The European Union has today announced the launch of METIS - Mobile and wireless communications Enablers for the Twenty-twenty (2020) Information Society - a large EU co-funded research project whose objective is to lay the foundations for the next generation of the mobile and wireless communications system in anticipation of society's needs in the year 2020.
WiSA, the Wireless Speaker and Audio association, has released its first compliance test specification (CTS) for testing interoperability between wireless speakers and home theatre electronics. The CTS specifies all the required interoperability and certification testing required for transmission of uncompressed HD audio over the 5GHz band.
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has announced plans for the country’s largest ever auction of spectrum for mobile services, which is expected to be snapped up by operators wanting to introduce 4G. The auction will begin before the end of 2012, so the UK could see 4G networks rolled out as early as next year. The auction will offer the equivalent of three quarters of the mobile spectrum in use today, around 80% more than was released for the 3G auction in 2000.
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has ratified a new standard – ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 – for wireless applications with ultra-low power consumption. It is the first and only wireless standard that is also optimised for energy harvesting solutions. Together with the EnOcean Equipment Profiles (EEPs) drawn up by the EnOcean Alliance, this international standard lays the foundation for fully interoperable, open wireless technology comparable to standards such as Bluetooth and WiFi. EnOcean expects that international standardisation will drive development of wireless sensors and wireless sensor networks, opening up new markets for energy harvesting solutions.
The industry association that promotes energy efficient wireless transmission through Envelope Tracking (ET), the OpenET Alliance, has announced its first wave of members, and the release of an updated interface specification for cellular terminals. The Alliance membership includes Altair Semiconductor, Anadigics, Huawei, Maxim, Nujira, Sony and the University of Florence.
Industry alignment on a chip-based serialisation scheme for RFID is set to facilitate serialisation for companies using item-level passive RFID tags. The Multi-vendor Chip-based Serialisation scheme (MCS) is designed to address applications using the Serialised Global Trade Identification (SGTIN-96) for universally identifying products in the supply chain and complies with the guidelines set forth by GS1, the standards body for Electronic Product Code (EPC). Aligned UHF EPC Gen2 RFID tag IC manufacturers include Alien Technology, Impinj and NXP Semiconductors.
Weightless, the body behind the eponymous M2M communications standard for white space spectrum, has voiced its support for a series of recent Ofcom sentiments: What the industry requires now is a ‘kick start’ of rapid regulatory turnaround for the common good, rapid occupation of the spectrum, and deployment of machine-to-machine white space standards and technology to demonstrate use cases.
Ofcom CEO, Ed Richards outlined his views on white space in an EU Policy debate in Brussels on 7th March entitled ‘Towards an EU policy for dynamic spectrum access’. The conference was marked by unusually senior attendance from a number of players including the FCC in the US and in particular Ofcom.
UK telecom regulator Ofcom has given its backing to a proposal submitted by operator Everything Everywhere to introduce mobile services, which could be available in the UK as early as this year.
Everything Everywhere had submitted an application to Ofcom to use its existing spectrum to deliver 4G services. Ofcom has now ruled that allowing Everything Everywhere to reuse its spectrum in this way is likely to bring material benefits to consumers, including faster mobile broadband speeds and – depending on how Everything Everywhere uses the spectrum – potentially wider mobile broadband coverage in rural areas.
Integrated Device Technology (IDT) has announced what it claims is the world's first true single-chip wireless power transmitter, accompanied by a single-chip receiver solution that can deliver 7.5W output when used in a proprietary configuration with the transmitter.
The wireless power transmitter and IDTP9020 receiver together comprise a solution designed to meet the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) Qi standard, which ensures interoperability with other devices meeting the Qi standard. Both transmitter and receiver are capable of 'multi-mode' operation, supporting both the Qi standard and proprietary formats for added features, improved safety, and increased power output capability.
Representatives of major standards development organisations from around the world (including ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TIA, TTA, and TTC) have identified the need for a common cost-efficient, easily and widely available M2M Service Layer, which can be readily embedded within various hardware and software. They also identified the need for a cooperative M2M community standards activity, and have agreed to jointly address the challenge of common standardised solutions. Initial steps to form a global initiative for M2M Standardisation have been taken.
