Qualcomm's Li Junjie: Embracing "5G+AI" Connectivity and computing are crucial to the Internet of Things

Jiwei.com reported on October 25 that from October 22 to 25, the 2021 World Internet of Things Expo was held at the Wuxi Taihu International Expo Center. At the China Mobile Internet of Things Developer Conference held at the same time, Li Junjie, Product Marketing Director of Qualcomm Technologies, delivered a report entitled "Embracing 5G and AI to Empower the Future of the Internet of Things", sharing topics such as how 5G and AI technologies will be combined with the Internet of Things to help bring about changes in thousands of industries.

The research report conducted by IHS Markit, an independent research organization, shows that by 2035, 5G is expected to create an economic value of up to $13.1 trillion for the industry. Among them, smart manufacturing and the resulting concept of Industry 4.0 will create an economic output of up to $4.8 trillion by 2035, accounting for a quarter of the total value. In addition, it also includes smart cities, smart healthcare, etc.

Li Junjie said that in the field of Internet of Things, Qualcomm already has more than 13,000 customers in multiple market segments around the world, and has carried out in-depth industrial development of the Internet of Things in eight major areas. Among them, digital logistics and retail, industrial automation and robotics, and sustainable cities and infrastructure have all made considerable progress, and all of these developments are inseparable from the technical support provided by Qualcomm.

Li Junjie pointed out that when breaking down the three major aspects of IoT, AI and 5G, "security" is the most important cornerstone. Whether it is data generated during operation or data transmitted and stored, security will always be the cornerstone of the entire industry. In addition, there are "computing" and "connection". Computing makes the entire system smarter, which is what we call "Smart"; "connection" can give birth to the Internet of Everything. The reason why the Internet of Things is called the Internet of Things is first because it connects everything together, whether it is the previous Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or even the 6G that is being discussed now, it can realize the Internet of Everything. Therefore, the triangle built based on security, computing and connection is the foundation for the stable development of the entire Internet of Things world.

If the entire technology is roughly divided according to physical location, it can be divided into cloud, edge and terminal. Some resource-intensive big data analysis can be carried out on the cloud; the edge can process some latency-sensitive data; the terminal side is equivalent to the "capillaries" of the entire IoT world, and all sensing devices, reasoning devices, etc. are implemented on the terminal side.

Li Junjie further pointed out that the foundation of the terminal side is still connection, computing and security, all of which require secure connection and secure computing. Terminal equipment products are becoming smaller and smaller, and their functions are becoming more and more powerful. Its connection and computing have made great progress and rapid development compared with before. For such a smaller and more portable device, the biggest challenge is actually power consumption.

"As functions become more powerful, more energy will be consumed, and the heat will increase accordingly. So how can we provide the best performance on the terminal side? For Qualcomm, we believe that heterogeneous computing is the key to terminal-side intelligence. We can flexibly call on powerful CPUs, GPUs, and dedicated computing units, which can better improve computing performance; at the same time, we can also call different computing units for different computing methods and algorithms. This can greatly improve the use efficiency and solve the power consumption and heat dissipation problems on the terminal side compared to simply solidifying a certain type of computing unit." Li Junjie said,

According to Li Junjie, in terms of Qualcomm's IoT business, just like the Snapdragon mobile platform, it provides a complete product layout from entry-level to mid-range, high-end and flagship. It provides support for Snapdragon 2 series, 4 series, 6 series and 8 series, and some products also provide 5G support.

"The special applications in the Internet of Things field are very different from the needs that Qualcomm faces in the consumer field. In response to the needs of the Internet of Things field, Qualcomm provides what the Internet of Things industry really needs, that is, a longer software and hardware maintenance and support cycle. Mobile phone users may replace their devices every two years, and flagship mobile platforms are iterating every year; but for Internet of Things products, a longer life cycle may be required, such as 3, 5, or 8 years. This requires not only the purchase of hardware, but also more software support, and Qualcomm can provide full support through its deep accumulation of technical expertise." said Li Junjie.

Li Junjie said that the Qualcomm 315 5G IoT modem, which was just launched by Qualcomm some time ago, is a product that fully integrates Qualcomm's communication technologies. Starting from 5G, this product is backward compatible with 4G and 3G networks, supports Sub-6GHz frequency bands, does not support millimeter waves, and can cover almost any frequency band and any region, and is committed to supporting developers to establish themselves in China and go global.

Li Junjie believes that connectivity and computing are two critical aspects of the Internet of Things. Qualcomm has launched corresponding product portfolios for both, from products specifically launched for connectivity, such as the Qualcomm 315 5G IoT modem, to products such as the Qualcomm QCS8250 that have stronger computing capabilities in addition to connectivity capabilities. So in fact, Qualcomm has launched a number of leading 5G+AI networking solutions, from entry-level to flagship, to help accelerate the expansion of the global 5G IoT ecosystem.