Samsung Electronics recently joined hands with Qualcomm to successfully test the implementation of 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) on frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) spectrum basebands. , which can increase downlink speed by more than 20%.
Quadrature Amplitude Keying is a method of combining two amplitude modulated signals (2ASK and 2PSK) into one channel, thereby doubling the effective bandwidth for more efficient transmission of data or information.
The communications industry currently uses 256 QAM, but Samsung and Qualcomm Technologies implemented the latest 1024 QAM in compliance with the 3GPP Release 17 specifications.
This enhanced QAM technology helps operators maximize the utilization of spectrum resources, allowing mobile users to seamlessly enjoy various mobile services such as live video streaming and online multiplayer gaming.
The test was conducted at Samsung’s R&D labs in South Korea and utilized Samsung’s 5G vRAN software and radios (supporting the 2.1 GHz (FDD) and 3.5 GHz (TDD) frequency bands respectively), as well as Qualcomm Technologies’ latest Snapdragon X75 5G baseband-RF System test terminal.
This is an important milestone as it is the first time in the industry that 1024 QAM has been achieved in the FDD band. By using 20 MHz bandwidth, transmission speeds of 485 Mbps are achieved, achieving speeds close to the theoretical gain. This downlink speed is more than 20% higher than the upper limit of the speed currently achievable with 256 QAM.
