What does 5G RedCap mean for wearable production testing?
RedCap — Reduced Capability, introduced in 3GPP Release 17 and extended as eRedCap in Release 18 — is a deliberately reduced 5G device class: FR1 bandwidth up to 20 MHz, one or two transmit chains, 64QAM maximum, and roughly 60% less complexity than full 5G NR. Downlink peak is around 226 Mbps and uplink around 120 Mbps, better than LTE Cat.4 by roughly 1.5× and 2× respectively, on a 5G standalone architecture. For wearables this means a cellular radio in a watch-sized product, with the same production test requirements — multi-band RF, coexistence, and sensitivity — at tighter space and power budgets.
Key points
- RedCap: 20 MHz FR1 bandwidth, 1T1R or 1T2R, 64QAM maximum
- Roughly 60% less complexity than full 5G NR
- Peak rates around 226 Mbps downlink and 120 Mbps uplink
- Runs on 5G standalone, which changes the test signalling setup
- Wearables gain cellular capability without a full NR test burden
Products this applies to
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