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First Cross-Border Drone Flight Over Mobile Network

I got to see innovations by the Latvian MNO, LMT at MWC 2019. I wrote about it on the Operator Watch Blog as well as 3G4G Blog. Now LMT has announced that they have performed a unique cross-border drone flight.
The Google translated press release said:
The operation of such flights is associated with a number of unknowns, including mobile network coverage in the air. To test this, on September 2, LMT conducted one of the world's first fully remotely controlled drone cross-border flights out of sight, where a connection to the mobile communication network was used to control the drone. The drone crossed the Latvian-Estonian border, changing mobile operators, but the pilot did not lose control of the drone's control....Previous tests performed by LMT in Latvia show that the signal strength of the mobile communication network is even better in some places in the air than on the ground, where it is disturbed by obstacles such as thick walls and trees. On the other hand, in this flig…
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6G Research Visions Webinar on Remote and Rural Area Connectivity Challenges and Solutions

A new 6G Research Visions Webinar took place on Wednesday 30 September 2020, presenting key findings by the Expert Group that prepared the 6G White Paper on Connectivity for Remote Areas. In the 90-minute webinar, representatives of the group gave talks on regulatory challenges, spectrum matters and wireless backhaul solutions for remote area connectivity. Talks by Expert Group representatives: Alok Pandey, Indian Institute of Technology, IndiaBrejesh Lall, Indian Institute of Technology, IndiaMohamed-Slim Alouini, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi ArabiaAbdelaali Chaoub, National Institute of Posts and Telecommunications (INPT), MoroccoAdrian Kliks, Poznan University of Technology, PolandThe webinar was moderated by Dr. Harri Saarnisaari from University of Oulu who led the Expert Group. The webinars are organized by the 6G Flagship program led by the University of Oulu, Finland and the 6G White Paper Expert Group which prepared the 6G White Paper on Co…
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How to Deploy a Private LTE Network using CBRS

We looked at CBRS not long ago but here is another post on the topic, which proved to be very popular. If you haven't seen the old post, it's here.
Last week, the CBRS Alliance and American Tower collaborated for a webinar to walk attendees through the OnGo deployment process in the CBRS band. It's trying to use OnGo as a brand for Private LTE deployed in CBRS spectrum

Which seems totally pointless, given that there's a ton of *other* Private LTE deployed in the US & around the world.

Nobody in the UK or Germany or Japan is calling a private 4G/5G an "OnGo" network— Dean Bubley (@disruptivedean) September 24, 2020The CBRS Alliance has developed a set of detailed specifications and an accompanying OnGo certification program. The certification program + specifications will enable the commercialization of the OnGo architecture and ensure seamless interoperability for all network components. The certification program will ensure all OnGo-Certified Devices reflec…
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5G Wireline Access Architecture

I have looked at Wireless Wireline Convergence (WWC) and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) in many different posts in our blog posts (see related posts at the end). 
The training company, Mpirical, recently added a short video on 5G Wireline Access and what exactly it will bring us. This video is taken from their 5G Wireline Access course and  explains how connectivity with wireline access networks is supported in 5G networks. The video is embedded below.With Voice over Wi-Fi gaining prominence and offloading becoming a necessity in many cases as well, WWC is the next logical step that quite a few operators are looking at. The main dependency is having 5G core, so we will have to wait for Standalone 5G to be rolled out before this can be tried with real users and a commercial network. Related Posts:Connectivity Technology Blog: Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and the Path to 5G Wireless Wireline Convergence (WWC)The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC)The 3G4G Blog: Introduction …
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Detailed Introduction to Satellite Based Mobile Backhaul

Satellite connectivity is an interesting topic that I have covered in this and other blogs. It becomes quite useful in mobile cellular communications when it is used as backhaul from bringing connectivity to rural & remote locations, in addition to serving as an alternative backhaul for emergency and mission critical communications.

YadaCenter has an in-depth tutorial on Satellite Cellular Backhaul which is embedded below. While the video below is very much 2G centric, the fundamentals remain the same when we move to 4G & 5G.





My slides on "A very short introduction to Satellite Communications" from @net_mcr are available to download from: https://t.co/K2AOPOI8II#4G#LTE#5G#satellites#satellitecommunications#missioncriticalcommunications — Andy Sutton (@960sutton) August 13, 2020
Prof. Andy Sutton recently shared a short introduction to satellite communications. While I was not able to find the video, the slides are available here.

Related Posts:
The 3G4G Blog: An Intro…
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Is Li-Fi Gaining Momentum as an Alternative Beyond 5G?

I remember first talking about LiFi back in 2011, but since then things have come a long way. We discussed it being adopted by IEEE in a post couple of years back. IEEE 802.11 Light Communication (LC) TG which is working on 802.11 bb, is also called the Task Group "bb" (TGbb) and is focused on introducing necessary changes to the base IEEE 802.11 Stds to enable communications in the light medium.


Lightbulbs are delivering ultra-high speed #broadband! @ITU#LiFi standard is the first to enable high-speed indoor Visible Light Communication https://t.co/vWKSYrkTBPpic.twitter.com/YHPW7O7mm3 — ITU (@ITU) September 4, 2020
In another post last year, we discussed that even though a lot of terms like LiFi, VLC, etc., are used interchangeably, they all have subtle differences.

Vodafone Deutschland and Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) announced that they are joining forces to interlink the two communication technologies 5G and LiFi, providing their customers with more speed and bet…
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Classifying Voice and Video Experience in Wi-Fi

With everyone working from home in the last few months, it was obvious that many people needed to upgrade their broadband connections. Voice and video calls constitute an increasingly important class of traffic that is carried over WiFi. The experience has not always been perfect and in some cases, even good enough. This is the topic that techies from Mojo networks (now Arista Networks) look in a talk at WLPC Phoenix 2018.


In the video below, a generic codec independent method for measuring the quality of voice and video calls (Skype, GotoMeeting, Hangouts etc.) using supervised machine learning has been presented.

The method involves building a regression model that provides call quality index using training data set comprising of parameters extracted from real data. The regression model is then applied on parameters extracted from live calls by the Access Points that are in the traffic path to measure the quality index of each call. The results aggregated and presented on the cloud …
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5G XHaul Challenge Webinar

While we mostly focus on 5G protocols, architecture, NR, use cases, etc., we often tend to ignore the transport network that plays a critical role in 5G by providing the fronthaul, midhaul, and backhaul infrastructure – collectively known as “xhaul” – which is responsible for enabling the new use cases and applications economically and at scale.


In a special, multi-sponsored Light Reading webinar, 5G experts from Ericsson, Fujitsu, Juniper, and VIAVI Solutions discuss exactly what operators need to do to architect, build, upgrade and maintain their xhaul transport networks to support massive 5G deployments -- including the roles of fiber, DWDM, microwave, switching/routing, and network testing.

The video of the webinar is embedded below but you can get the slides, etc, from the original link here.

Topics addressed in the webinar:
Operator bandwidth requirements in fronthaul, midhaul, and backhaul segments and the impacts on the transport networkWhy and how should operators implement n…
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What is Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and Why is it Being Talked About so Much?

I realised that even though we have been mentioning CBRS in many different discussions, I have never posted anything about it. So this short blog post has some embedded videos and links for you to learn this topic further.
Before we go any further, let me point out couple of very important things.
CBRS is specific to the US market only - it is not applicable to any other country outside USAThe CBRS spectrum is 3.5 GHz in which LTE will be deployed. The rest of the world is using this spectrum for 5G So the best and very recent tutorial on this topic is from the training company, Award Solutions. A webinar from them is embedded below.



Ruckus Education (Commscope) has a nice popular introduction video as well, that is embedded below as well.



In addition, here are few other resources to read:
LinkedIn Pulse: And the Most-Coveted Auction Item at this Tech Party is... - Mark HarmsThinkSmallCell: CBRS commences Initial Commercial DeploymentiBwave ebook: Private LTE Networks & CBRS - Dean…
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5G Demystified; the What, When and Where by Prof. Andy Sutton, BT

Prof. Andy Sutton, Principal Network Architect, BT Technology, virtually presented an IET talk on '5G Demystified; the what, when and where' 06 Aug 2020.


In the talk, Andy provided an update and review of the transformational plans, capabilities and outcomes from 5G deployments in the UK. 5G networks are already enabling a step change in the range and capability of innovative applications from IoT to robotics. That pace of change is due to accelerate as 5G moves from its initial enhanced mobile broadband phase to deliver ultra-reliable and low latency communications along with massive machine type connectivity. The slides are embedded below and the video can be viewed here.


5G Demystified; the what, when and where from 3G4G
Related Posts:
Connectivity Technology Blog: Two Short Training's on 5G - Beginners & AdvancedThe 3G4G Blog - Prof. Andy Sutton: Backhauling the 5G Experience - Jan 2020Operator Watch Blog - EE: 5G is going to change everything all over againTelecoms …
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