Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ and W5 Gen 2 are new wearable platforms adding NB-NTN satellite support for emergencies to the Snapdragon W5+/W5 wearable platforms introduced in 2022, and found in various WearOS smartwatches and the Beacon W5 SoM.
The W5+/W5 Gen 2 platforms still feature a 1.7 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, an Adreno A702 GPU, an AON QCC5100 ML co-processor (W5+ Gen 2 only), MIPI DSI and MIPI CSI interfaces, cellular connectivity, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.3, GNSS, and optional NFC support. The main changes are NB-NTN support, an upgrade to 3GPP Rel 17 with Cat 1Bis, a 20% (or 30% depending on where you read) smaller RF frontend, and 50% more accurate GPS in urban or deep canyon areas.
Snapdragon W5+/W5 Gen 2 specifications:
- SWS5100 SoC
- CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.7 GHz
- GPU – Qualcomm Adreno A702 @ up to 1 GHz with OpenGL ES 3.1 API support + W5+ Gen2 only: 2.5D GPU
- DSP – Qualcomm Hexagon DSP V66K
- ISP – Qualcomm Spectra
- System Memory – 16-bit LPDDR4 up to 2,133 MHz
- Storage – eMMC 4.5 flash
- Process – 4nm
- AON QCC5100 Co-processor (W5+ Gen 2 only)
- CPU – Cortex-M55 always-on core @ 250MHz
- AI accelerator – Arm Ethos-U55 NPU
- Process – 22nm
- Display – MIPI DSI interface (SoC), QSPI with DDR interface (AON co-processor)
- Camera
- Dual-camera up to 16MP
- 2x 4-lane MIPI CSI
- Features: EIS 3.0, Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR), Pseudo ZSL
- Wireless connectivity
- Qualcomm RF Front-End (RFFE) solution – Size: 48mm2 (30% smaller than in the previous generation W5+/W5 platforms)
- Cellular
- Rel 17 with Cat 1bis (the specs read “Cat 1bix”, but it must be a typo)
- Support for E911 with z-axis
- LTE FDD, LTE TDD, 1x Adv, EV-DO Rev. A, TD-SCDMA, GSM/EDGE
- Satellite – NB-NTN non-terrestrial networks
- Dual-band 802.11n 1×1 WiFi 4
- Bluetooth 5.3, QHS (Qualcomm High Speed)
- Location – BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS with dual frequency (L1+L5) support; Location ML3.0 for an up to 50% GPS positioning accuracy in densely urban or deep canyon areas.
- NFC support via third-party
- USB – USB 2.0 interface
- Security Features – Qualcomm Processor Security, Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) 4.0.5
- Power
- Qualcomm PWW5100 power management IC
- Low power islands – Audio, Wi-Fi, GNSS
- Low power states – RBSC, TWM, Deep Sleep, Hibernate
Software support remains the same with Wear OS by Google, Android, and FreeRTOS, with the latter running on the Cortex-M55 co-processor.
The main purpose of the Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Networks (NB-NTN) connection is to allow a Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 smartwatch to transmit and receive emergency messages via satellite when out of cellular and Wi-Fi areas.
More details may be found on the product page and the “press note” (it looks like Qualcomm has a new word for everything…).
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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