Fibocom used last week’s Mobile World Congress in Shanghai to show its 5G redcap module portfolio, launch a 5G smart module and introduce FWA options.

On 5G redcap, along with the FG132 module series, the FG131 series was introduced to scale up the 5G NR light deployment for uses such as CPE, ODU, mobile hot-spots and USB dongles.

Leveraging cellular coverage, optimised power saving and reduced complexity, 5G redcap is gaining more attention within the IoT industry. The FG131 offers a wireless option for applications that are cost-sensitive and power-enduring. Packaged in an LGA form factor measuring 37 by 39.5mm, it is pin-compatible with the firm’s FG101 and FG621 LTE Cat 6 modules that allow smooth migration from 4G to 5G redcap.

Compliant with 3GPP Release 17, it supports 5G SA and reaches peak rates of up to 226Mbit/s downlink and 120Mbit/s uplink theoretically.

Additionally, the FG132 series has adjusted to three form factor designs and multiple regional versions that align with requirements to accelerate the deployment of 5G redcap worldwide. These compact designs are pin-compatible with Fibocom’s NL668 and L716 LTE Cat 4 modules, and the dimension of FG132 (29 by 32mm in LGA form factor) account for only half the size of standard 5G module at 41 by 44mm, reducing the complexity of hardware design at the early stage of 5G redcap adoption into terminals for, for example, IP cameras, drones and wearable XR.

Moreover, the M.2 and Mini PCIe form factors are the popular selections among manufacturers as both allow flexible connectivity ports while maintaining a compact size, thus making it easier for manufacturers to upgrade existing LTE devices quickly without changing the hardware design in, for example, industrial gateways and utility meters.

“5G redcap offers several advantages that make it particularly appealing for supporting IoT applications, and we are glad to scale up Fibocom’s redcap portfolio with the FG131 series,” said Shawn Zhu, vice president at Fibocom. “We are expecting to see redcap gaining further prominence by providing the highly-integrated and fast-to-deploy redcap modules across the IoT industry, ensuring IoT customers utilise all possible benefits of high-speed, reliable, power-efficient capabilities enabled by redcap.”

Based on the Qualcomm QCM4490 processor, the SC151-GL is said to be the industry’s first 5G smart module that supports mainstream frequency bands under 5G network architecture worldwide, which is crucial for those that require global roaming on their devices to deploy smart wireless faster.

Compliant with 3GPP Release 16, the module can offer a gigabit 5G experience, in addition to the support of Wifi 6 and 6E, allowing the connections of multiple end devices simultaneously as well as the high-capacity of data throughput. These features can significantly improve the uplink performance, especially for latency-sensitive scenarios such as warehouse management and manufacturing detection.

In terms of network use, the SC151-GL is also backwards compatible with 4G and 3G bands in addition to being compatible with 5G SA and NSA and EN-DC.

Applications include industrial handhelds, industrial tablets, point-of-sale devices, body-worn cameras, and PoC (push to talk over cellular). Equipped with a set of interfaces including Mipi, USB, uart, SPI and I²C, the module is scalable to meet the demands of various AIoT uses, and the support from software is capable of future upgrades to Android 18.

“The booming market of 5G has driven more and more IoT devices to evolve from 4G to 5G, especially for smart devices such as industrial handheld terminals or tablets that require seamless roaming to satisfy the processing speed of edge computing,” said Eden Chen, general manager at Fibocom. “We are confident to say that the launch of SC151-GL, the industry’s first 5G smart module that integrates the capability to support global frequency bands in one unit, will help our customers lead the 5G transformation and digitalisation more efficiently.”

The FG190 and FG180 5G FWA modules provide flexible configurations and multiple enhancements to CPE and mobile hot-spots, reducing the complexity to deploy 5G and accelerate the time to market.

The FG190 and FG180 sub-6GHz and mm-wave modules provide flexible dual- and tri-band Wifi 7 combinations. For example, an FG190 can simultaneously connect three PCIe and two USXGMII ports, in addition to the Wifi 7 selections.

CPE users can adjust the combinations between QFW7114 and QFW7124 to use the band capacity from maximum BE21000 to BE5000. Regarding the wired configurations, either the 10GbE+2.5GbE or 2.5GbE+2.5GbE could be the most efficient options to unleash the potential of cable access.

For 5G mobile hot spots, the multi-channel options can be used efficiently to increase the data rate, depending on requirements. The dual-band options can be switched to 2.4, 5 or 6GHz to increase throughput up to BE5800. The seamless Wifi 7 connectivity also benefits from the contribution of MLO (multi-link operation) and 4K QAM modulation schemes, offering a reliable connectivity service, especially in congested environments such as airport terminals, sports venues and hospitals.

The FG190 and FG180 are loaded with OpenWRT, which allows customisation for CPE and mobile hot-spots.

Powered by the Snapdragon X75 and X72 5G modem-RF system, the FG190 and FG180 comply with 3GPP Release 17 and are equipped with a quad-core A55 CPU to enable a fast and reliable 5G network experience.

With Snapdragon X75, the FG190 supports 5G sub-6GHz and mm-wave dual-connectivity, thus capable of NR 10CA with up to 1000MHz bandwidth in the mm-wave spectrum, and NR 5CA with up to 300MHz bandwidth in the sub-6GHz, elevating the maximum downlink speed to 10Gbit/s.

The FG180, integrated with Snapdragon X72, is agile for various 5G FWA uses by supporting up to 400MHz bandwidth of NR 4CA under mm-wave bands, and 200MHz bandwidth of NR 3CA under sub-6GHz.