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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2015
Telecomnews
service reports. (”New Wi-Fi
Antenna Enhances Wireless Coverage,”
1st June)
Reviewing the article for
FierceWirelessTech on 2nd June,
editor Monica Alleven noted that
the invention is designed to address
the coverage problem “dead spots.”
These occur most often in areas
where Wi-Fi is in high demand, such
as conference centres whose walls or
appliances block a router’s signal or
degrade it to the point that it becomes
too weak for a phone or tablet to be
used reliably. (“Report: Researchers
Use Fluorescent Light Tube to Create
New Wi-Fi Antenna,” 2nd June)
The prototype antenna developed in
Malaysia consists of a fluorescent
tube that connects to the router
through a tuned wire coil in a sleeve
slipped over one end. The coil passes
the router’s radio signal through the
glass of the fluorescent tube and into
the plasma. According to the research
team, the plasma found in a standard
62-centimetre light tube is highly
conductive; and signal measurement
testing shows that it is strong and
stable, reported. Plasma
happens to compare favourably with
standard metal Wi-Fi antennas for
transmitting and receiving.
Plasma also has conducting
properties comparable to a common
metal radio antenna, allowing an
attached router to send and receive
radio signals through the light tube
on the standard 2.4-gigahertz Wi-Fi
frequency in the same way as through
a regular antenna. The router’s radio
waves can ionise the gas in the tube,
enabling it to act as an antenna
whether the light is in On or Off
position.
An example of a possible application
could involve outdoor billboard
lights. With the Malaysian technology
installed, each plasma antenna array
would then be integrated with a
Wi-Fi router to provide large-scale,
system-wide wireless communication.
Ø Ms Alleven said there is no word
on whether the technology “or
something akin to it” might be
considered for deployment in the
USA. Back in 2013, she recalled, a
common fluorescent light fixture in
a hair salon in San Antonio, Texas,
was identified as the source of
interference for a nearby AT&T LTE
cell site.
Ms Alleven wrote: “An FCC agent
used a spectrum analyser and
handheld antenna to confirm
that the salon’s overhead light
fixture emanated a stray signal at
705 MHz, causing interference
to AT&T’s Band Class 17 LTE
network.”
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
Ø Vendors Alcatel-Lucent, NEC and
Nokia Networks, and operators
Deutsche Telekom, Orange
and Telefonica, are members
of a 13-strong consortium with
a brief to promote innovative
thinking around mobile network
architecture for 5G. Richard
Handford of Mobile World Live
reported that the 5G NORMA
(Novel Radio Multiservice adaptive
network Architecture) group – a
part of the 5GPPP initiative –
would work for a period of 30
months after its July launch.
“5G NORMA is also about
acquiring a leadership position for
Europe in 5G,” wrote Mr Handford
(1st July)
The announcement of its for-
mation declared that NORMA
“breaks away from the rigid legacy
network paradigm” to attempt to
adapt network usage to changes
in traffic demand and network
topology. The group will also
evaluate the value to the mobile
industry and its customers of the
services enabled by the proposed
architecture.
Ø The British Bankers’ Association
(BBA) said on 14 th June that
banking by smartphone and tablet
has become the preferred way for
Britons to manage their finances,
as mobile banking overtakes
bricks-and-mortar branches and
the Internet in popularity.
According to new research
commissioned by the BBA,
in excess of eight million
consumers downloaded mobile
banking apps over the previous
12 months and two million signed
up to the ‘Paym’ service that
allows payments to be made to
mobile phone contacts.
The British are now transferring
more than £2.9 billion a week via
apps.
The BBA reported that its
customers will use mobile devices
to tend their current accounts 895
million times in 2015, as compared
with 427 million interactions at
local branches. It forecast that
by 2020 customers will use their
mobiles to manage their current
accounts 2.3 billion times a year
– more than Internet, branch and
telephone banking taken together.
“Technology is changing our
lives and banking is no different,”
said CEO Anthony Browne of the
BBA, which represents more than
240 member organisations and
has a presence in 180 countries.
“The rapid take-up of apps and
mobile banking appears to be a
real game-changer for the British
public.”
Ø After almost two years of some-
times heated discussion among
lawmakers, the European Union
on 30 th June arrived at agreement
on a telecommunications law
to take effect in June 2017. It
provides for the end of roaming
charges – for voice, text and data
– in EU member countries, with
mobile phone users on the move
paying what they do at home;
plus new net neutrality rules
designed to protect the right of
all Europeans to access Internet
content without discrimination.
By enshrining for the first time the
principle of net neutrality into EU
law, the agreement ensures that
Internet users will not be closed
out or otherwise hampered. Paid
prioritisation will not be permitted.
“Access to a start-up’s website
will not be unfairly slowed down to
make way for bigger companies,”
declared the EU in a statement.
“No service will be stuck because
it does not pay an additional fee to
Internet service providers. There
won’t be gatekeepers to decide
what you can and cannot access.”
At the meeting in Brussels, the
European Commission, the
European Parliament and the
Council of Europe, reached
also a compromise on an EC
proposal for a single telecom
market. The agreed measures
are to be finalised in 2016 in a
broad overhaul of EU telecom
rules, including a more effective
spectrum coordination process.