Connectivity Technology Blog

Last year we wrote about how Rakuten and Vodafone have joined forces by becoming lead investors in a venture to extend mobile coverage to more people and devices across the planet, using the first mobile broadband network that will be broadcast directly from space .  In our earlier blog post , we mentioned how AST & Science's SpaceMobile will beam 4G / 5G directly to devices. In the recent investor presentation deck, they claim that the satellites will be able to provide all generations of mobile cellular technology; 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and even NB-IoT.  The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, when launched, will be at 700km altitude which will allow them to offer a far lower latency as compared to MEO/GEO satellites. The low and mid-band spectrum would be shared with wireless partners on non-interference basis. Put simply, the satellites would use the spectrum from the operator as it is the most expensive resource otherwise. Back in December, Reuters reported : Satellite network...

Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) has been one of the most talked about thing in the drone industry, for a very long time. As this article points out , countries around the world are amending their drone policies so that they can allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight for maximum efficiency. Unlike VLOS flights, which are operated within the pilot’s line of sight, BVLOS flights are flown beyond the visual range. BVLOS capabilities enable a drone to cover far greater distances. BVLOS has numerous applications and is cost-effective. It enables service providers to conduct complex drone operations and facilitate drones to fly without any human interference. But, drones have to become ‘airworthy’ to get there. BVLOS flights are mainly performed in infrastructure inventory, for monitoring large areas and creating orthophoto maps.  Drones flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight are controlled by data provided by on-board instruments. Information is transmit...

 The Faroe Islands is a self-governing archipelago, part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It comprises 18 rocky, volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean, connected by road tunnels, ferries, causeways and bridges. Hikers and bird-watchers are drawn to the islands’ mountains, valleys and grassy heathland, and steep coastal cliffs that harbor thousands of seabirds. It's population is just over 50,000 people. Faroese Telecom (or Føroya Tele, FT) is the incumbent mobile operator and the public telco of the islands, owned by the govenment. Since 2014 they branded their mobile products and market them as ver. KIMA is a modern Mission Critical Push to Talk communication system from Faroese Telecom. The system is routed in the Faroese context and intended those who serve us and keep us safe. KIMA enables the islands’ search and rescue teams to operate safely on land, at sea and in the air. Their website states: KIMA enables users to communicate and collaborate on...

It's been a while since we looked at the 5G vs Wi-Fi debate. In the meantime, 5G rollouts have gained momentum while Wi-Fi 6 (a.k.a. 802.11ax) has started appearing in the devices as well. Hence the debate of whether 5G or Wi-Fi makes more sense indoors keeps going on.  It should be pointed out that the discussion is more about Enterprise and Private networks, rather than Wi-Fi vs Cellular at home. Ericsson has been looking at this debate and their whitepaper argues that both Wi-Fi and Cellular have a role to play indoors.  As one would expect, one of the conclusions is that 5G will play a larger role in future connectivity scenarios as 5G NR supports more use cases than Wi-Fi 6, is more reliable, and provides both wide and local-area coverage with mobility. Many service providers will benefit from the added value of 5G NR and the fact that ultimately, they get more for their money. 5G is also the best fit for addressing emerging new IoT use cases. The paper also contains a...