Communications

When first proposed, a “thing” on the newly named internet of things (IoT) was imagined as something that could be counted and these existed in relatively simple applications, now IoT is expanding into machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and applications such as manufacturing and power utilities, writes Martha Zemede of Keysight Technologies. While automation is already important in manufacturing, IoT and the ...

IC designers have long understood the value of SPICE simulation for mixed signal and analogue analysis, but it is also being used to analyse digital circuits and could be a critical element of IoT node design, writes Gerhard Angst Design complexity can be addressed in a number of ways; often it is to break a task down into smaller, more ...

Joining the dots – the backhaul challenge behind next-generation mobile networks, writes Steve Greaves, CEO of CCS. Faced with unprecedented levels of network congestion in the not-too-distant future, mobile operators will be looking at ways of improving spectral efficiency through the deployment of multi-layered radio access networks. These new-look networks are comprised of macrocells to deliver wide-area coverage and small ...

The Weightless SIG has launched a Weightless-N development environment for low power wide area network connectivity in IoT projects. The development kits include a desktop base station with the same functionality as a commercial grade base station packaged in a non-ruggedised casing, a base station antenna, an end product module mounted on a development carrier board with external connections, a ...

Dialog has brought out a Bluetooth Smart development kit support for Apple HomeKit, to help develop smart home accessories. Initial pairing set up takes 4.5 seconds and pair-verify, which occurs whenever an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch issues a command, takes 250 ms. The DA14580 comes in a 2.5 x 2.5 mm package and has a peak current of under ...

ROHM has developed power receiver controller ICs compatible with USB Power Delivery (Rev2.0) and Type-C (Rev1.1). BM92TxxMWV series supports conventional USB power up to 7.5W, all the way up to 100W (20V 5A) for USB Type-C connected devices. “This will make it possible to drive equipment with larger power requirements such as TVs and PCs via USB and at the ...

IoT has a new wireless technology and it has influential supporters in Intel, Nokia and Ericsson. It is a narrowband version of 4G LTE, dubbed NB-LTE, which has been created just for the needs of the internet-connected devices and sensors which will make up the internet of things (IoT). Not everyone supports the technology. Huawei of China is not a ...

A group of European companies and universities are looking into the use of 5G networks which can reconfigure more quickly to meet the data demands of users. A pan-European project involving Huawei, Telefonica, Blu Wireless Technology with the universities of Bristol, Dresden and Thessalias is investigating the building of adaptive networks which will meet the anticipated high capacity data traffic in ...

Higher speed 5G mobile communications services using the millimetre wave frequency band look likely to be delayed due to issues over spectrum allocation in the 60GHz frequency band. Research into 5G radio technology in Asia, the US and Europe, including the UK’s 5G Innovation Centre, may lobby their respective national frequency bodies to allocate the 60GHz spectrum. But global frequency ...

The first field trials of a 5G mobile communications network could take place as early as 2016 in the US. US operator Verizon is working with its hardware partners Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung  to start 5G field trials in 2016. Marcus Weldon, chief technology officer of Alcatel-Lucent and president of Bell Labs believes the plan for 5G trials ...