Connectivity Technology Blog

After years of wondering if smart devices and gadgets in home made by multiple vendors would be able to talk to each other, there is a hope. Two new protocols, Matter and Thread, are enabling devices to quickly talk to each other. The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) is responsible for Matter and describes it as: Matter is the foundation for connected things. This industry–unifying standard is a promise of reliable, secure connectivity—a seal of approval that devices will work seamlessly together, today and tomorrow. Matter is creating more connections between more objects, simplifying development for manufacturers and increasing compatibility for consumers. The Thread Group explains Thread as follows: Thread is a low-power and low-latency wireless mesh networking protocol built using open and proven standards. Thread solves the complexities of the IoT, addressing challenges such as interoperability, range, security, energy, and reliability. Thread networks have no single point

LTE UE Categories were a popular topic once upon a time. I have various blog posts on the topic, the earliest one being in 2009 , then in 2011 and 2015 . Most of the smartphones started with Category 3 (Cat-3), going on to Cat-6, Cat-9, etc. Cat-2 was never used as far as I know. Cat-1 and Cat-4 gained popularity in various IoT applications. The picture above from this press release , nicely summarises the evolution of various 3GPP technologies, including IoT. As you will notice, an updated version of LTE Cat-1 known as Cat-1bis was in 3GPP Release-13. You will also notice that LTE Cat-0 was introduced in Release-12 that evolved into eMTC or LTE-M (Cat-M1). A blog on Ericsson has a nice summary here . In Release-13, LTE Cat-1bis was introduced. This article explains what Cat-1bis is and how's it different from Cat-1: LTE Cat 1, sometimes also refers as 4G Cat 1, is specifically designed for more feature-rich Machine-to-Machine (M2M) IoT applications. The technology was initially

Earlier this year, Ericsson published an interesting case study about American Samoa. Quoting from the report: American Samoa Telecommunications Authority, ASTCA, supplies telecommunication services to the residents of the American Samoan islands, a territory of the United States, which are found in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean. The primary backhaul system between the islands consists of fiber-optic cables and satellite connections. Over Independence Day weekend 2021, the undersea fiber-optic cable linking the Tutuila and Manu’a Islands failed, completely stranding the Manu’a Islands from all telecommunication services. ASTCA selected Ericsson in 2019 to provide a high-capacity wireless backup system to the existing fiber-optic network between the islands. One of the planned microwave links was to connect the island Tutuila to the Manu’a Islands with a challenging distance of 84.23 miles (135.55 km). To put this into perspective, it’s the same distance as between New York City a

We have explained the concept of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles as well as Vehicle to Everything (V2X) in our tutorials earlier. Now in a new whitepaper , 'C-V2X: A New Era of Smart Transportation in the United States', Qualcomm has highlighted the potential of C-V2X to deliver transformational benefits in road safety, enhance environmental sustainability, and create new jobs in the U.S. A press release from Qualcomm said: The new report describes the ground-breaking power of C-V2X and raises the issue that regulatory delays have hindered its deployment. Implementing C-V2X and wireless technologies in transportation will bring about enormous benefits to the public interest, such as reducing roadway incidents and improving trip planning, transportation mode choice, and traffic efficiency – all of which will inevitably lead to lower fuel consumption. Examples of these benefits include real-time route guidance to bypass congestion, adjusting vehicle dynamics for optimal spe

Regular readers of this blog are no doubt aware of how many different satellite projects are going on, with or without 5G. Many industry pundits are sure that none of these initiatives will ever break even but that hasn't stopped new and existing players coming up with newer solutions. Recently, Professor Rob Maunder, CTO of AccelerComm and Tim Farrar, President at TMF Associates delivered a webinar on 'Challenges and Opportunities in Delivering Satellite 5G'. The event abstract says:  Constellations of 5G satellites are set to play a vital role in completing the technology and connectivity ecosystem addressing critical connectivity challenges, such as data speed and coverage limitations as well fulfilling the needs of a wide range of emerging use cases. We have seen a revolution in the thinking around the potential for 5G applications but while there are considerable opportunities, there are also several challenges. This webinar will take a deep dive into the market and co

Deutsche Telekom has been actively promoting Campus Networks for a while and their website defines Campus networks as exclusive mobile networks for a defined local campus, a university or individual buildings, such as an office building. They are tailored to the individual needs of users and meet future requirements in the area of Industry 4.0. This introductory video from them is a good place to understand the basics as well. If you are not very familiar with private networks (or non-public networks as 3GPP calls them), then my old tutorial is a good place to start. I also cover the basics of Campus Networks in that. 5G Private Networks and Responsibilities from The 3G4G blog post '5G Private and Non-Public Network (NPN)' - https://t.co/hicWpkmpJr via @3g4gUK #Free5GTraining #3G4G5G #PrivateLTE #PrivateNetworks #NPN #Private5G #Enterprise5G #Industrie40 #Industrial5G pic.twitter.com/3UBq5Iq0c7 — Free 5G Training (@5Gtraining) February 7, 2021 At the P rivate Networ

Back in 2019 when Vodafone UK launched 5G , they demonstrated it with a remote rugby tackle where Wasps Rugby player Juan de Jongh felt the impact of a tackle made 100 miles away by team mate Will Rowlands while wearing a haptic Teslasuit connected over 5G (and Wi-Fi).   Since then Vodafone UK have use the haptics for some other use cases too. One recent use case was to allow deaf and hard-of-hearing music fans to experience live music like never before. Vodafone unveiled some innovative 5G-enabled haptic suits that allowed people to feel the music through vibrations.  Vodafone used #5G -enabled haptic suits to allow deaf and hard-of-hearing fans to experience live music like never before. 🎵💃 Here's how it works: https://t.co/fUqYoykFE0 pic.twitter.com/faObMUHxi0 — Vodafone Business (@VodafoneBiz) July 1, 2022 These vibrations were delivered across 24 touchpoints on the wrists, ankles and torso to provide a full multi-sensory experience. You can read all about that here and wa

It's been nearly four years since we made a tutorial on Fixed Wireless Access ( FWA ). Since then a lot has changed. 5G has rolled out much more rapidly then anticipated, more of the LEO satellites are being launched and more operators are being convinced to roll out mmWave based FWA.  At the Qualcomm 5G Summit 2022, Federico Agnoletto – senior economist, GSMA Intelligence, held a Fixed Wireless Access MasterClass. In that, he explained the key business and technical considerations that impact the cost to deploy and operate Fixed Wireless Access networks and services. The following is from the masterclass summary: As 5G Fixed Wireless Access continues to grow and transform broadband access, this masterclass teaches operators how to maximize the return on investment for these technologies. GSMA Intelligence gives insight into the results of its detailed business analysis of Fixed Wireless Access, including comparisons with alternatives, and addressing ever-growing customer and soci

Public-Safety Answering Point or Public-Safety Access Point is abbreviated as PSAP. It is a call center where emergency/non-emergency calls (like police, fire brigade, ambulance) initiated by any mobile or landline subscriber are terminated. Wikipedia has details on this here . At the EENA Conference 2022 David Wales, Customer Experience Expert & Filip Malenak, Managing Director, Zachranka presented a talk looking at Video communication to PSAPs - a human perspective. Technology is there to allow video communication between citizena & PSAPs, but human perspective has to be taken into account : safety of the caller, psychological impact for the call-takers #eena2022 pic.twitter.com/kFA5egpkBj — Cristina Lumbreras (@CrLumbreras) April 29, 2022 The abstract says: With new information and communication technologies, there is a growing demand to make it possible for citizens to contact emergency services by video. But allowing video communication with PSAPs comes with many challen