Meeting The Test Challenges Of 4G LTE: As RF designers work rapidly to create products that support the new long term evolution (LTE) cellular wireless standard, understanding the new test requirements for LTE assumes ever greater importance as this technology becomes more widespread. For the wireless industry, these changes are nearly as significant as the move from analog to digital, requiring new measurements and new test equipment. This article looks at what LTE is and the main challenges to testing for engineers.

Just When 3G Is Rolling Out 4G From Sprint Is Here?: A next-generation 4G wireless network based on mobile WiMAX technology debuted today in Baltimore, heralding the start of a new era for wireless consumers as Sprint officially launched XOHM(TM) mobile broadband commercial service in the first major U.S. city. “This is truly an historic day with the birth of a completely new Internet-based business model that alters the dynamics of the traditional telecom industry,” explained Barry West, president of Sprint’s XOHM business unit. “Wireless consumers will experience WiMAX device and XOHM service innovation on multiple levels as the computer, Internet, telecom and consumer electronics industries converge to redefine wireless mobility.”

CE Vendors Offering Internet Connectivity Must Get the Usage Model Right: The trend towards cramming ever more functions into mobile phones is forcing consumer electronics vendors to explore new capabilities in their devices in order to stay relevant to consumers in a “connected age.” Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) combining specialized functions (camera, media player, navigation etc.) with wireless Internet access seem likely to succeed and consumers increasingly expect their electronics to connect to the Internet. But makers of these products have only a window in which to build devices and business models that users will adopt.

Sprint launches its WiMax service in first U.S. city: Sprint promised the commercial launch of its Wimax network by the end of September. Today it kept that promise. The nation’s No. 3 wireless company launched its high-speed WiMax service in Baltimore today. “This is truly an historic day with the birth of a completely new Internet-based business model that alters the dynamics of the traditional telecom industry,” Barry West, president of Sprint’s XOHM business unit, stated in a release. “Wireless consumers will experience WiMAX device and XOHM service innovation on multiple levels as the computer, Internet, telecom and consumer electronics industries converge to redefine wireless mobility.”

Multi-gigabit 4G Backhaul with 80 GHz Bands : The term “4G” is used in varying manners to describe upcoming mobile network deployments. Often, the term “4G” is simply used to refer to new access standards such as LTE and WiMAX that employ technologies such as OFDMA and MIMO (generally not present in today’s mobile networks), offering performance improvements over current mobile peak data rates. The ITU’s IMT-Advanced standard defines 4G wireless as providing over 100 Mbps of capacity to high mobility users — a user-centric, rather than technology-centric, definition. It is anticipated that networks based on LTE or WiMAX standards will deliver over 100 Mbps of capacity to users (even if not in their initial deployments), so there are natural overlaps in the uses of the term “4G” depending on whether one is talking about “standards”, “technology” or “capacity”.

DesignArt Networks Delivers the First Universal WiMAX Basestation-on-Chip: -DesignArt Networks, a fabless semiconductor company, today made good on its promise to deliver its revolutionary open WiMAX SoC platform, the DAN2400, to the market. With a family of single-chip base and relay station reference designs available today, WiMAX equipment vendors can now build a complete radio access network (RAN) product portfolio, covering all indoors and outdoors applications – based on one single R&D, IOT and certification process.

When is Sprint’s 4G Internet coming to O.C.?: Where in the nation is 4G? The news today is the first for a major cellular provider to launch the faster data service. Verizon and AT&T are focusing on the competing technology called LTE, short for Long Term Evolution. That 4G service, with speeds of up to 144 mbps, is not expected to launch anywhere until maybe late next year and into 2010. Analyst Daryl Schoolar, who has been following 4G wireless technology for market researcher In-Stat, said that neither 4G service will become widespread until 10 years from now. “Yes, (Sprint’s XOHM) is significant because it’s a step ahead of what’s out there today in terms of wireless data,” Schoolar said. Plus, he added, this is targeting not just mobile Internet users but home Internet users. “Sprint is going after that market. Clearwire has shown that quite a number of their subscribers are coming from DSL or Cable,” Schoolar said.

Davide Cushman at FasterFuture blog spot gives us a real example of how not to talk to your customers and how not to use data within a marketing context. welcome to Tescopoly A friend of mine recently received a polite…

Davide Cushman at FasterFuture blog spot gives us a real example of how not to talk to your customers and how not to use data within a marketing context. welcome to Tescopoly A friend of mine recently received a polite…

According to a Business Beat article in the Nikkei Weekly print edition [.pdf], nearly as many people in Japan access the Internet through cellphones as PCs, so major advertisers and service providers have apparently come together recently in an effort to create a new way to measure the audiences visiting mobile websites. Some 40 companies including Coca-Cola and Panasonic as well as web agencies such as Nifty, DeNA and NetRatings Japan have established a study group to identify a common method to quantify mobile web usage.

We had a great time at Design For Mobile, our first conference. I had asked every speaker to teach me something new, and they all did. We’re still integrating everything we learned, both from speakers and participants.

Most participants were especially interested in Mike Lundy’s case study of how Sprint deployed the Samsung Instinct, with their […]

When I spoke at the European Parliament, I mentioned that mobile could be a big opportunity for the EU to take a globally competitive position - and hence it is nice to see this initiative from the EU Commission consults on how to put Europe into the lead of the transition to Web 3.0

I love especially the emphasis on mobile and the universal connectivity .. This is truly the next step beyond Web 2.0 and I am glad it is happening here .. and with a chance that we could fulfill this vision

“The Internet of the future will radically change our society,” said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. “Web 3.0 means seamless ‘anytime, anywhere’ business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks. It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines. It signals a tenfold quantum leap in the scale of the digital universe by 2015. Europe has the know-how and the network capacity to lead this transformation. We must make sure that Web 3.0 is made and used in Europe.”

Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks announced today a patent license agreement with Huawei and its affiliates for standards essential patents. The comprehensive agreement covers the worldwide use of all standards essential patents of all parties, including GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, optical networking, data communications and WiMAX in mobile devices, infrastructure and services.
“We are very pleased […]

The trend towards cramming ever more functions into mobile phones is forcing consumer electronics vendors to explore new capabilities in their devices in order to stay relevant to consumers in a “connected age.” Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) combining specialized functions (camera, media player, navigation etc.) with wireless Internet access seem likely to succeed and consumers […]

The mobile phone is by far the most common device used to connect to mobile networks. However, the number of non-handset mobile devices is set to grow dramatically. These category of products, termed ‘Mobile Internet Peripherals and Devices’ encompass products such as data cards, laptops, ultra-mobile PCs, game consoles, eBooks, digital signs, ATMs and host […]