In few years there’ll be close to 4bn smartphones on earth. Ericsson’s annual mobility report forecasts increasing mobile subscriptions and connections through 2020.(9.5B Smartphone Subs by 2020 and eight-fold traffic increase). Ericsson’s annual mobility report expects that by 2020 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a phone. It really talks about the connected world where everyone will have a connection one way or another.
What about the phone systems in use. Now majority of the world operates on GSM and HPSA (3G). Some countries are starting to have good 4G (LTE) coverage, but on average only 20% is covered by LTE. 4G/LTE small cells will grow at 2X the rate for 3G and surpass both 2G and 3G in 2016.
Ericsson expects that 85% of mobile subscriptions in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa will be 3G or 4G by 2020. 75%-80% of North America and Western Europe are expected to be using LTE by 2020. China is by far the biggest smartphone market by current users in the world, and it is rapidly moving into high-speed 4G technology.
The sales of mobile broadband routers and mobile broadband “usb sticks” is expected to continue to drop. In year 2013 those devices were sold 87 million units, and in 2014 sales dropped again 24 per cent. Chinese Huawei is the market leader (45%), so it has most to loose on this.
Small cell backhaul market is expected to grow. ABI Research believes 2015 will now witness meaningful small cell deployments. Millimeter wave technology—thanks to its large bandwidth and NLOS capability—is the fastest growing technology. 4G/LTE small cell solutions will again drive most of the microwave, millimeter wave, and sub 6GHz backhaul growth in metropolitan, urban, and suburban areas. Sub 6GHz technology will capture the largest share of small cell backhaul “last mile” links.
Technology for full duplex operation at one radio frequency has been designed. The new practical circuit, known as a circulator, that lets a radio send and receive data simultaneously over the same frequency could supercharge wireless data transfer, has been designed. The new circuit design avoids magnets, and uses only conventional circuit components. The radio wave circulator utilized in wireless communications to double the bandwidth by enabling full-duplex operation, ie, devices can send and receive signals in the same frequency band simultaneously. Let’s wait to see if this technology turns to be practical.
Broadband connections are finally more popular than traditional wired telephone: In EU by the end of 2014, fixed broadband subscriptions will outnumber traditional circuit-switched fixed lines for the first time.
After six years in the dark, Europe’s telecoms providers see a light at the end of the tunnel. According to a new report commissioned by industry body ETNO, the sector should return to growth in 2016. The projected growth for 2016, however, is small – just 1 per cent.
With headwinds and tailwinds, how high will the cabling market fly? Cabling for enterprise local area networks (LANs) experienced growth of between 1 and 2 percent in 2013, while cabling for data centers grew 3.5 percent, according to BSRIA, for a total global growth of 2 percent. The structured cabling market is facing a turbulent time. Structured cabling in data centers continues to move toward the use of fiber. The number of smaller data centers that will use copper will decline.
Businesses will increasingly shift from buying IT products to purchasing infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service. Both trends will increase the need for processing and storage capacity in data centers. And we need also fast connections to those data centers. This will cause significant growth in WiFi traffic, which will will mean more structured cabling used to wire access points. Convergence also will result in more cabling needed for Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, building management systems, access controls and other applications. This could mean decrease in the installing of special separate cabling for those applications.
The future of your data center network is a moving target, but one thing is certain: It will be faster. The four developments are in this field are: 40GBase-T, Category 8, 32G and 128G Fibre Channel, and 400GbE.
Ethernet will more and more move away from 10, 100, 1000 speed series as proposals for new speeds are increasingly pushing in. The move beyond gigabit Ethernet is gathering pace, with a cluster of vendors gathering around the IEEE standards effort to help bring 2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps speeds to the ubiquitous Cat 5e cable. With the IEEE standardisation process under way, the MGBase-T alliance represents industry’s effort to accelerate 2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps speeds to be taken into use for connections to fast WLAN access points. Intense attention is being paid to the development of 25 Gigabit Ethernet (25GbE) and next-generation Ethernet access networks. There is also development of 40GBase-T going on.
Cat 5e vs. Cat 6 vs. Cat 6A – which should you choose? Stop installing Cat 5e cable. “I recommend that you install Cat 6 at a minimum today”. The cable will last much longer and support higher speeds that Cat 5e just cannot support. Category 8 cabling is coming to data centers to support 40GBase-T.
Power over Ethernet plugfest planned to happen in 2015 for testing power over Ethernet products. The plugfest will be focused on IEEE 802.3af and 802.3at standards relevant to IP cameras, wireless access points, automation, and other applications. The Power over Ethernet plugfest will test participants’ devices to the respective IEEE 802.3 PoE specifications, which distinguishes IEEE 802.3-based devices from other non-standards-based PoE solutions.
Gartner expects that wired Ethernet will start to lose it’s position in office in 2015 or in few years after that because of transition to the use of the Internet mainly on smartphones and tablets. The change is significant, because it will break Ethernet long reign in the office. Consumer devices have already moved into wireless and now is the turn to the office. Many factors speak on behalf of the mobile office. Research predicts that by 2018, 40 per cent of enterprises and organizations of various solid defines the WLAN devices by default. Current workstations, desktop phone, the projectors and the like, therefore, be transferred to wireless. Expect the wireless LAN equipment market to accelerate in 2015 as spending by service providers and education comes back, 802.11ac reaches critical mass, and Wave 2 products enter the market.
Scalable and Secure Device Management for Telecom, Network, SDN/NFV and IoT Devices will become standard feature. Whether you are building a high end router or deploying an IoT sensor network, a Device Management Framework including support for new standards such as NETCONF/YANG and Web Technologies such as Representational State Transfer (ReST) are fast becoming standard requirements. Next generation Device Management Frameworks can provide substantial advantages over legacy SNMP and proprietary frameworks.
U.S. regulators resumed consideration of mergers proposed by Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc., suggesting a decision as early as March: Comcast’s $45.2 billion proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc and AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV.
There will be changes in the management of global DNS. U.S. is in the midst of handing over its oversight of ICANN to an international consortium in 2015. The National Telecommunications and Information Association, which oversees ICANN, assured people that the handover would not disrupt the Internet as the public has come to know it. Discussion is going on about what can replace the US government’s current role as IANA contract holder. IANA is the technical body that runs things like the global domain-name system and allocates blocks of IP addresses. Whoever controls it, controls the behind-the-scenes of the internet; today, that’s ICANN, under contract with the US government, but that agreement runs out in September 2015.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless Start-up Artemis Reaches Deal With Nokia
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/wireless-start-up-artemis-reaches-deal-with-nokia/?_r=1
A little over a year ago, a start-up in San Francisco called Artemis Networks announced a new technology that it said could enable much faster Internet access speeds over wireless networks, which often slow dramatically when too many people use their smartphones in busy locations.
The only thing Artemis needed was big companies from the wireless industry to buy into the idea of using its technology. But it has been challenging for a small start-up to get those deals.
On Monday, Nokia Networks, the Finnish networking equipment provider, said it planned to begin testing Artemis’s technology, called pCell, starting next year with wireless carriers. The tests will be an attempt to prove that the technology works as advertised.
According to Mr. Perlman, wireless networks that use pCell antennas do not need to worry about interference from nearby antennas. Instead, data centers connected to the antennas perform instantaneous calculations that create a coherent wireless signal for every user of a smartphone or another device within range.
Those users gain access to the full capacity of the wireless spectrum of a pCell network, instead of seeing their Internet speeds degrade sharply, especially in crowded areas like a stadium or a train station.
Because pCell antennas are compatible with existing smartphones that run on standard 4G LTE networks, users of Android smartphones and iPhones won’t have to do anything to receive the benefits of the technology, Artemis promises. “Their phone is going to work like it has a cable modem connection even if you’re in a high-density crowd,” said Mr. Perlman.
Tomi Engdahl says:
T-Mobile announces new 4G LTE CellSpot, offering LTE signal from Wi-Fi wherever you want it
http://9to5google.com/2015/11/02/t-mobile-4g-cellspot/
John Legere took to Twitter in a surprisingly short and subdued Tweetstorm just a short while ago to announce a new move the ‘Uncarrier’ is making this week. Ahead of its Uncarrier X event, T-Mo’s extraverted chief announced that the wireless carrier is now offering a personal 4G LTE CellSpot to any Simple Choice customer who wants one…
Unlike the current ASUS-made CellSpot router, the 4G LTE CellSpot actually creates an LTE network in your home or work place and can apparently cover up to 3,000 square feet:
Like the ASUS router, customers can get the device for free as long as they pay a $25 deposit, and T-Mo claim’s it’s just “plug and play”. As long as you have an Internet connection at home, you can plug the 4G LTE CellSpot in and it’ll create an LTE signal right in your home. T-Mobile now offers three different network boosting devices. For those confused about how the new one differs from the older products, the company put together a short list:
Wi-Fi CellSpot Router: Announced at Un-carrier 7.0 in September 2014, this Internet-connected router provides customers with Wi-Fi coverage for calling and texting beyond the reach of any cellular network;
4G LTE CellSpot Signal Booster: This signal booster amplifies T-Mobile’s 3G, 4G and/or LTE signal throughout a home or business without an Internet connection; and,
4G LTE CellSpot: Announced today, this 4G LTE tower delivers a strong, reliable wireless 4G LTE signal for customers with or without an indoor cellular signal on compatible 3G, 4G and LTE handsets for up to 16 callers at one time anywhere a customer has broadband Internet and T-Mobile wireless spectrum.
It’s interesting/weird to see T-Mobile opt for actual LTE mini-towers when it already offers Wi-Fi calls and texts with virtually any router across the globe. Every device it sells now is equipped with Wi-Fi calling functionality, meaning none of its customers should ever struggle to make a call or send a message
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Puts $22M In 10 Startups, With A Stake In FreedomPop To Launch A Rival To Google’s Project Fi
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/03/intel-invests-22m-in-10-startups-500m-this-year/
Intel Capital, the venture arm of the tech giant, today announced $22 million in new investments across 10 startups.
FreedomPop, a provider of “free” wireless voice and data services that makes its money on value-added options like voicemail, extra data allowances and so on. This is a strategic investment for FreedomPop, which plans to use the money to build out a new broadband service that will rival Google Project Fi — specifically, it will use Intel’s new SoFIA platform to launch a WiFi-based smartphone with free mobile services.
LISNR, maker of Smart Tones, a “protocol that sends data over audio using a high-frequency, inaudible technology” that turns speakers and other media into beacons.
Sckipio, the first company to announce and ship commercial G.fast chipsets for G.fast modems. These promise to deliver up to 1Gbp/s broadband the last mile to the home over existing copper wiring.
what3words, an “addressing platform” that provides more accurate location information than GPS.
Microprogram Information, an Internet of Things startup that provides turnkey hardware and software solutions and backend information management services for transportation services like rental bicycles, taxi fleets and mobile point-of-sale systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Juniper hardware and software to sleep in separate beds
Run Junos on white boxes? Sure! How about other NOSes on our boxes? Yep to that too
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/04/juniper_junos_and_nfv_launch/
Juniper has decided to embrace the white box ethic, by breaking the nexus between Juniper hardware and its Junos software.
It’s a change that works both ways, as the company’s corporate VP for development and innovations Denise Shiffman told The Register: both Junos and Juniper hardware will be available as discrete products.
Shiffman said Juniper would like to see DevOps-y organisations “develop their own applications or network services” on Juniper hardware, with environments like OpenStack, Apache and Netconf running on Linux on the switch.
Customers like service providers, she said, often have software running operations like telemetry that are specific to their environment.
The disaggregation also means Juniper customers can use the Open Compute Project model to program directly to switches.
The first hardware to support the disaggregation is the QFX5200 series of 25/50 Gbps Ethernet switches, which also have a new pricing model that separates the hardware purchase from software licenses.
Shiffman also hopes the disaggregated model will be attractive to partners selling to enterprises that are looking to virtualisation and software-defined networking (SDN) in their private infrastructure.
Given the risk that Juniper will be perceived as trying to compete in the white box market, it’s no surprise that the company wants to remind users it’s had years to build worldwide distribution and support operations. Startups, by definition, haven’t done that yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel puts cash behind Wi-Fi-first smartmobes
Chipzilla funds FreedomPop to get its SoFIA silicon into more mobes
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/04/intel_to_freedompop_heres_some_money_now_buy_our_mobile_chips/
Chipzilla’s mobile phone silicon is so popular it’s taken the step of funding a network operator to buy a custom-made smartphone based on its SoFIA chipset.
Nobody’s talking how much money FreedomPop is getting from Intel Capital, but it will be enough to create a “Wi-Fi optimised” smartphone that will switch to cellular networks if needed.
The announcement was made at the Intel Capital Global Summit, and beyond promising a 2016 launch in “multiple markets”, Chipzilla didn’t say when product would ship, nor which OEM will build the phone.
You’re right to fear a second dot-com crash, says Intel VC boss
Chip giant’s investment wing looks abroad as tech bubble grows
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/04/tech_bubble_intel_vc/
Fears of another technology startup bubble bursting are “legitimate,” says the outgoing head of Intel’s venture capital arm.
As a result, the chip biz is playing it safe in “overheated sectors” of the market, and looking overseas for the next big thing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s top Internet companies and telcos rated on protection of users’ digital rights
Google scores best among Internet companies, Facebook way behind.
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/11/worlds-top-internet-companies-and-telcos-rated-on-protection-of-users-digital-rights/
The Ranking Digital Rights project has launched its first Corporate Accountability Index, in which 16 leading Internet and telecommunications companies were evaluated on the protection they offered their users’ digital rights. A total of 31 indicators were taken into account, in an attempt to rate each company’s policies and practices that affect users’ freedom of expression and privacy.
For the eight Internet companies and eight telecommunications companies selected, Ranking Digital Rights says that only six companies scored at least 50 percent of the total possible points. The highest score overall was 65 percent, obtained by Google, and nearly half the companies in the Index scored less than 25 percent, “showing a serious deficit of respect for users’ freedom of expression and privacy,” according to the project.
Alongside Google, the other Internet companies were (in order of their ranking): Yahoo (58 percent), Microsoft (56), Twitter (50), the South Korean mobile apps company Kakao (47), Facebook (41)
Although the scores of the companies are essentially arbitrary, they do highlight strengths and weaknesses among the world’s top Internet and telecommunications companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia to develop 5g-technology together with the giant operator
Nokia has done with China Mobile, the development of a Memorandum of Understanding 5G networks.
The agreement covers the key features of 5G technology research, standardization and preparation of industrial manufacture.
Nokia is the first non-Chinese web editor that is sought and reached China Mobile Research Institute, an affiliate 5G development.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/nokia-kehittaa-5g-tekniikkaa-yhdessa-jattioperaattorin-kanssa-6062760
Tomi Engdahl says:
Network jobs are hot; salaries expected to rise in 2016
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2999150/careers/network-jobs-are-hot-salaries-expected-to-rise-in-2016.html
Wireless network engineers, network admins, and network security pros can expect above-average pay gains.
Network professionals continue to be among the toughest IT talent to find and hire – a situation that will drive up salaries in the coming year.
Sometimes networking doesn’t get the publicity of “in vogue” tech topics such as mobility, cloud computing or big data, “but we continue to see that it’s critical for organizations, and finding highly skilled people to fill those roles is a struggle,” says John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Circle With Disney’ Locks Down Kids’ Devices From Afar
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/circle-with-disney-locks-down-kids-devices-from-afar/
Memory joined the ranks of Kickstarter hopefuls with Circle, a device to help families manage screen time. It didn’t work out. As it turns out, that might have been the best possible outcome.
“Kickstarter was what I like to call a really great failure,” says Circle Media founder Jelani Memory. A failure in that it Circle didn’t raise anywhere near its goal funds; really great in that just two years later Memory’s company not only has a product to sell, but a partnership with Disney to bolster it.
Circle with Disney, on sale beginning today for $99, looks a lot like that earlier effort. It’s a small cube that pairs with a local Wi-Fi network to give parents control over what kind of content their kids’ devices can access, and for how long. If Karen’s watching too much YouTube, for instance, you can limit her iPhone to an hour (or more, or less) of videos. You can “pause” Wi-Fi throughout the house for an extended period, and monitor time spent not just online but on which apps and content types.
Trust might seem like an odd word to associate with a product that sounds so distinctly Big Brother, it is. But maybe it’s better to think of Circle with Disney as Big Parent
About that trickery; Circle with Disney also takes an unconventional route to what might sound like a familiar destination.
As for routers, they’re simply not worth the trouble. “One of the decisions we made really early on was not to be the router,” says Memory. “People treat their routers like they treat their water heaters; they don’t want to touch it unless it’s broken, and if it’s broken, they’re really frustrated.”
Instead, Circle with Disney takes an entirely different hardware approach, one that’s simple to set up and to manage from an app
“We leverage a tactical thing called ARP spoofing,” Memory explains, a technique by which Circle with Disney intercepts and inspects network packets sent from connected devices, and has the ability to grant or deny permission. That’s what allows for such fine-tuned control.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5G mobile phone requires a software radio
5G networks will be a combination of different network technologies. Probably one traditional radio technology does not cover all frequencies and areas of use, so we need software radio based solution.
Software radio must, however, develop into the present. – It is true that there is currently a dedicated hardware-based radio is smaller and more energy efficient than software radio. But at the time when the same device must support multiple radio technologies, software radio will be an attractive option, Edgar believes.
– But after this smart radio capture the essence of what other connections are available, and transfers the user to the best connection seamlessly
The new architecture requires more intelligence to the network.
3GPP’s vision of one radio technology to cover all 5G uses, -taajudet and device scenarios. So Edgar does not think so.
- Such a universal radio is technically very difficult. And if there is already a ready-made, functional radio techniques – such as, say, 60 GHz WiGig region – their use makes sense not only technologically a business point of view. This will also speed up the introduction of 5G technology, Edgar believes.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3548:5g-kannykka-vaatii-softaradion&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cell Phone Talk moves to IP-based
When the first fully IP-based LTE networks were launched, the standard call was not there yet.
oice communication called for dropping the connection practice 3G (or sometimes even the GSM network).
Now Juniper Research predicts that a fully IP-based voice, ie the so-called. VoLTE number of connections will increase significantly in the coming years. By 2020, the IP-based calls are transferred to two billion users.
Development is going to be quick, because the end of this year VoLTE-users is estimated to be only 123 million.
Juniper also sees that the operators need to remain competitive also support VoLTE with competing technologies, such as Wi-Fi Calling co-operation, as well as, for example, Facebook Messenger.
All of these services Juniper calls the generic name of HD calls. They suggest the market has in 2020 already 1.3 billion smart phone, which support HD-calls in its various forms.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3547:kannykkapuhe-siirtyy-ip-pohjaiseksi&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Controversial Trade Deal May Actually Help Net Neutrality
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/tpp-net-neutrality/
The Trans-Pacific Partnership has its fair share of critics among the digerati. Activists have been up in arms for years over leaked chapters of this international trade proposal, which is under consideration by US law makers. These critics say that the proposal favors patent and copyright holders over consumers, and some worry that it could harm net neutrality—the notion that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.
The release of the full text of the agreement has done little to stem the complaints. Privacy advocates say the proposals privacy protections are too weak. But it’s not all bad news for digital rights groups. Some experts believe that the TTP could actually help with net neutrality.
Although it stops short of requiring that member states adopt network neutrality laws, the telecommunications chapter may give regulators authority to impose more strict rules on internet service providers, says John Bergmayer, a senior staff attorney at digital right advocacy organization Public Knowledge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Luma’s new router system gives homeowners network activity tracking and better WiFi coverage; preorders start at half-price for $99, shipping expected in spring
This new router lets you spy on what everyone in the house is doing
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/5/9674264/luma-router-announced-multiroom-wifi-parental-controls
Setting up Wi-Fi in your home has never really changed. You buy one router, hope it reaches every corner of your home, and then react in frustration when it doesn’t. Businesses have always had a solution to this problem — putting multiple Wi-Fi access points throughout a large space — and now some startups are trying to bring that approach to the home. The latest is Luma, a new router system that’s supposed to make it easy to fill a home with strong Wi-Fi and provide a homeowner with much more control over what happens on their network.
The Wi-Fi part is straightforward. You can buy just a single Luma router, but you’re expected to buy several of them at once — they’re sold in a three pack — and place them throughout your home. Once they’re set up, the routers will all form a single network, so you’ll only have to connect once, even as you move throughout the house; the routers can even take care of moving you between 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks.
But that’s where the basics of Luma stop and the more interesting — and invasive — aspects begin. Unlike typical routers that have bewildering settings pages, Luma can be managed entirely through a simple companion app. And that companion app is able to do quite a few other things, including show what devices are connected to the network and what those devices are doing. That means showing everything from what servers your smart thermostat is connecting with to the exact websites that people in your house are viewing (it cannot, however, show the specific content; so you may see that someone is viewing Facebook, but you won’t see their private messages).
Luma’s activity tracking is meant for monitoring children: a content filter is included that allows you to lock certain users into viewing sites that are rated G, PG, PG-13, and so on; requests to bypass the filter can be sent on a site-by-site basis after they’ve been blocked, and a chat window can be activated to let parents discuss it.
Where it gets more problematic is that you can only sort of turn this off. Luma’s activity tracking isn’t a niche feature — it’s front and center on the app, with everyone’s activity and snapshots of the sites they visit presented like an Instagram feed. The network’s administrator can tell Luma to hide certain users’ activity, so it won’t be displayed, but there’s no way to lock that setting in.
Its all impressive tech, but it’s clear that Luma’s business-style approach to home network management can go a bit too far. (Luma comes from a team that’s created and sold several other startups involving business network security.)
https://getluma.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
5G air interfaces need channel measurements
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4440695/5G-air-interfaces-need-channel-measurements?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151105&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151105&elq=8f8fc0e047da4228a3757a56a2c69f2a&elqCampaignId=25586&elqaid=29116&elqat=1&elqTrackId=cd4855286dfd4274ac9171d2e0ed7359
5G wireless communications should bring increased network capacity, higher peak data rates, and more reliable service in mobile communications systems. Many of the goals are 10x, 100x or 1000x today’s performance but aren’t achievable in the currently available spectrum below 6 GHz. Therefore, new air interfaces are being investigated in Centimeter (cm) and Millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies up to 100 GHz. Characterization of the radio channel at mmWave frequencies presents many new challenges for engineers. Here are some of these challenges and some considerations.
To define new air interface standards, researchers will need to characterize the radio channel so they can understand how the signal will propagate. Researchers are using channel sounding techniques to collect the CIR (channel impulse response) data so they can extract channel parameters by using channel parameter estimation algorithms. The extracted data are then used for developing new channel models
Sounds straightforward and easy, right?
Well, not quite.
Channel sounding measurement systems can range from simple to complex depending on parameters being estimated.
Key technical challenges include:
Signal generation and analysis at mmWave frequencies with greater than 500 MHz bandwidth and with multi-channel support
Data capture and storage
Channel parameter estimations
Calibration and synchronization
Signal generation and analysis
To meet the high demands for 5G, the air interface standards will likely include mmWave frequencies up to 100 GHz, with 500 MHz to 2 GHz bandwidth, and with multichannel support. That’s a lot to consider. The requirements will place great demand on the channel sounding measurement system.
Data capture and storage
When you consider the raw data that needs to be collected with a wideband measurement system that also has multi-channel capability, an eight-channel, 1 GHz bandwidth measurement can consume gigabytes of data in just one second, quickly filling disk drives. In addition, consider how to get this data from the ADC to a storage device. It’s nearly impossible for the data to be captured and streamed in real-time.
Channel parameter estimations
Much of the research to date has focused on a single channel. MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) channels, however, introduce spatial and correlation information. The key issue with MIMO channels is how to estimate the spatial parameters. This includes parameters such as AoA (angle of arrive), AoD (angle of departure), and AS (angular spread).
Calibration and synchronization
Calibration and synchronization are paramount to getting accurate, repeatable results. Synchronization of the transmitter and receiver subsystems can be achieved using two Rubidium clocks to provide a stable, high precision synchronized 10MHz reference clock to the transmitter and receiver
Conclusion
There are many challenges in the characterization of new 5G mmWave air interfaces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android App Mutates Source Code, Spreads Virally and Enables Mesh Networks
http://it.slashdot.org/story/15/11/05/2328241/android-app-mutates-source-code-spreads-virally-and-enables-mesh-networks
Researchers from the Delft University of Technology have developed a self-replicating, mutating Android app which can create on-the-fly mesh networks in the event of an infrastructural disaster, or the enabling of internet kill switches by oppressive regimes.
The app’s source is available at GitHub
https://github.com/Tribler/self-compile-Android
The self-replicating smartphone app that’s ready for the apocalypse – and the censors
https://thestack.com/world/2015/11/05/the-self-replicating-smartphone-app-thats-ready-for-the-apocalypse-and-the-censors/
Researchers from the Netherlands are working on a communications app so resilient that it can survive communications and power outages, natural disasters, and can self-replicate, mutate and spread virally between clusters of mobile phones, eventually across all mobile OSes.
In the paper Autonomous smartphone apps: self-compilation, mutation, and viral spreading [PDF], lead Paul Brusee and co-researcher Johan Pouwelse detail the development of a smart phone tool so resilient that it can compile itself, enabling a daisy-chained mesh network of smartphones which in effect act collectively as cell towers – which might themselves either have been destroyed by earthquakes or other disasters, or else have been turned off, monitored or interfered with by governments concerned about civilian aggregation.
The app replicates within the Android OS at the moment, though future work is anticipated to enable it to spread as easily between iOS and Windows phones, since it does not require root access in order to reproduce, and is not intended to be spread via stores such as Google Play or other centralised app repositories.
The act of transmission can involve a complete change of identity when communicated between Android devices via Android Beam or side-loading. During the process of replication the app, effectively a polymorphic computer virus in terms of social behaviour, may transform from a game to a calculator
The mesh network created depends on either WiFi or Bluetooth, and facilitates the diffusion of information until at least one point in the mesh reaches the ‘outside world’.
Autonomous smartphone apps:
self-compilation, mutation, and viral spreading
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.00444v2.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cell networks’ LTE-U will kill your Wi-Fi, say digital rights bods
Telcos: No, sigh, it won’t ruin your home network
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/06/lteu_debate_continues/
Wireless carriers are once again looking to reassure the American people after more objections were raised against the planned LTE-U broadband network.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has joined the likes of Google and the NCTA (US National Cable & Telecommunications Association) in asking the US’s comms watchdog to take a long, hard look at the proposed unlicensed spectrum band.
The worry, say the EFF and others, is that LTE-U will interfere with Wi-Fi networks and other consumer wireless devices. Among the possible issues cited are the absence of a “listen-before-talk” mandate that would prevent devices from interfering with one another when transmitting data.
“Wi-Fi devices aren’t equipped to recognize the presence of an LTE-U device and don’t know that they should only transmit when the LTE-U device has scheduled itself to remain silent,” the EFF said.
“Since the LTE-U device doesn’t listen for silence before it starts to transmit, any Wi-Fi device that starts transmitting just before the LTE-U device comes on will get interrupted and drowned out. Depending on how the Wi-Fi and LTE-U devices are configured, this can result in a serious loss of bandwidth for Wi-Fi devices.”
The mobile carriers and hardware vendors who are backing LTE-U say there is nothing to worry about, and that the devices that would use unlicensed band will indeed play nice with nearby wireless networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC won’t track Do Not Track
Consumer Watchdog request gets ’403: Forbidden’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/09/fcc_wont_track_do_not_track/
America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided it won’t intervene against companies that don’t honour user Do Not Track requests.
The decision (PDF here) comes in response to a request by Consumer Watchdog, which in June asked the FCC to support users’ Do Not Track browser settings.
The request put the FCC in something of a cleft stick, since its “net neutrality” decision earlier this year came with a commitment that it wasn’t going to regulate individual providers.
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db1106/DA-15-1266A1.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gods’ own broadband: Loon option for DEITY
Alphabet eyes another billion
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/09/gods_own_broadband_deity_mulls_loonled_broadband_boom/
Alphabet has its eye on its next billion, reportedly holding meetings in India to get Project Loon off the ground.
The country’s IT minister, responsible for the gloriously-named DEITY (Department of Electronics and Information Technology), expressed his interest in the project late last week.
The move would add India to the growing list of countries whose carriers are interested in reselling Loon-based services to their users.
The Wall Street Journal reckons DEITY’s minister Ajay Kumar would confirm only that after a meeting with the company, the matter is “under consideration”.
Loon would be attractive to a country with only around 17 per cent connectivity to the Internet
Google Parent Alphabet Targets India for Stratospheric Internet Balloons
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/11/03/google-parent-company-alphabet-targeting-india-for-stratospheric-internet-balloons/?mod=WSJBlog
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aaron Tilley / Forbes:
LA deploying 100 SmartPole streetlights with LTE small cells to improve wireless coverage
Los Angeles Becomes First City To Test The Future Of Wireless Connectivity With ‘Small Cells’ On Streetlights
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2015/11/05/los-angeles-becomes-first-city-to-test-the-future-of-wireless-connectivity-with-small-cells-on-streetlights/
Say goodbye to big, bulky, unsightly cellphone towers. Say hello to the future of 4G networking.
Los Angeles publicly announced Thursday that it is outfitting 100 streetlights with a type of networking gear called small cells in an effort to start improving cell phone coverage.
Called SmartPoles, the streetlights are part of a collaboration between LED lighting giant Philips and telecom equipment giant Ericsson . The two European companies announced they were working together on a small cell product in 2014, and LA is the first city to rollout the technology.
mall cells are designed to improve network capacity in heavily populated areas that have high mobile data usage — and where data usage is only going to continue to skyrocket. These little boxes are being touted as the future of cellular networks. They’re cheaper to rollout than big cell towers and deliver faster connectivity.
Major US wireless carriers like AT&T T +0.00% and Verizon have been talking about their rollout plans for small cells as a means to boost their network performance, but deployment has been slow at best.
Ericsson and Philips began installing these 100 SmartPoles in October. The project doesn’t have any hard numbers yet on how they’re improved the 4G signal, but “they’re meeting or exceeding expectation of wireless carriers,” Herzig said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dante D’Orazio / The Verge:
Leaked Comcast memo reportedly admits data caps aren’t about improving network performance — Comcast is unleashing its PR machine to try to manage the controversy around its home broadband data caps. After recently expanding its “trial” 300GB monthly data cap in several cities around the Southeastern US …
Leaked Comcast memo reportedly admits data caps aren’t about improving network performance
Public relations would also prefer that you stop calling it a data cap
http://www.theverge.com/smart-home/2015/11/7/9687976/comcast-data-caps-are-not-about-fixing-network-congestion
Comcast is unleashing its PR machine to try to manage the controversy around its home broadband data caps. After recently expanding its “trial” 300GB monthly data cap in several cities around the Southeastern US, it looks like public relations circulated a memo to customer service representatives telling them how to discuss the new plans. That memo has now reportedly leaked online, courtesy of a Comcast employee on Reddit.
In it, Comcast admits what many have long suspected: its data caps have nothing to do with network congestion.
In a section on best practices when explaining why Comcast is expanding its data caps, representatives are told [emphasis added]:
Do say: “Fairness and providing a more flexible policy to our customers.”
Don’t say: “The program is about congestion management.” (It is not.)
Under the new plans, depending on region, customers can opt to pay an extra $30 to $35 per month to unlock unlimited internet access. Subscribers who don’t sign up for such a plan will automatically be charged $10 for an additional 50GB if they exceed their limit. Caps start at 300GB for standard internet plans, while they max at 600GB for the company’s “Extreme” tier.
Oh, and Comcast PR would prefer if you didn’t call it a data cap — since you can pay more to bypass the 300GB limit, it’s a “data usage plan” like those ones your wireless carrier charges you for. Comcast maintains in the documentation that “we do not limit a customer’s use of the internet in any way at or above 300GB” since it no longer throttles its users. However, that only makes sense if you don’t count surcharges and fees as limiting your internet experience.
The company’s also spinning the trial 300GB cap somehow as a positive. Service reps, according to the leaked document, are told to say that “Customers in trial markets had their data usage plan increased to 300GB.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia is to merge with Alcatel-Lucent, thus creating a very large network company that manages all the different network areas.
Ericsson has today announced a strategic partnership with Cisco.
Ericsson and Cisco say together to establish an future networks. They combine the expertise of both companies in routers, data centers, cloud computing, mobility, network management and global services.
The companies intend to jointly develop products and services that allow operators to carry out their networks “end-to-end”
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3572:ericsson-reagoi-uuden-nokian-nostamaan-uhkaan&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside the Keysight 5G channel sounding system
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/test-cafe/4440602/Inside-the-Keysight-5G-channel-sounding-system?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151109&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151109&elq=8f262274cea14fcb905f80c54dd0c35b&elqCampaignId=25616&elqaid=29155&elqat=1&elqTrackId=becd951ca6fd4b93bee07c77c1418d8c
5G (fifth generation) is the next generation of cellular communication standards. For more information about 5G, and why I believe 5G will be a boon for modular instruments, read my recent column, 5G to disrupt the test equipment market. Due to 5G’s greater bandwidth and massive number of channels, I made an unequivocal prediction for vendors: if you don’t have a modular solution, you won’t be playing a significant role in 5G. In a subsequent column I predicted that microwave would be coming to PXI, driven by many of the same dynamics.
Since that time, National Instruments and Keysight Technologies have introduced some exciting solutions in the 5G mmWave space, all based on modular instruments. Several weeks ago I described the internals of an NI system used by Nokia to create a 2×2 MIMO mmWave 5G prototype system, operating at 73 GHz. Now I’d like to take a look at the Keysight 5G channel sounding system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Does Cisco Gain by Partnering With Ericsson?
http://fortune.com/2015/11/09/cisco-ericsson-partnership/
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said that partnering with Ericsson lets both companies focus on their strengths.
Cisco Systems has forged a big partnership with telecommunication gear maker Ericsson, creating an alliance between two tech titans that sell pricey equipment for funneling Internet and telephone traffic.
In a conference call about the partnership, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins explained that the companies complement each other by filling in gaps in each other’s businesses. Both can concentrate on what they’re good at while sharing in areas they’re not.
Additionally, Cisco gets access to Ericsson’s consulting unit, something that Cisco hasn’t traditionally been known for. Although Robbins said that Cisco has 11,000 employees in consulting services, Ericsson has nearly 65,000.
Consulting services are becoming more important to big telecoms and other companies looking to overhaul their networking infrastructure. Providers like AT&T are adopting a type of technology called software defined networking that makes managing networks more flexible and efficient.
The deal is the second big partnership Cisco has signed in recent months. In September, Cisco announced an alliance with Apple to sell each other’s products. Cisco can push Apple iPhones and iPads to corporate customers. Meanwhile, Apple’s sales team can push Cisco’s video and web conferencing systems, for instance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TalkTalk: Data was ‘secure’, erm, we beat rivals on price. Um, scratch that…
Advertising regulator now involved
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/10/talktalk_ads_incorrect_savings_rivals/
TalkTalk has withdrawn an advertisement from circulation that falsely claimed customers would save more money with the telco than with its rivals.
Having left the telco after only one day due to his displeasure with their service, the eagle-eyed former customer noted that there was on the back a dodgy comparison of costs between TalkTalk, BT, Sky and Virgin Media.
“Upon closer inspection, the figures they quoted did not seem to add up, so I worked out the maths, and – lo and behold – the figures that they printed on the advert were vastly incorrect,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dawn Chmielewski / Re/code:
T-Mobile unveils Binge On free streaming service from 24 providers excluding YouTube; exempts video from data caps, resolution lowered to DVD-like quality — T-Mobile Will Let Customers Stream HBO, Netflix and ESPN Without Racking Up Data Charges — T-Mobile will allow some subscribers …
T-Mobile Will Let Customers Stream HBO, Netflix and ESPN Without Racking Up Data Charges
http://recode.net/2015/11/10/t-mobile-announces-free-video-streaming/
T-Mobile will allow some subscribers to stream video from 24 popular services without burning through their data caps.
The nation’s third-largest wireless carrier is looking to gain competitive advantage over rivals Sprint, AT&T and Verizon by giving its customers the ability to stream videos on their smartphones and tablets without generating data charges. Subscribers can choose among popular streaming services including Netflix, HBO Now, HBO Go, Watch ESPN, Fox Sports and Hulu.
Notable omissions from the list include YouTube, the world’s biggest video site, and Facebook and Snapchat, both of which have made big pushes into video in the last year.
“Video streams free,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said Tuesday. “Binge on. Start watching your shows, stop watching your data.” Legere’s offer applies to customers who pay for at least three gigabytes of data a month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
The ITC does not have the authority to regulate information on the internet, according to a ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
The ITC does not have authority over the internet, according to Federal Circuit
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/10/9704582/itc-clearcorrect-ruling-federal-circuit-open-internet
The internet has one less regulator, thanks to a ruling passed down this morning from The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. According to the decision, the United States International Trade Commission does not have the authority to regulate information on the internet, blocking what many advocates saw as a major threat to the open web.
Thanks to its broad powers, the ITC has become an increasingly popular venue for patent and copyright disputes, but its jurisdiction traditionally only extends to physical goods as they pass over borders. This latest case looked to change that, with potentially profound implications for data as it crosses international borders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel expands Xeon D chip family to fuel shift to cloud-ready communications
Offers more performance, energy efficiency, and twice the maximum memory
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2434075/intel-expands-xeon-d-chip-family-to-fuel-shift-to-cloud-ready-communications
INTEL HAS EXPANDED its family of low-power Xeon D processors to include better support for network and storage in order to speed up the move towards cloud-ready communications.
The fresh Xeon D-1500 products come in nine flavours and are said to offer more performance, energy efficiency, and twice the maximum memory of the previous iteration, making them ideal for dense environments in networking, cloud and enterprise storage, as well as IoT applications, Intel said.
“Billions of devices are becoming connected – from smartphones to cars to factories – and that brings new use cases and service opportunities that drive unprecedented growth in network and storage demands,” explained Intel. “Today’s networks are not designed in a way that allows communications providers to quickly or cost effectively expand their infrastructure.”
Intel believes that for us to take advantage of the Internet of Things (IoT) and enhance mobile computing experiences, communications networks need to be “re-architected”, with increased programmability and built-in flexibility throughout the infrastructure to handle the anticipated increase in volume and complexity of data traffic.
Intel said that more than 50 vendors are currently building systems using these new Xeon D-1500 chips.
As part of the same networking communications focus, Intel also unveiled a host of Ethernet controllers.
The Ethernet Multi-host Controller FM10000 Family is said to combine Ethernet technology with advanced switch resources for use in high-performance communications network applications and dense server platforms.
With up to 200Gbps of high-bandwidth multi-host connectivity and multiple 100GbE ports, the FM10000 Ethernet controller delivers a better packet processing capability that should help to reduce network traffic bottlenecks within and between servers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gartner: 20 billion things on the Internet by 2020
Sorry, Cisco: America doesn’t have enough legal weed for us to find 50 billion devices
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/11/gartner_20_billion_things_on_the_internet_by_2020/
Gartner’s predicting a four-fold increase in the number of Internet of Things devices in the world by 2020, from today’s 4.9 billion to nearly 21 billion.
If Gartner’s mushroom-and-crystal-ball session got the numbers right, the industry’s going to have to get to work reclassifying a whole lot of stuff as some-kind-of-thing, or resign itself to abandoning the common “50 billion things” hyperbole.
The prognosticator’s magic pencil has ruled a line under IoT device growth with the prediction that it will hit 20 billion by 2020. Cisco and Ericsson, on the other hand, worship at the Church of 50-billion-things.
The greatest numbers of connected things, Gartner says, will be connected by consumers, who will connect more than ten billion new devices between now and 2020.
By that time, the pundit predicts, the consumer spend will be worth US$1.5 billion annually.
Businesses in the same period will add around 5.4 billion devices, but at a much greater unit value, so the enterprise market will be worth $1.477 billion by 2020.
All those things will need support, naturally, so Gartner reckons by 2020, the sector’s services spending will be in the vicinity of $235 million.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boffins teach Wi-Fi routers to dance to the same tune
‘Wi-FM’ listens to FM signals to sync access points
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/11/boffins_teach_routers_to_tune_in_and_dance/
Research presented to this week’s IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols suggests a fairly simple enhancement to Wi-Fi could help deal with the chronic congestion caused by its popularity.
It would be nice if twenty different base stations in twenty different apartments could coordinate their transmissions, but they can’t: they’re all serving different masters.
In this paper, the group from Northwestern University suggests adding a little bit of time-division multiplexing, using an interesting source of synch signals: FM radio transmissions.
Dubbed “Wi-FM”, the idea is that 802.11′s original authors didn’t envisage a world so crowded with wireless data communications. The venerable collision avoidance mechanisms that by now stretch back two decades are overwhelmed if there’s a lot of access points and a lot of users fighting over the same airwaves.
To try and make things a bit more orderly, the researchers from Northwestern University in Chicago wanted a way to time-slice the signal to make collision avoidance work better.
To do that, they needed a time source that Wi-Fi base stations can see: “a common reference for neighbouring devices to harmonise their transmissions, yet without requiring any explicit communication among them”, the paper notes.
Of course, the Internet has a very good time signal – the network time protocol – but if a station’s upstream connection is wireless (for example, it’s a repeater), congestion would stop it from checking the time.
That’s where FM radio comes in: a lot of baseband processors have FM receivers built-in, and in modern countries, FM broadcasters send song titles and other data over the Radio Data System (RDS).
The program information (PI) codes in the RDS provide a handy and predictable “heartbeat” that the researchers used in Wi-FM.
The paper claims as much as 1.5 times traffic gain for Wi-FM, compared to a pure unscheduled network
Wi-FM: Resolving Neighborhood Wireless Network Affairs by Listening to Music
http://networks.cs.northwestern.edu/publications/wifm/icnp2015-flores.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Blackouts by 2020, Warns Nanoelectronics Book
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=31&doc_id=1328218&
CHIPS 2020 Vol 2: New Vistas in Nanoelectronics looks at the state-of-the-art in nanoelectronics but its most significant finding is at the global scale; that unless changes are made the proliferation of nanoelectronics is set to produce blackout failures of the Internet by 2020 due to a lack of electrical power.
CHIPS 2020 Vol 2: New Vistas in Nanoelectronics looks at the state-of-the-art in nanoelectronics but its most significant finding is at the global scale; that unless changes are made the proliferation of nanoelectronics is set to produce blackout failures of the Internet by 2020 due to a lack of electrical power.
In short, the global population’s eagerness to get itself and everything it owns online is leading to a data explosion that is consuming 40 percent more power every year and the Internet’s power demand could soon rival the world’s available power resources.
This is leading to fears of major Internet blackouts by as soon as 2020. Such blackouts would likely be manifested around global events such as natural or man-made catastrophes or worldwide sports coverage, says the research book’s editor Bernd Hoefflinger.
Two strategies that could delay or avoid the collapse of the Internet are mentioned in the book. One is to introduce charges or taxes levied on excessive use of the Internet to curtail use of what will effectively become a limited resource. The second is to effect a series of 10x order of magnitude changes in the way in which nanoelectronics is designed, manufactured and used.
These nanoelectronic changes mainly focus on digital logic and neural network architectures optimized for power consumption. Mobile Internet data doubles every 18 months, rather like a non-benign version of Moore’s Law, and video data already represents 70 percent of Internet traffic, according to Hoefflinger, so addressing video data is a priority.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CAIDA publishes latest ‘net topology kit
What the Internet ‘looks like’ today
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/11/caida_publishes_latest_net_topology_kit/
The August 2015 Internet Topology Data Kit, announced at the end of last week, is a tool for ‘net researchers to try and untangle the dizzying maze of routes that deliver our data.
CAIDA used 94 Ark monitors in 36 countries for IPv4 data collection, and 26 monitors in 15 countries for IPv6.
http://blog.caida.org/best_available_data/2015/11/06/caida-releases-the-august-2015-internet-topology-data-kit-itdk-2015-08/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Bluetooth will improve in 2016 with up to 4x range, 100% boost in speed, mesh networking support, says Bluetooth Special Interest Group — IoT drives the Bluetooth roadmap: Faster, bigger range, and mesh networking support in 2016 — With the rise of ubiquitous computing and the burgeoning Internet …
IoT drives the Bluetooth roadmap: Faster, bigger range, and mesh networking support in 2016
http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/11/iot-drives-the-bluetooth-roadmap-faster-bigger-range-and-mesh-networking-support-in-2016/
With the rise of ubiquitous computing and the burgeoning Internet of things (IoT), the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced some big changes for Bluetooth to help support the growing demand for connectivity.
The group has now given a preview of what’s to come in 2016 and beyond, and it said that Bluetooth LE, or Bluetooth “Smart” as it’s branded, will increase its range by four times, up from its current limit of around 330 feet (though it can theoretically extend further). This will mean a Wi-Fi-connected device in the home, for example, could pair and transfer data with devices much further away, such as at the bottom of the garden or at the street corner.
Furthermore, a “100% increase in speed” has been promised — without the need for more energy to power the increase. This could have major ramifications for applications across many use cases that require low latency, such as home health care.
But perhaps one of the most interesting developments in the pipeline is support for mesh networking.
“There is significant demand from our members and the industry at large to enhance Bluetooth with the new capabilities we’re announcing today,” said Toby Nixon, chairman of the Bluetooth SIG board of directors. “Current projections put the market potential for IoT between $2 and $11.1 trillion by 2025. The technical updates planned for Bluetooth technology in 2016 will help make these expectations a reality and accelerate growth in IoT.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Improving WiFi Throughput with FM Radio
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/11/improving-wifi-throughput-with-fm-radio/
[Aleksandar Kuzmanovic] at Northwestern University and two of his students have recently published a paper with a new way to coordinate multiple unrelated wireless networks using ubiquitous FM broadcast radio signals called WiFM. Instead of trying to synchronize to the WiFi data channel, this new scheme selects a strong FM radio station that broadcasts Radio Data Service (RDS) data (the data that populates the song titles and other information on modern radios).
The computers don’t read the RDS data exactly. Instead, they find patterns in the data and use it to develop a common idea of time–even if they are totally isolated from each other on the network. The idea is that stations close enough to hear one another will get the same FM radio stations at about the same strength and virtually at the same time. Unlike, for example, GPS, FM radio signals easily penetrate buildings. As a bonus, many WiFi chipsets (like the ones used in phones) can receive FM radio, too.
Once all the stations are synchronized, they determine which time slots are in use and schedule the remaining according to an algorithm described in [Kuzmanovic’s] paper. When traffic volume is light or legacy equipment is present, the stations can fall back to ordinary DCF.
Using FM to Improve Wireless Networks
Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data
http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2015/11/using-fm-to-improve-wireless-networks.html
Most people don’t realize how much their neighbors’ Internet networks interfere with their own, heavily affecting speed and performance. Unless a home is located in the middle of nowhere, it is likely that neighboring homes’ Wi-Fi networks will bump into each other and prevent data from getting through. This is particularly true in large, urban apartment buildings where many people reside within a smaller area.
Kuzmanovic and his PhD students Marcel Flores and Uri Klarman have found that problems caused by competing networks can be mitigated by using an already-existing, extremely cheap medium: FM radio. Flores will present this work Tuesday, November 10 at the 23rd annual IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols in San Francisco.
“Our wireless networks are completely separate from each other,” said Flores, the lead author of the study. “They don’t have any way to talk to each other even though they are all approximately in the same place. We tried to think about ways in which devices in the same place could implicitly communicate. FM is everywhere.”
Wi-FM: Resolving Neighborhood Wireless Network Affairs by Listening to Music
http://networks.cs.northwestern.edu/publications/wifm/icnp2015-flores.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Net neutrality protestors bundled out of UN conference
Efforts to protest Internet.org in Brazil falter
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/12/net_neutrality_protestors_un_conference/
Efforts to protest Facebook’s Internet.org project at the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) being held in Brazil this week were shut down by United Nations security staff.
Why the protest?
The Internet.org service – developed and led by Facebook – allows customers of certain mobile networks to access a number of services while having to pay for the data that they use. Those services include Wikipedia, BBC News, Facebook, and a range of local news and sports results providers.
The service requires you to use special apps on your phone or Facebook’s Internet.org website and has been launched across Africa.
However, it has attracted criticism, with many in India and Brazil complaining that the service gives advantages to large corporations and limits smaller companies. An open letter from 67 digital rights groups argued that Facebook was “improperly defining net neutrality in public statements and building a walled garden in which the world’s poorest people will only be able to access a limited set of insecure websites and services.”
It also complained that the service was advertised as “the internet” but was in fact a limited group of services approved by Facebook and ISPs. “In its present conception, Internet.org violates the principles of net neutrality, threatening freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, security, privacy, and innovation,” the letter complained.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It may be that all your message is analyzed
Analytics2015 – When you complain poorly-functioning mobile phone interface, your message will be recorded and it will become part of a giant database, from which an operator to learn from text analysis. – During analysis is growing hundreds of billions of dollars of business, says SAS Institute analyst expert Tuba Islam.
According to Islam, the major operators are investing in analytics for large sums of money. They use analytics as well as network planning, optimization and development of advertising and campaigns.
- This is natural, since the operator of the telecommunications equipment is already in place and network to transfer the data. It only takes analytics, and SAS enters the picture.
Operators will, of course, access to just about everything a smartphone user’s activity. Location, phone records, use of data at the application level and other data is easily transformed into data points. In addition to these rapidly growing unstructured data analysis.
- There are tools that convert speech into the text. It can be applied to text analysis. It can be based on the feeling of the analysis or to search for keywords, Islam says.
Basically everything in their phone talks, or communicates, can be used as a source of analysis.
Analytics allows operators are also better equipped to protect themselves against various forms of fraud. – Analytics reveals abnormal behavior and traffic on the network. Tracking these models emerge, and they can be addressed, Tuba Islam says.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3590:voi-olla-etta-kaikki-sanomasi-analysoidaan&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The operator makes millions of euros with analytics
Analytics2015 – Telecom operators are enthusiastic about big data and analytics. Almost all already use analytics in their business. SAS Institute Analytics2015 event Turkcell’s market analyst Serhat Kecici showed case studies, the carrier makes analytics a clear profit. Annual basis, it rises into millions of euros.
Turkcell is Turkey’s largest mobile phone operator in 35 million subscribers. A considerable problem of the operator is that the operator has more than 20 million prepaid users. These activate Turkcell resorts analytics, and SAS tools.
Turkcell user data tells us that prepaid users are activated by first acquiring more balance, then calls and data usage will slow down until the balance comes closer to the border, they become almost inactive. Operator your desire to find out whether a customized offer campaign to activate the prepaid users to download more balance, and even before the balance threshold is reached.
Turkcell had a ready access to a lot of user data: In addition to the location and activity of the pre-paid account balance, the data from the previous balance of additional downloading and many other variables. These were integrated into the model, which is SAS’s tools were analyzed each morning. Based on the results the balance limit is approaching for users were sent to the SMS offer, which offered greater balance, as well as an additional 100 free minutes of talk time.
When the results were compared with those to whom the offer is sent, SMS message received by users take up the offer up to 3-4 per cent more often
- We were ourselves surprised that a targeted SMS campaign works so well. Annual basis, it means us additional revenues of up to EUR six million, Kecici said.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3591:operaattori-tekee-analytiikalla-miljoonia-euroja&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Handheld spectrum analyzer runs all day
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4440790/Handheld-spectrum-analyzer-runs-all-day?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151112&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151112&elq=800f5e14c6c94569a99ed99dbf80d1a8&elqCampaignId=25702&elqaid=29251&elqat=1&elqTrackId=3ac31cecd4e046b493829277096815fd
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Spectrum analyzers have become workhorses for outdoor field work, measuring frequencies of signals that include broadcast stations, cellular networks, and many others. One of the issues concerning engineers and technicians is battery life and the instrument’s weight. After all, who wants to carry a heavy instrument while climbing a tower?
Collecting data in the field is one thing, but you often need to download those measurements to a PC for storage and analysis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile data is the product of the amount the use of which the consumer is difficult to predict. Comptel is now offering FWD called solution that consumers can buy online connection time-based smart phones on the other hand, they would buy a certain number of megabytes or gigabytes. The solution has been developed by Comptel’s internal startup NXT.
The solution is targeted at operators, particularly in emerging markets, with customers in a surprisingly large decline in the use of mobile data can make a deep dent in the financial bag.
“At its worst, may lose even a bicycle, moped or a house. I did not know how much my device to use mobile data, ”
Finland is an exceptional market for sale here in time-based mobile data packets concerned.
“Elsewhere in the world of mobile data are typically priced at by megabyte”
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/incoming/mobiilidatan-kaytto-voi-vieda-talon-comptel-ratkoo-ongelmaa-uudella-tuotteellaan-6064755
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC revises router update rules after outcry
Promises it doesn’t want to control software
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/12/fcc_revises_router_update_rules/
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put out a “revision” to its proposed rules for updating wireless equipment, stating that it does not want to control software updates to Wi-Fi routers and smartphones.
The four-page document [PDF] was accompanied by a blog post and messages on social media confirming that the federal regulator does not want to prevent all modifications or updates to software.
“Our original lab guidance document asked manufacturers to explain ‘how [its] device is protected from ‘flashing’ and the installation of third-party firmware such as DD-WRT,’” noted Chief of Engineering & Technology Julius Knapp in a post Thursday. “This particular question prompted a fair bit of confusion – were we mandating wholesale blocking of Open Source firmware modifications?”
The answer, according to Knapp, was no, “but we agree that the guidance we provide to manufacturers must be crystal-clear to avoid confusion.”
That wasn’t all however.
Manufacturers would be obliged to “specify which parties will be authorized to make software changes” and “modifications by third parties should not be permitted unless the third party receives its own certification.”
As a result, there was a huge backlash from companies and internet organizations complaining that locking Wi-Fi kit to manufacturers’ firmware was a terrible idea.
Nothing to see here
The accompanying four-page revision instead “clarifies” that “our instructions were narrowly focused on modifications that would take a device out of compliance.”
So there you go then, all sorted.
Not quite. The revised guidance is a mere “guidepost for the rules” and according to Knapp, “there is more hard work ahead of us as we finalize rules, and we welcome continued input from manufacturers, users, technologists, and others.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Free Services From Telecoms Can Be a Problem On the Internet
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/15/11/15/208246/why-free-services-from-telecoms-can-be-a-problem-on-the-internet
T-Mobile said last week that it would let customers watch as many movies as they wanted on services like Netflix and HBO as well as all other kinds of video, without having it count against their monthly data plans. But the NYT editorializes that there are real concerns about whether such promotions could give telecommunications companies the ability to influence what services people use on the Internet, benefiting some businesses and hurting others. Earlier this year, the FCC adopted net neutrality rules to make sure that companies like T-Mobile, Verizon and Comcast did not seek to push users toward some types of Internet services or content — like video — and not others.
“Everybody likes free stuff, but the problem with such plans is that they allow phone and cable companies to steer their users to certain types of content. As a result, customers are less likely to visit websites that are not part of the free package.”
T-Mobile Exempts Some Video From Some Plans’ Data Limits
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/business/t-mobile-exempts-some-video-from-some-plans-data-limits.html?_r=0
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC says it’s legal to hack your router
http://betanews.com/2015/11/15/fcc-says-its-legal-to-hack-your-router/
Router hacking is a geek staple. No computer geek worth his or her salt would consider running vanilla firmware — the likes of Tomato are where it’s at. A little while back, the FCC suggested plans to ban such hacking via open source firmware… or at least that’s how it seemed.
The commission has now acknowledged that there was more than a little confusion from people who believed that manufacturers would be encouraged to prevent router modifications. The FCC wants to make it clear that most router hacking is fine and will remain fine. With a few exceptions, that is.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Association for passive optical LAN
http://www.apolanglobal.org/
The Association for Passive Optical LAN is a non-profit organization composed of manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and consulting companies who are actively involved in the Passive Optical LAN marketplace. Our members support the growth and education of the Passive Optical LAN industry and are focused on formulating solutions on how best to market, install, educate, and support this burgeoning field.
Our Mission
The Association for Passive Optical LAN advocates the education and global adoption of passive optical networks for the local area network marketplace.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GlobalFoundries Launches 14nm ASIC
Low power now top requirement for infrastructure, GF says
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328270&
GlobalFoundries announced a new ASIC, FX-14, based on technology acquired from IBM Microelectronics and the foundry’s new 14nm LPP process. FX-14 targets wired and wireless applications, as well as compute and storage applications with support for various ARM SoCs including 64-bit Cortex-A72 and Cortex-A53 processors.
Two large-scale trends among system OEMs are driving the need for ASICs, said the director of GF’s ASIC business development unit, Aashish Malhotra. “The pervasiveness of mobility is going to increase. The amount of bandwidth that you need to support will increase, which fundamentally puts pressure on infrastructure to morph.”
When compared to GF’s 28nm process, 14nm LPP offers a 65% to 70% improvement in performance
Improvements in power are partially due to embedded TCAMs (ternary content addressable memory), specialized high-speed memory, which have 80% less leakage and 60% better performance relative to a 32-bit IBM ASIC. FX-14 also has dense SRAM to encourage high performance on a small footprint. Die sizes for smaller ASIC implementations will be between 150mm2 and 200mm2.
“Applications are moving to 64 bit, and having access to right portfolio of cores is extremely important,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
How Facebook is betting its future on artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and bringing Internet to 4B people not yet connected
Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Bold Plan For The Future Of Facebook
Facebook is firing on all cylinders. Now Mark Zuckerberg is looking to the decade ahead, from AI to VR to drones.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3052885/mark-zuckerberg-facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyst: Slow ROI stalling adoption of commercial building automation systems
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/11/abi-buidling-automation-revs.html?cmpid=EnlCIMCablingNewsNovember162015&eid=289644432&bid=1234423
According to a new study by ABI Research, the commercial building automation market will experience steady but incremental growth over the next 5 years, generating $45 billion by 2021. The analyst states that Europe will be the biggest market in terms of revenues for the segment, followed by North America and Asia Pacific in 2021.
The report notes that big four building automation OEMs, namely Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls and Siemens, have more than 60% market share, and a strong influence in the market. Notably, the study finds one factor holding back adoption is the slow return on investment for building owners, due to the high cost of installing building automation systems.
In hospitality, the short refurbishment cycles in hotels are reportedly becoming a lucrative market for solution providers to upgrade or replace existing systems with more intelligent systems to improve the overall customer experience. In healthcare, increasing regulatory and compliance requirements are driving the use of connected medical devices to improve auditability in the use of high value moveable assets, and to control environments to improve patient comfort.
“The Internet of Things and its adoption in consumer markets has a noticeable impact in the traditionally conservative industry with distributed intelligence and cloud-based analytics gaining acceptance,” comments Adarsh Krishnan, senior analyst at ABI Research.
The analyst concludes that, as the market continues to witness a gradual shift towards more integrated solutions, there is wider acceptance for interoperable systems that foster innovative applications to optimize building environment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The coming changes to standard Ethernet: Extra answers from the webcast
https://www.controleng.com/single-article/the-coming-changes-to-standard-ethernet-extra-answers-from-the-webcast/7879c25203fe2c2c3fd15cef3f04d935.html
Todd Walter, National Instruments, AVnu Alliance Industrial segment chair and board of directors, answered additional questions after the Sept. 30 webcast, “The Coming Changes to Standard Ethernet: Industrial IoT Convergence with the Control System.” Learn more about TSN, IIoT, and standardization.
Question: What has changed between AVB and TSN?
Walter: Standard Ethernet continues to expand its range, functionality and applications with the Audio Video Bridging (AVB) standard evolving into Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) to enable next generation control systems. TSN builds upon the AVB specifications to expand the range, functionality, and applications of the standard. TSN is the new name for the same IEEE 802.1 task group that developed AVB. The new capabilities of TSN provide the industrial community with the ability to use standard Ethernet to support highly reliable and precise synchronized networking appropriate for industrial control.
TSN promises through standard silicon to converge the previously disparate technologies needed for standard Ethernet communication, for deterministic high speed data transfer, and for high accuracy time synchronization. These developments will allow convergence of low latency control traffic and standard Ethernet traffic on the same network for demanding applications like multi-axis motion control.
Question: Why so much buzz about industry 4.0 and industrial IoT, isn’t this stuff us automation people have been doing for a long time? a) Is this truly something new? b) What will make industrial IoT really viable from a customer benefit perspective?
Walter: The IoT covers a very large set of applications and markets. To help clarify, I find it useful to sub-divide the discussion into consumer IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT). For the IIoT or Industry 4.0, there is currently a lot of development and a lot of deployment. Industrial processes have been interconnected with embedded decision making for decades.
The IIoT is giving engineers who are building and maintaining these systems a greater variety of options and better data visibility when they are maintaining the processes. We are seeing the fastest adoption in areas of industrial monitoring where new options for sensing and data analytics can help with predictive maintenance. We are also seeing investment in new control applications for power grid, micro-grid, and smart city infrastructure.
With pending new capabilities for standard Ethernet, we are expecting IIoT adoption for control applications to ramp up quickly. Developments to standard Ethernet will create a common foundation that will impact numerous applications and markets ranging from machine control and asset monitoring to outfitting test cells and vehicle control.
Question: Is there a trend to standardization of industrial Ethernet? a) How to simplify IoT connectivity b) How to achieve full standardization for interconnectivity of parts? c) Ecosystem: There will be a need for application software to handle schedule distribution, establishing redundant paths, etc., and where will this ecosystem come from?
Walter: Many industries have invested heavily in the creation of protocols and standards for their applications. Many of these focus on vertically specific features such as data encapsulation and device profiles which may be difficult to merge into one universal standard. For instance, it would be technically challenging to fully merge the capabilities of a power grid protocol such as IEC 61850 with the streaming and performance of the GigE Vision standard.
AVnu Alliance’s expectation and hope for IIoT is that we will create a common foundation for data transport and secure connection between devices that thin application protocols can run on top. This type of layered approach, with common infrastructure and shared services, is how the IT industry is built today, and it provides both high coexistence/interoperability and mechanisms for optimization and innovation.
The AVnu Alliance is a community working hand-in-hand with standards organizations like IEEE 802 to create an interoperable ecosystem for low-latency, time-synchronized applications, and it is the only community consortium driving the expansion of AVB and TSN standards. This community includes traditional IT vendors, automation suppliers, silicon suppliers, and software tool vendors. As new capabilities are built into standard Ethernet we are focused on providing standard mechanisms for configuration, data transport, and time synchronization. The member companies are participating in AVnu so they can assure an interoperable ecosystem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK government: 55,000 SMBs signed up to now-defunct broadband scheme
Reporting a £1,300 per year increase in profits on average
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2435056/uk-government-55-000-smbs-signed-up-to-now-defunct-broadband-scheme
THE UK GOVERNMENT is boasting that its now cash-strapped Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme helped to boost internet connectivity speeds for more than 55,000 small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
The last we heard, the scheme – which gives companies the chance to apply for grants of up to £3,000 to cover the costs of installing faster and better broadband – had seen more than 40,000 firms sign up.
Each of the businesses, according to the release, is reporting a £1,300 per year increase in profits on average.
This is all well and good, but companies can no longer sign up for the scheme. The DCMS confirmed the closure to The INQUIRER last month
Tomi Engdahl says:
Review: Ubiquiti UniFi made me realize how terrible consumer Wi-Fi gear is
I ditched my old consumer Wi-Fi for an enterprise solution—and I’ll never go back.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/review-ubiquiti-unifi-made-me-realize-how-terrible-consumer-wi-fi-gear-is/
Back in July, Ars ran a syndicated piece from The Wirecutter on the best consumer-grade wireless access point, with the winner being the $100 Netgear EX6200.
So shortly after that piece ran, I reached out to Ubiquiti Networks, an enterprise networking gear manufacturer that makes, among other things, the types of mesh-capable Wi-Fi systems that often get installed in hotels and airports. I wanted to see what it was like to leave the kiddie pool of home Wi-Fi equipment and jump into the big pool—the shallow end, at least (the deep end would probably be bolting Cisco Aironet access points all over my house). My contact with Ubiquiti happened at a fortuitous time, too, since the company was in the process of redesigning its UniFi wireless access products.
I wound up with four different Ubiquiti UniFi wireless access points to test.
One of the core ideas behind an enterprise-type Wi-Fi solution is that you can throw down multiple access points and manage them from a single interface while your wireless clients seamlessly (or nearly seamlessly) roam between the access points as needed. On top of that, enterprise Wi-Fi setups differ from home set-ups in that they typically offer the ability to configure multiple (as in dozens or more) of SSIDs from the same set of hardware, each with different security and networking policies applied. There’s also often rich guest network functionality, with the ability to allow guests to connect not just with a single password but also with timed-expiry passphrases or tokens, or to charge guests for access (like you might see in a hotel).
It is extremely important to state that these devices are not NAT routers. They are wireless access points, and that is all they are. They do not replace your existing router and you can not use them to connect your home LAN to the Internet. If you have an all-in-one wireless router, you’d add Ubiquiti’s WAPs to your network by disabling the Wi-Fi on your existing wireless router and leaving it otherwise intact and functional, with the router portion of the router still doing its job
I’ve been using Smoothwall Express for my router and firewall for probably 10 years, and I do DNS and DHCP off-box with bind9 and dhcpd (although Smoothwall can handle those roles as well). Smoothwall is an excellent and easy-to-manage Linux firewall distro with fully configurable rules and stateful packet inspection, and I have it running on a dual-NIC OEM 2550L2D in my closet.
Final verdict: For a reasonably skilled sysadmin sick of the race to the bottom in consumer grade Wi-Fi gear, Ubiquiti’s updated UniFi line of wireless access points gives you a huge amount of configurability and functionality at a price that’s incredibly reasonable. The devices are fun to tinker with, reasonably performant, and overall very solid. I plan on buying some for myself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
From the Wirecutter: The best consumer-grade Wi-Fi extender
Can’t stop the signal—at least, not if you’ve got one of these things!
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/from-the-wirecutter-the-best-consumer-grade-wi-fi-extender/
After spending a total of 110 hours researching 25 different Wi-Fi extenders (and testing 10 of them), plus analyzing reviews and owner feedback, we found that the $100 Netgear EX6200 is the best Wi-Fi extender for most people right now. It costs as much as a great router and it shouldn’t be the first thing you try to fix your Wi-Fi range, but it has the best combination of range, speed, flexibility, and physical connections of any extender we tested.
In our tests, the EX6200 could stream 1080p YouTube videos to three laptops at the same time (one up to 63 feet away), and it was the only extender we tested that could stream a 4K YouTube video to a single laptop, outside the house, at the same distance. The Netgear EX6200 had the best long-range performance of the extenders we tested (35.4 Mbps), even through exterior walls. It was the easiest to configure, and because it’s an AC1200 wireless-ac extender, it supports the fastest connection speeds of dual-stream Wi-Fi devices.
Do I need one?
If there are parts of your home or apartment that don’t get a good Wi-Fi signal, and you can’t run a long Ethernet cable to a wired access point, a wireless extender can give you a boost. The extender connects to your existing Wi-Fi at a location that gets a good signal and re-broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network(s), extending your Wi-Fi bubble beyond your router’s range.
It’s an easy solution to a common problem, but it’s not the first thing you should try. If you don’t already have a good wireless-ac router, your first move should be to buy one: it can vastly increase the speed and range of your Wi-Fi signal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yesterday: Openreach boss quits. Today: BT network goes TITSUP
Tripped on cable on way out? Yes, it’ll take 3 days to fix
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/17/bt_outage_three_days_fix/
Less than 24 hours after BT Openreach chief Joe Garner quit the telco’s troubled infrastructure division, BT customers all over the UK are saying they can’t get online – with the apparent network outage possibly taking up to three days to fix.
The outage manifested as a packet routing problem, with some unfortunate souls reporting 100 per cent packet loss to various IP addresses – thus ruling out a DNS snafu.
As traditionally happens during an outage, everyone immediately grabbed their mobile phones and started tweeting at the one-time state monopoly telco.