• 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

    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

    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

    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…

  • O2 gets 4G to remote Scottish communities using helicopters and off-road vehicles

    The company said that by the end of this year, more than 800 Scottish towns and villages will have been connected, from Ben Nevis in the Highlands to Aberdeen and rural areas around Inverness. Derek McManus, chief operating officer at O2, said: “Of all the ingredients that keep our economy and society moving, arguably top of the list is mobile. “The need for 4G connectivity is an integral part of modern daily life. A good connection can make all the difference to how we communicate with each other as individuals and it is a key factor to the success of local businesses. “At O2, we are constantly challenging ourselves to develop and deploy new technology to deliver better connectivity for our customers across Scotland, regardless of landscape or weather conditions.” O2 is taking a number…

  • Drinkers pour their own pints and pay at automated beer-serving machines

    Created by Drink Command, the machines are already being trialled by some Hilton Hotels and the bar at The University of Reading. They currently accept contactless, NFC and other payment methods at the tap, such as Apple Pay and Android Pay. The company hasn’t as yet outlined how it will help inexperienced customers pour pints with an acceptable head of foam. Matt Tebbit, who runs the bar at the University of Reading said: “Our 16-tap self-serve beer wall has allowed us to increase our capacity to serve more customers and hold our existing staff levels by giving patrons the option to order from the bar or serve themselves at their leisure.” “There is a change of mindset happening in the beer dispense industry, similar to how self-serve technology has improved the…

  • Apple sets stage for “next 10 years” of mobile technology with iPhone X

    At the inaugural event to be held in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple ’ s enormous new ‘One Infinite Loop’ campus headquarters, Tim Cook, Apple ’ s CEO, and Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, ran through the features of the company ’ s flagship smartphone, laying to rest all the rumours that have circulated about the new design throughout the year. The iPhone X (ten, not ex) features an all-glass design with a 5.8-inch Super Retina OLED panel edge-to-edge display; Apple ’ s new A11 Bionic chip; wireless charging capability and an improved rear camera with dual optical image stabilisation. The handset also introduces Face ID, a highly secure new way for customers to unlock iPhone X, authenticate and use Apple Pay, using just their face, all enabled by the…

  • Online anonymity next in Beijing’s internet firing line

    The Cyberspace Administration of China has announced that from October 2017, internet users will be required to provide their real name in order to register with smaller websites and services. Already, internet users are required to provide their real name (“real-name registration”) in order to register for the largest social networks and messaging services, including WeChat, Weibo and Baidu Tieba, and to have a mobile phone number. Internet service providers and other companies such as Baidu and Tencent – which owns WeChat and QQ – will become responsible for requesting and verifying users’ real names when they register, as well as for investigating possible users of fake names, and reporting illegal content to the appropriate authorities. The legislation could serve to shift the responsibility…

  • Interview: Dr Arseniy Kuznetsov, senior scientist, A*Star

    The past few decades have seen numerous attempts to bring 3D animation to computers and consumer devices, but results have been far from successful. Even though 3D TVs made it to market several years ago and events such as the Olympics and the World Cup were captured in stereo, it did not take long for manufacturers to realise these products were not going to drive sales. Having to use special glasses to see stereo images did not help either. What we really want is an image that conveys depth properly, through holographics. According to Arseniy Kuznetsov, a photonics expert and pioneer in the development of nanoantennas, a display that brings holographics to smartphones is on its way. “People have been dreaming about this and talking about it for a long time,” he says. “We know this because…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Moore’s Law 2017: an uphill battle

    Moore’s Law, first hypothesised in 1965 by Intel founder Gordon Moore, states that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit will double approximately every two years. The shrinking of transistors enables a larger number to be held within the same area, which results in a faster processor that can operate at lower power requirements. Although the law was adhered to rigidly for half a century, in 2015 Intel admitted that the pace of advancement had started to slow down. Its eighth-generation Core CPUs, codenamed Coffee Lake, are set to launch in the second half of 2017 and will once again be built on the same 14-nanometre (nm) process used three generations prior for its Broadwell chips, originally released in 2014. What this means for the future of Moore’s Law is currently…

  • Outdated strategies are the wrong approach to implementing 5G

    There’s a saying that generals are always preparing to fight the previous war. They’ve learnt successful strategies from prior experience and are inclined to use them in the next battle. Learning from experience is critically important, but previous strategies can be inappropriate when other factors change.It might be that the mobile community is fighting a 5G war with lessons learnt from previous generations – a conclusion drawn in my recent book ‘The 5G Myth’. In the past, introductions of new generations of mobile technology have concentrated on faster speeds and greater capacity. Many are assuming that 5G will continue this trend. Ericsson, for example, has said there is a general industry consensus “that traffic volumes will be multiplied 1,000 times; 100 times more devices will require…

  • View from India: India poised to become one of world’s top manufacturing destinations

    A case in point is mobile handsets. India is among the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets, yet feature phones continue to remain a second choice, as they comparatively offer better durability and battery life than smartphones. It simply means that there’s a demand for both smartphones and feature phones. Given this premise, the entire mobile phone segment is expected to generate millions of jobs through manufacturing and assembly units and service centres. Considering the manufacturing sector, the government of India has been promoting sector specific parks like electronic manufacturing clusters and agro-based food parks in order to boost large-scale manufacturing. Apart from that, the creation of smart sustainable and clean cities is another effort in this direction. “The world…

  • Very Large Telescope upgrade enhances our hunt for new Earth

    As part of the project, the VISIR instrument (VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-Infrared), which is part of the VLT, will be modified in order to be able to better detect potentially habitable planets in the star system some 4.37 light-years away from the Earth. Breakthrough Initiative, funded by billionaire Yuri Milner and supported by physicist Stephen Hawking, will fund the upgrade. Detecting habitable planets in distant star systems is extremely complicated as the planets are hidden in the bright light of their particular stars. The mid-infrared wavelength range makes it possible to find those planets as the difference in the thermal glow is smaller. Still, however, the planets are millions of times less bright than the stars. The new technology to be developed for VISIR will enable…

  • Innovative antenna boosts smartphone and laptop battery life

    The new antenna, developed by Birmingham University spin-out Smart Antenna Technologies (SAT), essentially bundles all existing antennas on a smartphone into one unit. Currently, smartphones need up to seven separate antennas for Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth and 3G and 4G due to physics constraints. “Previously antenna’s needed to be physically separated due to the physics challenge of achieving good signal isolation between antennas,” explained Sampson Hu, SAT’s CEO, who developed the technology as part of an engineering research project at the University of Birmingham. “It’s like if the person beside you is shouting loudly it is very difficult to hear what the person 50 meters away is saying.” The new design overcomes the challenges by isolating individual ports to allow uninterrupted reception…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Nominet and Microsoft collaborate on TV white space broadband project for Africa

    TV white space (TVWS) is the part of the radio spectrum occupied by unassigned or unused UHF and VHF broadcast frequencies, largely unused in many countries since analogue television services started going off air, replaced by digital services. The available set of TVWS frequencies varies from territory to territory, so Nominet developed a geolocation database to tell devices which frequencies they can use in a given area, at what power and for how long. Radio spectrum supports the majority of internet connections, but it is a finite resource and with the anticipated explosion of wireless broadband services and billions of devices connected to the Internet of Things, effective management of the spectrum will become crucial. Speaking to E&T at the launch event, part of Nominet’s Internet…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Ocado warehouse is powered by 1,000+ 4G-connected robots

    The online supermarket retailer claims that this is the first time the wireless protocol has been used for warehouse automation and said that the technology guarantees a connection ten times per second to each of the robots roaming around the warehouse, which are all working within a 150-metre radius. The protocol works in the licence-free spectrum and also has the potential to be used for other purposes in the future including Internet-of-Things applications, vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity for smart cars, air traffic control systems or large-scale industrial systems. Ocado said that controlling and locating over 1,000 robots in such a small area posed some difficult challenges. Initially the project aimed to use Wi-Fi to maintain radio contact with the robots but most Wi-Fi access points…

  • African continent set to reach one billion mobile subscriptions by end of 2016

    The region's growth in new mobile subscriptions is slowing. The average rate of mobile penetration in Africa was 79 per cent at the end of June, with mobile voice revenue on the continent predicted to decline over the five years to 2021.  However, the next phase of growth is being driven by data and digital services. Data connections, as well as data and digital service revenue, will expand Africa’s telecoms market. The take-up of mobile broadband will rise strongly, powered by operators continuing to roll out 3G and 4G LTE networks in all territories and smartphone handsets becoming increasingly affordable.  By 2021, it is estimated that there will be one billion mobile broadband connections in Africa, including 157.4 million 4G LTE connections. Additionally, the number of smartphone connections…

  • Stanford research shatters illusion of online anonymity

    In an experiment called Footprints, Stanford University researchers found that online anonymity is just an illusion as using smart algorithms to analyse which websites people access online and who they follow on Twitter can reveal who a particular user is with great accuracy. During the first day of the experiment, the team was able to identify 11 out of 13 volunteers. Out of the total of 300 people who took part in the study the algorithm was able to identify 80 per cent. “I think the first thing I messaged was: ‘This is kind of scary,’” said Stanford undergraduate Ansh Shukla, a senior studying mathematics who is working on the project with Stanford Engineering assistant professor Sharad Goel and Stanford computer science PhD student Jessica Su. Participants in the experiment gave the…

  • Kinematix Tune wearable running companion – review

    The Tune offers something a little different to the wearable technology market; it’s an in-shoe running companion that goes beyond measuring the basic stats, to help serious runners get the most out of each workout. While other wearables on the market can be used to track a run, using multiple sensors and algorithms to measure your speed, heart rate and basic fitness stats, Tune goes further. Tune is an in-shoe monitoring device that links to your phone – yes, it’s another one of those trackers which necessitate your having to have a phone with you while you go on a run – to provide real-time analysis of how your workout is progressing. While it may not be ideal to have to take a phone with you, what this wearable lacks in practicality it makes up for in functionality. The complete Tune…

  • Moov Now activity tracker - review

    Marketed as more than just a fitness tracker, Moov Now is a lifestyle coach designed for workouts to help you get the most out of every training session. While the first Moov – released in 2015 – was designed only to be worn during training, the Moov Now has a slimmer, more attractive look and comes complete with all-day activity tracking, sleep monitoring, improved battery life and a waterproof design. This means it can be worn throughout the day, even while you shower. The activity tracker is contained within a small and light plastic sensor which is about an inch wide. It fits snugly into a rubber strap designed to be worn on the wrist or ankle, depending on your workout and comes in a variety of colours. I was rewarded with the exceptionally funky aqua blue design, which stands out…

  • LoRa promises cheap low-power alternative to 5G for IoT devices

    LoRa (Long Range) is among a clutch of narrowband technologies that connect devices cheaply over unlicensed spectrum and vast distances and needs very little power. Unlike 5G networks or Bluetooth, which are more commonly touted as possible technologies for IoT adoption, LoRa’s drawback is that it can only send small parcels of data, rather than the gigabytes most wired and mobile standards aspire to. However, advocates of the platform argue that this may be more than enough. "It turns out you don't need that huge an infrastructure and it can be driven by small devices that are very smart and not very expensive," says Mike Cruse, CEO of Definium Technologies, which is building LoRa-based devices for farmers, universities and mines. The IoT has long promised to hook up devices - everything…

  • A millennium and a half before alien contact astronomers claim

    The scientists performed a calculation based on the likelihood of technological civilisations arising among the stars, and the probable length of time they had been transmitting signals across space. They concluded that while there was no reason to think we are alone in the universe, getting in contact may take some time. US researcher Evan Solomonides, a PhD student from Cornell University, said: "We haven't heard from aliens yet, as space is a big place – but that doesn't mean no one is out there. "It's possible to hear any time at all, but it becomes likely we will have heard around 1,500 years from now. "Until then, it is possible that we appear to be alone, even if we are not. But if we stop listening or looking, we may miss the signals. So we should keep looking." Astronomers have long…

  • Record in wireless data transmission achieved

    The technology, which would allow downloading a whole DVD in less than ten seconds, relies on the so-called E-band of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies between 71 and 76 GHz, also known as the milimetre-waves. The team from the University of Stuttgart, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, said the system exceeds ten times existing state-of-the-art technology. During the experiment, the researchers sent data between Cologne’s 45-story Uni-Centre and the Space Observation Radar TIRA located at Fraunhofer Institute for High-Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques in Wachtberg some 37km away. To achieve the high data rates together with the unprecedented distance, the researchers built innovative transmitters and…

  • WiFi capacity doubled with a chip less than half the size

    The engineers achieved this feat by implementing the first ‘on-chip RF circulator’ which allows both incoming and outgoing signals to be sent and received using just one antenna. In the era of Big Data, the current frequency spectrum crisis is one of the biggest challenges researchers are grappling with and it is clear that today's wireless networks will not be able to support tomorrow's data deluge. Today's standards, such as 4G/LTE, already support 40 different frequency bands, and there is no space left at radio frequencies for future expansion. At the same time, the grand challenge of the next-generation 5G network is to increase the data capacity by 1,000 times. The new duplex system enables simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency in a wireless radio by using switches…

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