Qualcomm announces Snapdragon Satellite for premium phones - RCR Wireless News

The solution uses Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems and Iridium outer constellation’s weather-resistant L-band spectrum

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite, announced astatine CES 2023, is designed to supply global, two-way messaging capabilities for smartphones. The solution is supported by Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems and weather-resilient L-band spectrum for uplink and downlink, provided by the Iridium satellite constellation, which has been afloat operational since 2019.

“Iridium is arrogant to beryllium the outer web that supports Snapdragon Satellite for premium smartphones,” said Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium. “Our web is tailored for this work – our advanced, LEO satellites screen each portion of the globe and enactment the lower-power, low-latency connections perfect for the satellite-powered services enabled by the industry-leading Snapdragon Satellite.”

“Snapdragon Satellite tin grow to different devices, including laptops, tablets, vehicles and IoT,” said the company. “As the Snapdragon Satellite ecosystem grows, OEMs and app developers tin differentiate and connection unsocial branded services taking vantage of outer connectivity.”

Qualcomm added that the solution volition besides enactment 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), arsenic this infrastructure and constellations go available.

The outer solution is besides supported by Garmin’s outer exigency effect service. “Garmin welcomes the accidental to grow our proven outer exigency effect services to millions of caller smartphone users globally,” said Brad Trenkle, vice president of Garmin’s outdoor segment. “Garmin Response supports thousands of SOS incidents each twelvemonth and has apt saved galore lives successful the process, and we are looking guardant to collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies and Iridium to assistance radical link to exigency services nary substance wherever beingness takes them.”

Space is precise overmuch the caller frontier successful mobile communications. In November, Apple announced the activation of its “Emergency SOS by satellite” diagnostic for the iPhone 14 that uses the L and S-bands. The diagnostic volition alteration iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro users to link with exigency services successful areas without cellular and Wi-Fi sum by guiding users to an outdoor determination they tin link to Globalstar’s constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Then, the idiosyncratic is prompted to reply circumstantial questions astir their concern aft which a connection is sent to the satellite, relayed to Globalstar’s web of crushed stations, and past dispatched to exigency services teams for further action. 

A fewer months anterior to Apple’s announcement, T-Mobile CEO and President Mike Sievert and SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk revealed Coverage Above and Beyond, the company’s associated effort to bring compartment telephone connectivity everyplace utilizing outer technology.

“The important happening astir this is that it means determination are nary dormant zones anyplace successful the satellite for your compartment phone,” said Musk said astatine the unrecorded event.

Emergency messaging utilizing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite volition motorboat for next-gen smartphones successful prime regions opening the 2nd fractional of this year. Initially, lone devices based connected the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform are compatible, said the company.