Qualcomm unveils micro-powered Wi-Fi solution and new AI-ready IoT platforms

Qualcomm Technologies today announced new micro-power Wi-Fi and industrial and embedded AI platforms designed to empower its customers in the embedded ecosystem. The new products and solutions provide critical upgrades to enable on-device AI, high-performance, low-power processing, and connectivity for the latest IoT products and applications.

The new WiFi solution, Qualcomm QCC730, provides up to 88% lower power than previous generations. The Qualcomm QCC730 Wi-Fi is complemented with an open-source IDE and SDK that supports cloud connectivity offloading for ease of development.

"Complementing high-performance, low-latency wireless connectivity solutions, Qualcomm QCC730 SoC is an industry-leading micro-powered Wi-Fi solution enabling Wi-Fi for the world of battery-powered IoT platforms. QCC730 enables devices to support TCP/IP networking capabilities while remaining form-factor and complete wireless constrained, whilst remaining connected to the Cloud platforms," said Rahul Patel, group general manager, connectivity, broadband and networking (CBN), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

The new Qualcomm RB3 Gen 2 Platform utilizes the Qualcomm QCS6490 processor to offer a 10x increase in on-device AI processing and supports advanced features such as quadruple 8MP+ camera sensors, computer vision, and integrated Wi-Fi 6E. 

Targeting a broad spectrum of applications from robotics to intelligent displays, the platform is now available for pre-order in two integrated development kits and supports downloadable software updates.

The recently introduced Qualcomm AI Hub supports the RB3 Gen 2, allowing for an out-of-the-box optimized experience across a variety of broadly used AI models deployed across IoT and embedded applications. The platform also supports Qualcomm Linux - a comprehensive package of OS, software, tools, and documentation precisely designed for Qualcomm Technologies' IoT platforms.

Looking ahead, Qualcomm plans to introduce an industrial-grade platform in June 2024 to address the functional safety, and environmental and mechanical handling requirements in industrial applications. This platform will feature high-performance CPU, GPU, and on-device AI capabilities, advanced safe camera ISP with multi-concurrent camera support, and support for industrial I/O needs.