• BT installs 5G network in rural Wales to demonstrate driverless pod capabilities

    BT installs 5G network in rural Wales to demonstrate driverless pod capabilities

    The benefits of the new tech were highlighted by BT at the 100 th Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, with visitors able to see 5G technology demonstrations including a connected driverless pod at the showground. The vehicle has been touted as one of the first self-driving pods in the world to be connected to a live 5G network, with the vehicles designed to be used across a wide range of environments and industries. The pods make use of 5G to stream data in real time, including 3D mapping models, video from the on-board safety cameras and ‘infotainment’ for passengers. Nick Speed, BT Group director for Wales, said: “5G is the next generation of mobile technology and will transform the way we live and work. We’re hugely excited about what we can do with 5G today and in the…

  • Hackers expose Russian-backed Tor demasking project

    Hackers expose Russian-backed Tor demasking project

    The hackers, belonging to a group known as 0v1ru$, stole 7.5TB of data from SyTech, a contractor for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). The stolen information was shared with another hacking group and journalists. The group replaced the SyTech homepage with a large picture of ‘Comfy Guy’, also known as YOBA, a trolling icon popular among Russian internet users. For the time being, SyTech has hidden its website. Approximately 20 secret projects were revealed by the hackers, mostly commissioned by a military service connected to the FSB. These included projects to collect information about social media users (Nautilus), to search email servers belonging to large companies (Mentor), to find vulnerabilities in the peer-to-peer BitTorrent system used to share media, and to disconnect…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Sandvik reveals 3D-printed diamond composite

    Sandvik reveals 3D-printed diamond composite

    Diamond may be the most lusted-after and enduring stone on Earth but it is also a factory’s best friend. It is extremely useful in industry, being 15 times harder than any other natural material. Diamond coatings, blades, and tips are found on wear-resistant tools across a range of fields, including mining, surgery, and drilling. The hardness of diamond is a double-edged sword; while useful for cutting and shaping other materials, it is incredibly difficult to reshape itself. Even the development of synthetic diamond in the 1950s did not allow for complex shapes to be formed, as synthetic diamonds can only be formed into a handful of simple geometric shapes. Now, Stockholm-based Sandvik has become the first in the world to 3D-print diamond powder, opening up countless possibilities for…

  • Additive manufacturing can give historic treasures a new lease of life

    Additive manufacturing can give historic treasures a new lease of life

    George Santayana once said that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” History, as Santayana would see it, allows us to understand why we live the way we do – and why it varies across the globe. Displays of historical treasures from different periods of time provide us with an even deeper understanding. While displaying these invaluable items may be a wonderful opportunity to cultivate knowledge, there have been numerous examples of ancient artefacts being destroyed or damaged. For example, the funeral mask of Tutankhamun, which was discovered in 1922, was damaged in 2014 by a worker at the museum where it was on display. Curators glued the broken beard back onto the mask, resulting in further – and more noticeable – damage. Of course, it is not only human error…

  • Sandvik created a smash-proof, 3D printed guitar, then challenged rock legend Yngwie Malmsteen to smash it

    Sandvik created a smash-proof, 3D printed guitar, then challenged rock legend Yngwie Malmsteen to smash it

    In the film, Malmsteen plays the guitar in front of an excited crowd in a rock club outside Miami - after which he does his very best to destroy it… Sandvik, a world-leader in material innovation and manufacturing, engineered the smash-proof guitar to demonstrate how advanced, precise and sustainable the company’s techniques are. “We don’t make products for consumers, so people don’t realize how far in the forefront our methods are,” says Klas Forsström, President of Sandvik Machining Solutions. “Creating a smash-proof guitar for a demanding musician like Malmsteen highlights the capabilities we bring to all complex manufacturing challenges.” Malmsteen, named one of the ten greatest electric guitar players in the world by TIME Magazine, is known for his virtuoso performances - as well…

  • Austrian government floats ban on online anonymity

    Austrian government floats ban on online anonymity

    According to the draft law, internet users would be required to register their real names and addresses in order to leave online comments. This law would apply to all major websites: those with more than 100,000 registered users, those who make more than €500,000 (£430,000) per year, or who receive press subsidies of at least €50,000 (£43,000). The draft law allows exemptions for e-commerce sites, and those with different business models, such as those which do not earn money from content or advertising. The idea is that malicious comments can be traced back to the people behind them, who can subsequently be held accountable. While users will be able to continue using screen names to post online, authorities would retain a way of finding the true identity of users if necessary (for instance…

  • Cornish phone boxes converted to provide 4G signal on the beachfront

    Cornish phone boxes converted to provide 4G signal on the beachfront

    Many of the coastal areas typically have poor signal due to their relatively rural locations. Meanwhile, telephone box usage is currently falling dramatically, with around a 20 per cent drop annually. In 2017 it was found that a third of phone boxes were only used once a month and many never used at all, prompting BT to scrap 20,000 of them. Vodafone will adapt the boxes in Polzeath and Sennen Cove in Cornwall to provide 4G coverage in a 200-metre radius, as well as allowing customers to make use of a range of connected devices such as pet trackers. The network said that mobile coverage can often be difficult to provide in remote areas and coastal locations due to the local topography and the lack of power and fibre cables needed to link up masts. The Government’s current target is to…

  • Demystifying 5G seminar 21st May 2019 - Grasp the technology, seize the opportunities

    Demystifying 5G seminar 21st May 2019 - Grasp the technology, seize the opportunities

    2019 is the year mobile network operators will begin to roll out 5G services. The technology is designed to be almost infinitely flexible to support a wide variety of services, and is therefore highly complex. So while there are many new opportunities to be discovered, there is also a lot to learn. As the ancient saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Of course, the early steps on this journey are somewhat tentative. The 5G-infrastructure deployments this year will be Non-Standalone (NSA); using 5G frequencies for high-speed data exchanges while relying on 4G technologies to manage connections to infrastructure and servers. So far, the test specifications for 5G devices are not fully finalised. For NSA, although the 3GPP TS38.521-3 transmitter and receiver tests…

  • Major US telecoms carrier may have lied about 4G coverage, FCC finds

    Major US telecoms carrier may have lied about 4G coverage, FCC finds

    Although the FCC did not name the carrier found guilty, its testing was sparked by a complaint filed against Verizon, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the US. In August, the Rural Wireless Association (RWA) – which represents small rural wireless carriers – filed a complaint against Verizon , claiming that the telecommunications company had “grossly overstated” its 4G coverage in government filings. Verizon and other companies had been requested to file maps and data laying out their 4G coverage in 2017. According to the RWA, Verizon’s filings were inaccurate and could block smaller companies from gaining support from the $4.5bn (£3.6bn) public Mobility Fund to subsidise the expansion of rural wireless coverage over the next decade. The RWA had submitted speed test results…

  • Enterprise security threat posed by unofficial Snapchat and Facebook use

    Enterprise security threat posed by unofficial Snapchat and Facebook use

    According to research from Maintel, a managed communications provider, a substantial proportion of employees would like to use consumer-grade tools such as Snapchat or Facebook Messenger for work.  With this trend only set to increase, businesses are faced with the security implications of their employees using unsanctioned tools, as well as the challenge of implementing and policing their use if sanctioned.  Maintel’s survey of 1,000 employed adults found that:  24 per cent of workers said they would like Snapchat to be approved by their employer, as well as 19 per cent for Twitter and 17 per cent for Facebook Messenger. In an average working day, two or more hours are spent on Instagram (41 per cent), Facebook Messenger (32 per cent), and WhatsApp (29 per cent). Instagram…

  • Apple axes Qualcomm as modem supplier for 2018 iPhones

    Apple axes Qualcomm as modem supplier for 2018 iPhones

    Speaking on a conference call regarding Qualcomm earnings, George Davis, Qualcomm’s chief financial officer, said: “We believe Apple intends to solely use our competitor’s modems rather than our modems in its next iPhone release.” Given the ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Qualcomm, it should come as no surprise that Apple would choose to distance itself from its rival at this time. The two companies are waging a global legal war against each other over patents and royalties. In January 2017, Apple launched a $1bn (£760m) lawsuit, claiming Qualcomm abuses its “monopoly power” to demand high royalties from companies using its products and force chip buyers to license patents. Qualcomm responded in turn and a succession of complaints has been filed in both US and international courts…

  • Unmask internet trolls’ real identities to prevent abuse, MP argues

    Unmask internet trolls’ real identities to prevent abuse, MP argues

    At the Cheltenham Science Festival, Gloucestershire, Phillips discussed how social media could be reclaimed from people using the platforms to hurl abuse at others. This practice is popularly referred to as “trolling” (a term which originally had a different, less insidious meaning). Phillips has been subjected to extensive abuse on Twitter and other platforms; she described having received 600 rape threats in a single evening and being threatened with violence every day to the point that she stopped counting the incidents. As a left-of-centre woman politician who frequently speaks out on issues of social justice, Phillips is among the most popular targets for trolls in the UK and has been targeted by trolls from the left and right. If you speak as a feminist, she said: “You will suffer…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Antenna Design Using Simulation

    Antenna Design Using Simulation

    Duration: 1 hour PCB antennas are increasingly found in a wide variety of devices, including laptops as well as products for the Internet of Things (IoT). These antennas are used for wireless communication, sensing, and tracking. To optimise the design of PCB antennas, engineers rely on simulations. In this webinar, we will discuss how a PCB antenna design with Bluetooth wireless technology is optimised using numerical simulation. Kaiwen will demonstrate how the radiated power performance predicted by the simulation strongly agrees with laboratory measurements. Following this model validation, Kaiwen will discuss how PA Consulting has used parametric sweeps to alter the antenna design to study the impact on the radiation pattern and the power performance in an easy and automated way. The…

  • Laser-frequency combs tap terahertz source for ultra-fast Wi-Fi

    Laser-frequency combs tap terahertz source for ultra-fast Wi-Fi

    Wi-Fi and cellular data traffic are increasing exponentially but, unless the capacity of wireless links can be increased, all that traffic is bound to lead to unacceptable bottlenecks. Upcoming 5G networks are a temporary fix, but not a long-term solution. For that, researchers have focused on terahertz frequencies, the sub-millimetre wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Data traveling at terahertz frequencies could move hundreds of times faster than today's wireless. In 2017, researchers at the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) discovered that an infrared-frequency comb in a quantum cascade laser could offer a new way to generate terahertz frequencies. Now, those researchers have uncovered a new phenomenon of quantum cascade laser-frequency…

  • Mobile maps: mapping live data with the help of mobile networks

    Mobile maps: mapping live data with the help of mobile networks

    In 2009, the German newspaper Die Zeit published an animated map of six months in the life of Malte Spitz, a Green Party politician, using his mobile call details records (CDRs). These are the logs of how, when, where and with whom he communicated, collected by his phone supplier for billing purposes. By matching these records to mentions of Spitz’s political life on websites and blogs, Die Zeit was able to pinpoint the places the politician visited, the routes he took, how long he’d stayed in each location, and the people he’d texted and spoken to on the phone at the time. Die Zeit and Spitz wanted to reveal how potentially intrusive the retention of CDRs can be in the way that they can track individuals from one cellular antenna tower to the next. Now, nearly a decade later, CDRs are…

  • Lunar 4G network to be established in ambitious industry-led project

    Lunar 4G network to be established in ambitious industry-led project

    The group is working with Vodafone, Audi and Nokia on the project, rendering it the first privately funded lunar mission. Vodafone and PTScientists (the ‘PT’ stands for part-time) will connect two Audi lunar Quattro rovers to a base station in the landing module. They will use a small piece of hardware developed by its technology partner, Nokia, in order to establish the network. Nokia will develop a space-worthy variant of its Ultra Compact Network, which will weigh barely 1kg. The launch is scheduled for 2019. The hardware will be launched from Cape Canaveral using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket system, which is partially reusable. Once the network has been established, the group intends to stream high-definition video from the Moon to Earth. This will allow for the first live HD video feed…

  • £8.4m 'Growth Deal' brings ESA deep-space project to Goonhilly, Cornwall

    £8.4m 'Growth Deal' brings ESA deep-space project to Goonhilly, Cornwall

    Announced today by the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the project will see Goonhilly upgraded to enable it to provide deep-space tracking and satellite communication services on a commercial basis. It will be the first time the UK has had the capability to communicate directly with deep-space missions. In the future, Goonhilly will complement the capability of the European Space Agency (ESA)’s worldwide ground station network, currently comprising seven core stations supporting more than 20 earth, observatory, planetary and exploration spacecraft, as well as European launchers. The Goonhilly contract is being funded through the LEP’s Growth Deal with the UK Government, via ESA. The investment will see ESA working with Goonhilly to upgrade one of its largest…

  • View from Washington: US government moves to ban Chinese phones again; targets Huawei and ZTE

    View from Washington: US government moves to ban Chinese phones again; targets Huawei and ZTE

    It is the latest chapter in a long-standing face-off between Washington and the two companies over claims that their products contain Chinese spyware. The ban would cover their network infrastructure hardware and officially issued smartphones. “Huawei is effectively an arm of the Chinese government and it’s more than capable of stealing information from US officials by hacking its devices,” claimed Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, one of the bill’s sponsors. An effective ban on Huawei and ZTE was also proposed in a recently leaked White House policy document on the build-out of the US 5G cellular network. It was quickly dismissed by the mobile comms industry for suggesting that the move could be achieved by having the government fund construction (and thereby choose all suppliers) rather…

  • Android Messages 2.9 app code hints at future web interface for phone and PC texts

    Android Messages 2.9 app code hints at future web interface for phone and PC texts

    The application package for the upcoming version of Android Messages, v2.9, contains suggestions that Google is working on a web interface for sending text messages via computer. This could pair a phone with a laptop or desktop computer in order to send text messages. Phrases in the package include “Messages for Web”, “Scan your QR code”, “Text over Wi-Fi and data” and “Sign out of all computers”. The updated app would likely direct users to visit a web site on a browser on their PC, where they can scan a QR code to pair their phone and computer. Once paired, users can use Android Messages on their computer, while the phones themselves do the SMS or MMS communication. With its new Messages app, Google may adopt Rich Communications Services (RCS), a universal standard aimed at replacing…

  • White House bans personal mobile phones from West Wing

    White House bans personal mobile phones from West Wing

    Announcing the decision, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, “The security and integrity of the technology systems at the White House is a top priority for the Trump administration and therefore, starting next week, the use of all personal devices for both guests and staff will no longer be allowed in the West Wing.” Sanders clarified the decision, saying: “Staff will be able to conduct business on their government-issued devices and continue working hard on behalf of the American people”. It is not known how these “goverment-issued devices” are differentiated from personal ones. The ban on personal phones does not apply to the President, Donald Trump, a person close to the administration said, but it will apply to every top official working in the White House. The proposal…

  • 3D-printed objects connect to internet without any electronics

    3D-printed objects connect to internet without any electronics

    Typically, devices require electronic components to send, interpret and receive signals via Wi-Fi. Given this, wirelessly connecting 3D-printed devices without the addition of electronic components had never been achieved. “Our goal was to create something that just comes out of your 3D printer at home and can send useful information to other devices,” said Vikram Iyer, a graduate student at the University of Washington. “But the big challenge is how do you communicate wirelessly with Wi-Fi using only plastic? That’s something that no one has been able to do before.” In order to allow their printed devices to exchange information, the University of Washington engineers harnessed backscatter techniques, which use antennas to reflect radio waves or other signals emitted from a device such…

  • ‘Mobile misery maps’ offer new route to better services on the move

    ‘Mobile misery maps’ offer new route to better services on the move

    Vodafone Ireland has conducted one of the first live trials of a technology that can pick out millions of fast-moving phone subscribers from their Call Detail Records (the logs of time, date, place, duration and type of communication that phone companies collect every time we use our mobiles) and produce live maps of how they are using their phones (and how rubbish the experience is). The idea behind ‘mobile misery maps’ is to help phone companies improve their services around pain points on roads and railways, with one eye on the future of increasingly autonomous vehicles. The maps mark each cell site along a route in ‘traffic light’ colours, from red to green. These can be filtered for specific call-quality indicators, including problems like low-quality VoLTE calls, slow video streaming…

  • Cockatoos feast on billion-dollar broadband network cables

    Cockatoos feast on billion-dollar broadband network cables

    Australia’s average internet speed is 11.1MBps, making it the 50th fastest in the world. A major infrastructure project, which aims to roll out better service nationwide, is due to be completed in 2021, although it is already attracting criticism for slow speeds. Engineers visiting sites to check on the cables have found them damaged, having been chewed by cockatoos. Most of the damage has occurred in southeast Australia in areas surrounding grain farms, which attract the birds. According to the National Broadband Network (NBN) Company, the network builder, repairing the damage done by the birds has already cost $80,000. These costs are likely to rise as further bird-inflicted damage is revealed. NBN is planning to cover the cables with inexpensive, protective plastic casing to protect…

  • Alphabet’s Project Loon to provide emergency mobile coverage to Puerto Rico

    Alphabet’s Project Loon to provide emergency mobile coverage to Puerto Rico

    After Hurricane Maria hit the region on September 20, millions of Puerto Ricans have been suffering from crippled infrastructure, with access to food, electricity, clean water and mobile signal severely limited since. 83 per cent of mobile sites are out of service, the FCC reports , and more than 90 per cent of its mobile towers are inoperable. Since then, telecommunications companies have been deploying temporary mobile sites and US FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced the formation of a Hurricane Recovery Task Force. Among other actions, the FCC has awarded Alphabet – Google’s parent company – an experimental license to operate in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in order to help them regain connectivity. This license gives Alphabet until April 2018 to roll out the project. Its purpose…

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