supports the development of an official Global Certification Forum (GCF) certification scheme based on 3GPP standardized conformance tests for the commercialization of C-V2X solutions.
The demo involves end-to-end communication between simulated vehicles in a roadside emergency scenario and shows a simulation of an ITS message transfer from one vehicle to another during emergency braking. It uses R&S CMW500 signal tester with Qualcomm’s 9150 C-V2X chipset.
The testing will “not only help in securing the global certification necessary to support automaker deployments, but also aid in accelerating the availability of multivendor interoperability,” said Anton Messmer, VP of Mobile Radio Testers at R&S in Munich, in a statement.
Earlier this year, Qualcomm was part of a wider announcement for C-V2X trials being held in Japan. NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nissan, OKI, Continental and Qualcomm are conducting a series of trials later this year in Japan aimed at validating the benefits of C-V2X using technology defined by the 3GPP in the Release 14 specifications.
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Qualcomm has made it a priority this year to ratchet up efforts to promote C-V2X as the preferred technology for improving safety on roads through technology. It historically has been a player in the older rival Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) but is making a big push to get behind C-V2X. The company was granted permission by the FCC earlier this month to test prototype equipment in the 5850-5925 MHz band, an exercise that Qualcomm expects will validate the performance advantage of C-V2X over DSRC.