Qualcomm joins Facebook’s Terragraph Wi-Fi project

The world’s foremost manufacturer of processors for mobile devices has recently revealed that it will be joining forces with the biggest social media platform in the planet, in order to help bring fast Wi-Fi connections to cities starting next year. Indeed, Qualcomm is set to integrate its QCA6438 and QCA6428 lineup of pre 802.11ay chip sets into Facebook’s Terragraph initiative.

It was around a couple of years ago when Facebook has first confirmed the existence of its Terragraph project. For those not in the know, this initiative involves setting up a 60 GigaHertz, multi-node Wi-Fi system that should be capable of delivering super fast Internet service especially in densely populated urban centers. Since then, the project has attracted various wireless and tech partners, including Deutsche Telekom (which owns the T-Mobile brand) and Nokia.

The participation of Qualcomm, however, is especially significant. This is mainly because the integration of chip maker’s QCA6438 and QCA6428 family of pre 802.11ay chip sets into Facebook’s Terragraph will basically allow various other companies to start developing 60 GigaHertz millimeter wave solutions that fully take advantage of unlicensed 60 GigaHertz spectrum, and in the process, grant Fixed Wireless Access (FWA).

Both Facebook and Qualcomm fully expect to start conducting tests for the solution by the middle part of next year. As a matter of fact, a test network has already been prepared in the city of San Jose in California. The main concept behind the Terragraph project has always been to provide a means for delivering fiber quality connectivity wherever it is needed. One of the tech partners mentioned earlier -- Deutsche Telekom -- is actually exploring the idea of rolling out Terragraph based solutions across specific parts in the European continent. The wireless giant is also planning to begin Terragraph field trials in Hungary, specifically in or around the country’s capital city of Budapest (with the help of Magyar Telekom, the number one telecoms service provider in Hungary and a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom).

As pointed out by Jesse Burke, the marketing staff manager of Connectivity at Qualcomm, the chip maker had to coordinate closely with Facebook in order to make sure time synchronization is achieved among the nodes, channel bonding, and massive antenna array. Moreover, Qualcomm also designed its solution to not only provide high capacity connectivity, but also with the capability to overcome large obstacles in in dense urban centers, and of course, the potential for cost effectiveness in the long term.

For more information about this development, check out Qualcomm’s official press release.