Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 1200 Platform for Wearables Supports LTE Cat M1 and NB1 (NB-IoT)

After Snapdragon Wear 2100 and 1100 launched last year , Qualcomm has announced a new Snapdragon Wear 1200 platform still designed for wearables, but with lower power consumption, less processing power, a more compact package, and built-in support for LTE IoT communications standards such as LTE Cat M1 and LTE NB-IoT (Cat NB1).

 

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 1200 key features and specifications:

• CPU – ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.3 GHz
• Memory / Storage – Support for discreet or MCP NAND and LPDDR2
• Display – Support via SPI for simple UI and displays
• Modem
  • Global multi-mode supporting Cat-M1 / NB1 / E-GPRS.
  • Supports LTE FDD and TDD for Cat-M1 and E-GRPS and FDD only for Cat-NB1
  • Up to 300 kbps downlink and 350 kbps uplink for Cat-M1
  • 10 kbps download and 60 kbps upload speeds for Cat-NB1
  • Integrated voice support for VoLTE
• Other Connectivity – Pre-integrated support for Qualcomm 11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 / Bluetooth Low Energy
• Location
  • GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou constellations supported
  • Accurate Wi-Fi and cellular positioning, optimized for Cat-M1/NB1
  • Low power Geo-Fencing
  • Qualcomm Cloud Based Location Services with   day GNSS predicted orbits service, Qualcomm end-to-end Global Terrestrial Positioning (GTP) Wi-Fi
    and cellular service
• Security
  • Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment
  • Wireless protocol security
  • Hardware based security with Secure Boot/storage/debug, hardware crypto engine, hardware random number generator, and Trustzone
• Power Management
  • Ultra-low Rock Bottom Sleep Current (RBSC) for extended standby
  • Power Save Mode (PSM)
  • Extended Discontinuous Receive (eDRX)
  • Charging – Companion charging chipset
• Package / Process – 79mm2 package; 28nm manufacturing process

The product brief actually mention an ARM Cortex-A1 core, but this must be a mistake, as later on Qualcomm explains the platform is cost-optimized to reduce the BOM and NRE with an ARM Cortex A7 core “eliminating the need for MCUs” . The company also claims the solution is scalable thanks to broad software re-use, and the possibility to add voice, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The solutions is also said to last 10 day on a charge with LTE standy, when paired with 350 mAh battery and using eDRX.

Linux and ThreadX operating systems will be supported, and while Wear 1200 chipset is supposed to target wearables such as kid, pet, elderly, and fitness trackers, I’d assume it might also be useful for some IoT applications like GPS trackers provided it’s cost-effective. Reference designs from Borqs and Quanta are available in order to allow manufacturers to bring products to market quickly. You may be able to find a few more details on Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 1200 product page.

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