Pat Hindle, MWJ Editor

RSS

Satellite 2020 was one of the trade shows that was able to go ahead even though the last day of the exhibition was cancelled. The timing was just right that it occurred right before the major shutdowns in the US went into place. The keynote Monday afternoon was a “fireside chat” with Elon Musk as he was asked about many of his space ventures and plans for the future.

A few newer tools in the 5G toolbox that will be implemented this year and beyond will help enable the rollout of 5G networks include Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) and Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN).

Ericsson just released their Mobility Report and here are some highlights. Taking information directly from the report, more than 50 service providers around the world have launched commercial 5G services.

GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) is welcoming the decision today of the global spectrum regulators at the ITU’s World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19) to identify several millimeter wave frequency bands for 5G IMT. 

Back in the 1990’s, I completed an MBA night program at Northeastern University’s suburban campus in Burlington, just north of Boston. On my recent visit to the campus, I was stunned to find a completely transformed facility that used to only house a few classrooms and small library.

As 5G hits the first year of deployment from the first time initial commercial trials were started in the US by Verizon and AT&T, GSA is reporting that 50 commercial 5G networks have been deployed as China’s big three all activated 5G networks on Nov 1. Since most of the 3GPP 5G are in-process at this point so somewhat determined, several research activities have been announced for 6G.

Friday, Nov 1 was a watershed moment for 5G as it marked about the first year of implementation and official launch of the 50th commercial 5G network according to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). This was reached by the switch on of services in China where China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom all went live on Friday.

Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) has emerged as a key part of mobile service providers’ 5G strategy at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles. DSS allows an existing LTE carrier to operate 5G NR and LTE simultaneously – with a simple software upgrade allowing a nice transition to 5G. This is especially critical in the low band where there are not a lot of users so dedicating just 5G usage there would be way too expensive to deploy.

The new Google Pixel 4 phone features the Soli 60 GHz radar chip for gesture control, the first time that radar has been used in a mobile device.

Professor Theodore S. Rappaport and colleagues at NYU WIRELESS recently published a new article entitled “Wireless Communications and Applications Above 100 GHz: Opportunities and Challenges for 6G and Beyond,” outlining the challenges and possible solutions for future communications using frequencies from 100 GHz to 3 THz. Read this summary of their findings.