Month: April 2019

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 25, 2019

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Waiting on Mission Critical Push-To-Talk (Data, Video). According to Motorola, its Kodiak Networks has developed the first Push-To-Talk (PTT) application for on-network use. On-network means the network hosts the application as opposed to an over-the-top application such as ESChat or Orion Labs, the other FirstNet-approved options. Motorola’s claim is that the Kodiak PTT solution as deployed in both the AT&T and Verizon networks (though not compatible across the two, I am told) is close to meeting the Mission Critical Push-To-Talk specification released by the 3GPP standards organization.

All that is needed, claims Motorola, is for companies to start producing Proximity Services (ProSe) chipsets, which Motorola claims remains the greatest hurdle to being fully MCPTT-compliant. I am using Motorola as an example here since it recently stated its PTT solution for FirstNet (Built with AT&T) works and is embedded in the FirstNet network. ESChat and Orion Labs are also certified on FirstNet. I find Motorola’s comments about ProSe to be peculiar coming from one of the premier Land Mobile Radio (LMR) companies in the world that for many years has built mobile and handheld radios that provide push-to-talk on public safety and business radio networks and further provides the capability for off-network push-to-talk.

Off-network push-to-talk, which I have written about over the years, is critical to the ability of those in the field to communicate with others even when a network is not available—either because they are out of network range or because they are deep inside a structure and cannot reach the network that may be available on the street. Simplex, talk-around, or whatever you want to call it is vital to the operation of the public safety community. It is used every day by police, fire, and EMS personnel. Simplex provides one-to-one and one-to-many communications to any unit in range of the transmitting unit. Read the Entire Column Here .
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NIST Issues Guidance on IoT Security

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Guidance designed to make Internet of things devices more secure was issued today by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  The new publication, “Securing Small-Business and Home Internet of Things (IoT) Devices: Mitigating Network-Based Attacks Using Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD),” recommends that IoT device makers use a MUD architecture that limits the ability of devices to communicate.  The MUD architecture provides “a standard way for manufacturers to indicate the network communications that each device requires to perform its intended function,” NIST said.  “When MUD is used, the network will automatically permit the IoT device to send and receive only this required traffic.” NIST is accepting comments on the publication through June 24.

Courtesy TRDaily

 

FCC Grants T-Band Waiver

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The Policy and Licensing Division of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released an order today in file 0006440207 conditionally granting a waiver to the Rose Tree (Pa.) Fire Company allowing it to modify a public safety radio station by raising the antenna height of a base station using the 470-512 megahertz T-band.

Courtesy TRDaily

FCC Grants 800 MHz Band Waiver

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The Policy and Licensing Division of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released an order today granting the Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corp.’s request for a waiver to share use of the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN), a statewide radio system. “Based on the record, and for the reasons stated below, we (1) grant the request for a waiver of Section 90.179 with regard to MTEMC’s proposed use of TACN’s 800 MHz facilities, and (2) find that no waiver is necessary for MTEMC’s proposed use of TACN’s 700 MHz facilities because MTEMC has committed to abide by conditions that satisfy the eligibility criteria in Section 337 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 90.523(b) of the Commission rules,” the order said.

Courtesy TRDaily

 

FCC Announces 800 MHz Band Application Procedures

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The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security and Wireless Telecommunications bureaus issued a public notice today announcing dates and procedures for submitting applications for 800 megahertz expansion band and guard band channels, and channels in the interleaved segment vacated by Sprint Corp., in three National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions. The public notice in WT docket 02-55 also announced dates and procedures for submitting expansion and guard band applications for 21 NPSPAC regions where such licensing had been deferred. The procedures were established pursuant to an 800 MHz band report and order and order released last year (TR Daily, Oct. 22, 2018).

The three additional NPSPAC regions are Florida, Ohio, and Washington state. “Beginning on July 18, 2019, Commission-certified frequency coordinators may file applications, in the Universal Licensing System (ULS), on behalf of eligible applicants for the channels released by this Public Notice,” the bureaus announced. “From July 18, 2019, to July 17, 2022, the interleaved channels made available by this Public Notice will be available exclusively for licensing to public safety eligible entities. From July 18, 2022, to July 17, 2024, the channels made available by the records released by this Public Notice will be available exclusively for licensing to public safety eligible entities and critical infrastructure industry eligible entities.”

Courtesy TRDaily

CTIA: Carriers Waiting on FEMA to Test WEA Upgrades

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Wireless carriers have taken the needed steps to deploy wireless emergency alert (WEA) upgrades required by a May 1 FCC deadline, but they can’t do so until the Federal Emergency Management Agency facilitates the necessary testing, CTIA told the FCC yesterday in an ex parte filing in PS dockets 15-91 and 15-94.

“Per the Commission’s rules, by May 1, 2019, participating commercial mobile service providers (CMSPs) are required to support (1) 360-character WEA messages, (2) Spanish-language WEA messages, (3) Public Safety WEA messages, (4) Alert Message prioritization, and (5) consumer opt-in capabilities for receiving State/Local WEA test messages (collectively WEA 2.0). CTIA respectfully submits this letter to update the Commission that participating CMSP member companies have taken the necessary steps to meet the May 1, 2019 deadline, but cannot deploy the new WEA 2.0 capabilities until Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) has the capability in place to support and complete its required testing for these new features,” CTIA said in its filing.

“Participating CMSPs and handset manufacturers have taken the steps within their control to support WEA 2.0 features by the May 1, 2019 deadline, including updating the relevant standards, implementing WEA 2.0 capabilities into their networks and deploying WEA-capable wireless handsets utilizing both Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS that support WEA 2.0,” CTIA added. “However, CTIA has recently confirmed that FEMA’s IPAWS gateway will not be ready to test WEA 2.0 by May 1, 2019. Once FEMA’s IPAWS gateway is capable of testing WEA 2.0, CTIA’s participating member companies are ready to test as soon as practicable and deploy the capability in coordination with FEMA. In the meantime, the Commission and FEMA should coordinate efforts to inform federal, state and local alert originators about the status of WEA 2.0 enhancements and effective utilization of WEA’s existing capabilities, including geotargeting and embedded links.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 18, 2019

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Updates on What Public Safety Needs from Congress. This week APCO sent out an email asking for all of us to support the 9-1-1 Saves Act. This bill will upgrade 9-1-1 professionals and reclassify them as Protective Service employees. This should have been done years ago and I hope the re-designation will carry forward to non-sworn public safety dispatchers. There is a link for this important bill and a guide for you to follow on how to notify your U.S. Senators and Representatives, so please do so.

This is only one of the significant pieces of legislation that should be passed by Congress and signed into law. The issues I am concerned about include the T-Band, NG911, and 4.9 GHz if the FCC doesn’t leave it alone. The most recent bill introduced in the House replaces H.R.3994, which was passed in 2018 but died in the Senate where no vote was taken. This year it is back as H.R.1328 and must once again make the rounds.

I believe H.R.1328 is of vital interest to the public safety community. It is the Access Broadband Act that would create a single organization for tracking and helping implement rural and poverty-level broadband. Today there are numerous federal and state agencies involved in grants and loans, but there seems to be a serious lack of coordination. The Access Broadband Act is extremely important to rural broadband coverage and as such should be supported by the public safety community. Currently, its odds of gaining passage are slight unless more sponsors from both parties join the effort.
Read the Entire Column Here. 

Here are the articles I have selected with the help of Discovery Patterns artificial intelligence
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sUS Business Journal: Unmanned Aircraft Systems for News Coverage

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Unmanned Aircraft Systems for News Coverage: An Interview with Greg Agvent, Senior Director of National News Technology, and lead of the newly created CNN Aerial Imagery & Reporting unit, CNN AIR.

By Chief Charles L. Werner (Ret.), Chair-National Council on Public Safety UAS, Chief of Public Safety-DroneUp

In 2018, CNN received the first FAA waiver to fly over people. This interview provides an informative look at the process, challenges, benefits and lessons learned. An excellent model for others that plan to implement an unmanned aircraft system program

http://www.susbexpo.com/2019-SUSB-JOURNAL.pdf

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 4, 2019

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Milestones and More.  Last week marks the two-year anniversary of the FirstNet award to AT&T. It also marks a full year since the Public Safety core (heart of the network) was turned on. If you map this two-year anniversary against the FirstNet Authority Operational Capability (IOC) description of the project, last week also marked the end of IOC-3, which was expected to be completed by the end of twenty-four months.

OC-3 contains many milestones in and of itself. For example, by the end of IOC-3, the local control application (portal) should be complete, the core should be complete, devices Phase 3 should be complete, and achievement of 50-percent of contractor’s IOC-5 public safety device connection target should be attained. This last point is not discernable from the outside since FirstNet the Authority did not specify the number of connections, rather the number was determined by each bidder. However, it appears to me, like with most of the IOC-3 requirements, FirstNet (Built with AT&T) has already blown past IOC-5 in addition to most of the IOC-3 requirements.

There still remain issues, especially concerning coverage as public safety agencies continue to monitor FirstNet progress. Once more, I need to remind people that had AT&T not offered up all of its existing LTE spectrum and then begun augmenting it with public safety Band 14 spectrum, and a bidder had simply planned on building out the entire network on Band 14, we would not yet have attained today’s level of coverage nor would we have pre-emption except on Band 14. So, while there are still some issues with coverage, much of what we have today was not even planned to be available until one, two, or even three years further down the road. Read the Entire Column Here .

here are the articles I have selected with the help of Discovery Patterns artificial intelligence

Florida’s Riviera Beach Police, Fire Rescue Deploy Smartphones via FirstNet

MissionCritical Apr  4 10:05

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Riviera Beach Police and Fire Rescue in Florida announced it is transitioning to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) public-safety broadband network. read more

Utility’s In-Car Video System Certified as FirstNet Ready

MissionCritical Apr  4 10:05

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Utility, a law enforcement technology company, announced that its Rocket IoT XLE is an AT&T FirstNet Ready certified device on the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) network. read more

FCC Sets Stage for Next Spectrum Incentive Auction at April Open Meeting

JD Supra Mar 28 10:15

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The FCC anticipates retaining OTARD rule exceptions for state, local, and private restrictions on antennas based on public safety issues or historic …

Fixed wireless and mobile hotspots lead first wave of 5G

RCR Wireless News Mar 28 10:15

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Fixed wireless and mobile hotspots lead first wave of 5G …

  1. Korea launches 5G smartphone networks ahead of schedule

Federal News Radio 1500AM Apr  4 11:00

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South Korea’s telecommunications carriers have turned on super-fast 5G mobile internet networks abruptly ahead of schedule in an attempt to ensure the country becomes the first in the world to launch the services The post S. Korea launches 5G smartphone networks ahead of schedule appeared first on Federal News Network .

Samsung’s Multi-Mode Exynos Chipsets Help Bring the 5G Era to Mobile Consumers

Yahoo News Apr  4 10:55

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Exynos Modem 5100 is Samsung’s first 5G modem solution that had …

Verizon launches its mobile 5G network in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, with a 5G-enabled

Techmeme Apr  4 10:55

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#5G availability starts today in Chicago & Minneapolis from @verizon. 1st phone is Motorola z3 with 5G moto mod…

AT&T and Sprint’s 5G Legal Dispute Illustrates the Ways of Wireless

D Magazine Apr  4 10:50

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Let’s take first things first: Regardless of what your phone might be telling you, you aren’t on 5G yet. It’s not possible. Most of the equipment isn’t up, …

DSA brings together leaders at 2019 Summit

BusinessGhana Apr  4 10:35

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… and high-band spectrum available on a shared and dynamic basis to address accelerating demand for the full range of next generation narrowband …

Motorola is preparing a smartphone with quad rear cameras and a 48MP sensor

XDA Developers Apr  4 10:35

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Considering Motorola just became the first company to allow its consumers to connect to a commercial 5G network, it would be wrong to call it lagging …

Virtual RANs Simplify Administration and Increase Flexibility

Dataconomy Apr  4 10:30

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Test environments for 5G mobile networks exist already. …

Keysight’s 5G Test Solutions and Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem Establish Mobile …

EE Journal Apr  4 10:15

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This industry milestone was achieved using Qualcomm Technologies’ second-generation Snapdragon X55 5G modem with integrated multi-mode …

CCA Partners with Parallel Wireless to Provide End-to-End Network Solutions for Mobile Operators

PR Newswire Apr  4 10:10

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World’s First Virtualized Open RAN to Deliver Profitability and Cost-effectively Enable 4G Expansion and Migration to 5G NASHUA, N.H. and WASHINGTON, April 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Parallel Wireless, Inc., the leader in providing the world’s first software-based unified end-to-end ALL G…

CTIA Report Says U.S. Catches China in 5G Readiness

MissionCritical Apr  4 10:05

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A new 5G summary by CTIA said that the United States is tied with China in 5G readiness, moving up from a year ago when the U.S. lagged behind China and South Korea. read more

New Intel CEO dishes on 5G, more acquisitions and moving his 50-year-old company forward

MassHighTech Apr  4 10:05

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Bob Swan was promoted to the California semiconductor giant’s top role in February after serving as executive vice president and CFO since October 2016. He told a Phoenix audience that Intel can no longer take an ‘insular’ market approach.

Report: Intel will miss its deadline to deliver a 5G modem to Apple, putting 5G iPhone in jeopardy

MassHighTech Apr  4 10:05

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Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. is racing to develop a 5G-capable mobile modem chip this year, but will likely miss a key deadline to get the chip to Apple Inc. in time, putting the company’s 5G iPhone in jeopardy, Fast Company reports, citing an unnamed source. Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly assembled a team of between 1,000 and 1,200 engineers to design its own 5G modem. That effort is still in its early stages, which means Apple might enter the 2020 holiday sales season without a 5G-capable…

5G era for smartphones has begun

Seeking Alpha Apr  4 09:55

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It’s unclear which country struck first, but Verizon has launched 5G wireless service in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, while carriers in South Korea …

4×4 mimo the performance boost for lte

Creutz coaching and consulting Apr  4 09:40

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MIMO system enables 5G performance on LTE networks. …

Motorola Wins the Race to First 5G Smartphone in the World

Gizmodo UK Apr  4 09:30

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The 5G version of the Samsung Galaxy S10 goes on sale in South Korea tomorrow, but Motorola has just pipped it to the post by making the Moto Mod …

Samsung begins mass production of its 5G chipsets

SamMobile Apr  4 09:15

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Samsung has begun the mass production of its 5G multi-mode chipsets for next-generation 5G smartphones. The company’s latest 5G communication …

5G Broadcast Solution to Transmit Media Content Directly to Smartphone Users

everything RF Apr  4 08:55

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Reaching billions of smartphones will be the future of broadcasting in line with ATSC and 3GPP. As a part of the Bavarian research project ‘5G …

Norway offers to postpone 5G frequency payments to boost investment

Reuters Apr  4 07:45

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Norway will offer telecoms operators to postpone payments for mobile phone frequencies, including 5G networks, in return for investment commitments, the government said on Thursday.

Samsung Galalxy A50 review: Premium experience at a mid-range price point

Economic Times Apr  4 07:40

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… Galaxy S10 phones, 5G smartphone, Galaxy buds and smartwatches. …

China Mobile Hong Kong and Sino Group Jointly Present Hong Kong’s First In-Mall 5G Experience …

ACROFAN USA Mar 28 10:25

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Dr Li Feng, Chairman of China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK), said, ‘We are very pleased to work with Sino Group in developing the first 5G showcase, …

Senate Panel Schedules Robocall Hearing

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The Senate communications, technology, innovation, and the Internet subcommittee has scheduled an April 11 hearing to examine the FCC’s first report on robocalls and to “review the steps Congress is currently taking to provide consumers relief from illegal robocalls.”  Scheduled witnesses are Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson; Kevin Rupy, a partner in law firm of Wiley Rein LLP, representing the U.S. Telecom Association; and Margot Saunders, counsel for the National Consumer Law Center.  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Courtesy TRDaily