An Ignoble Experiment

2. As LTE-Advanced commitments reach 60 worldwide, SK Telecom scores 221 Mbps in speed test

In a new filing with the FCC, AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) said that it doesn't believe it can use its WCS C and D Block spectrum for a mobile LTE network because the system would create too much interference with other operations in nearby spectrum bands. As a result, the carrier said it hopes to use the spectrum to provide in-flight Wi-Fi services because pointing the antennas up at the sky would reduce the possibility that the network would interfere with operations in adjacent bands, including Sirius XM radio.

AT&T's efforts in the 2.3 GHz WCS band started in June 2012, when it inked an agreement with Sirius XM to essentially create a 5 MHz guard band between Sirius XM's operations and the WCS band. Then, just a few months later, AT&T acquired more WCS spectrum from NextWave, for around $600 million. At the time, AT&T said it would use the WCS spectrum to improve its mobile LTE network.

In a filing this week with the FCC, AT&T said it has moved forward with plans to use the WCS A and B Blocks for its mobile LTE network. "Nevertheless, AT&T has continued to struggle to develop uses for its WCS C and D Block spectrum given the strict transmission limits to protect adjacent band operations from harmful interference," the carrier wrote. "AT&T now has found a way to put the C and D Block spectrum to productive use without infringing on its spectral neighbors." The carrier will use the spectrum to provide in-flight connectivity services, a plan it first announced in April.

"Not only will this in-flight connectivity service result in a robust, rapid and nationwide deployment of facilities using the WCS C and D Blocks, it will avoid the inference problems that have bedeviled past efforts to use this spectrum intensively," the carrier wrote. "Because base station antennas will tilt up, an air-to-ground service inherently will be less likely to interfere with Sirius XM receivers on the ground than a terrestrial application's downward-tilting base station antennas."

In order to begin building its in-flight broadband network, AT&T said it needs the FCC to change some of its WCS rules to allow for the service.

AT&T's filing provides more clarity on the carrier's plans to provide connectivity to airplanes. The carrier said that, late next year, it hopes to begin providing "robust, uninterrupted service" to all routes within the contiguous United States among 50 or more airports classified as large or medium hubs by the FAA. The carrier said the service would provide in-flight Wi-Fi to travelers as well as connection services to airlines for cockpit communications, maintenance operations and crew services. The carrier said ground-to-air transmissions should occur over the D Block while air-to-ground services should occur over the C Block.

AT&T's plans put it into direct competition with existing in-flight connectivity providers like Gogo, Row 44, Inmarsat and others.

Interestingly, those companies aren't standing still either. Gogo recently requested a "special temporary authorization" from the FCC to perform testing "in the 3650-3700 MHz band as well as the various 5 GHz ISM bands (including 5.725 to 5.825 GHz)." Gogo said the testing is intended to help it provide faster in-flight connection services, though the company didn't provide details of the tests in its filing.

For more:
- see this AT&T filing
- see this Gogo filing

Read more about: In-flight Wi-Fi, AT&T
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By Mike Dano

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3. OneM2M's initial specs release lays groundwork for global M2M standards

According to analyst firm ABI Research, carriers across the world are moving apace toward LTE-Advanced technology. The firm estimated there are currently roughly 60 LTE-Advanced trials, commitments and commercial deployments worldwide, of which 22 commitments were from Western Europe, 16 from Asia-Pacific, and five from North America.

And, according to a recent report from Signals Research Group, carriers could be able to offer blazing fast speeds thanks to the deployment of LTE-Advanced technology. In a recent test of SK Telecom's new LTE-Advanced network, Signals Research recorded a top download speed of 221 Mbps.

"Generally, we are a bit careful when it comes to throwing out hyperbole, but when you are traveling in a subway train with standing room only and sustaining data rates well above 150 Mbps to a smartphone that you are holding in your hand it is hard to do otherwise," Signals wrote in its report. "Our normal experience is riding a BART train in the San Francisco Bay area where in several places you can't buy a single bar of 2G voice or 3G data coverage, let alone LTE coverage, if your life depended on it."

The firm said it tested SK's network around Seoul during a four-day period in August using Samsung Galaxy S5 Cat 6 and Cat 4 phones, with testing equipment from Spirent, Innowireless and others. The firm said Samsung was SK's network infrastructure supplier in the city. The firm said SK provided the handsets but took no part in the independent testing process.

Signals said it transferred more than 450 GB of data during the testing, and recorded a median downlink data rate of 98.9 Mbps with a top speed of 221.11 Mbps. The firm said SK's data rate was higher than 150 Mbps for 19 percent of the time and it was less than 25 Mbps for only 4 percent of the time. Signals said the median uplink data rate was 23.1 Mbps (using 10 MHz channels) and it recorded a top upload speed of 25.1 Mbps.

The firm also said it measured consistent latency speeds of 20-25 ms.

"Carrier aggregation (CA) is the most important feature of LTE-Advanced, which helps mobile carriers to utilize all spectrum resources to increase data rates," said ABI's Marina Lu. "Apart from CA, LTE-Advanced also incorporates other enhancements, like advanced antenna techniques, interference management, and efficient use of heterogeneous networks."

For more:
- see this ABI release
- see this detailed Signals report (PDF)

Read more about: LTE Advanced, carrier aggregation
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By Tammy Parker

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4. Mutualink touts its media cohesion framework for FirstNet use

The oneM2M "candidate release of technical specifications," aimed at laying the groundwork for a global M2M service layer, is open for public comment until Nov. 1.

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which is helping get the word out about the candidate release, said it is the first step toward creating internationally recognized M2M standards. The candidate release includes foundation specifications for an M2M service layer that oneM2M aims to make interoperable with existing standards.

An updated initial candidate release will be approved by the oneM2M technical plenary in January 2015.

TIA is a founding member of oneM2M, a global partnership formed in 2012 by seven standards development organizations to pioneer standards for machine?to?machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things (IoT).

OneM2M Partner standards development organizations are: ARIB (Japan), ATIS (U.S.), CCSA (China), ETSI (Europe), TIA (U.S.), TTA (Korea) and TTC (Japan). Additional partners contributing to the oneM2M work include: the BBF (Broadband Forum), Continua, HGI (Home Gateway Initiative), the New Generation M2M Consortium ? Japan and OMA (Open Mobile Alliance). ATIS will host the next oneM2M technical plenary from Sept. 22-26 in Phoenix.

A number of other consortiums and alliances are attempting to create frameworks and standards for IoT use. Those include the AllSeen Alliance, whose membership includes Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), LG Electronics and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) as well as the rival Open Interconnect Consortium, which includes Intel, Samsung Electronics and Broadcom.

Another group, the Industrial Internet Consortium, is working on standards for connected industrial machines. In addition, Samsung teamed up with Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Nest, ARM Holdings and others to create a new mesh wireless standard for the IoT market called Thread.

For more:
- see this TIA release
- see this oneM2M release

Read more about: oneM2M
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By Tammy Parker

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5. Boingo Wireless installing DAS, Wi-Fi networks at New York's World Trade Center

Mutualink, whose interoperability platform is fully deployed in the nation's only operationally deployed public-safety LTE network, is pushing for use of its media cohesion framework (MCF) as part of the LTE network being planned by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet).

Click here to view a larger version of this image.

Mutualink technology is being used in the Band 14 public-safety LTE system in Harris County, Texas, which is operating under special temporary authority (STA) from the FCC because the county does not yet have a spectrum lease agreement to use FirstNet's 700 MHz frequencies. The installations are in the Transtar Emergency Operations Center and in a Harris County deployable vehicle that connects to the Band 14 evolved packet core (EPC) at College Station, Texas.

Mutualink said the system is being used to securely bridge Harris County radios and real-time video surveillance cameras around the city of Houston and the port area with other local and national entities.

In a new white paper, Mutualink contends its MCF would enable ad-hoc, on-demand, secure, multimedia interoperability among FirstNet users as well as with legacy or non-FirstNet users and systems. The system could provide a unifying framework for media and data between disparate applications and external systems, linking existing capabilities residing on or using other networks, such as mobile radio systems, video surveillance systems, telephone systems, sensor systems and more.

In Mutualink's MCF, a technology bridge is used to adapt each network to a common format, such as an IP gateway to a land-mobile radio system. The technology bridges connected to radio, video and other existing systems can only be controlled by the owning agency and communicate in a peer-to-peer mode with no centralized server or switch required.

Further, each enhanced application services and technology bridge function in the MCF forms what is called a media cohesion (MC) node. The nodes can provide collaboration between users at the same level in a hierarchy or between users at different levels.

According to the white paper's authors--Joe Boucher, Mutualink CTO and Mike Wengrovitz, vice president of innovation--one approach to achieving cross-system collaboration is to use an "infrastructure bridge" with one data center that is reachable from all desired networks to host the application services required to interconnect the users from all networks. Cross-system collaboration could also be achieved via an ad-hoc on-scene system, which might supplement the infrastructure bridge to include agencies that are outside their network footprint or for times that backhaul to the wide-area infrastructure is unavailable.

The authors note that the use of video, including video conferencing or shared video feeds, might lead to traffic congestion on the 700 MHz Band 14 network that FirstNet will operate. If backhaul will be limited, such as in a remote location, Mutualink suggests placing a small-capacity evolved packet core (EPC) and appropriate application services on scene using a system-on-wheels (SOW) approach, which would not require backhaul. Such a system could deliver video and other services without a backhaul chokepoint and would provide enhanced local resiliency and reduced latency of the media, according to the white paper.

To address the potential for over-the-air congestion, the paper suggest using an on-scene local area network (LAN), including a WLAN or "Wi-Fi bubble." The LAN would include an LTE-client router that acts as the gateway to the rest of the world. "This method requires just one video stream on the LTE over-the-air link for all LAN/WLAN viewers, so the potential offload of the LTE over-the-air link onto the WLAN is significant," the paper said.

Privately held Mutualink's technology was also used during Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) six-month trial of an LTE public-safety network in Las Vegas, which wrapped up in late 2013. Participating in the trial were the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, the Nevada Department of Transportation and other first responders. The trial used 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum allocated to FirstNet.

For more:
- see this Mutualink release and white paper (PDF)

Read more about: band 14, MCF, 700 MHz
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By Tammy Parker

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