This is how 5G networks will follow their users

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5G massive broadband will offer enough capacity to perform every function users desire – wherever they go, without a drop in speed or connection, and no matter how many people are connected at the same time. Basically, it will be network nirvana for the “I want it now” generation. For example, subscribers will be able to enjoy 8K films in 3D, which is 16 times the pixel count of full HD, while they are on the move. And they’ll be able to download a full movie in a matter of seconds over the mobile network.
Whether deployed in ‘traditional’ frequencies below 6 GHz or in higher frequency bands, new technology will be needed to achieve the necessary peak rates in the range of 10 Gbps and data rates of 100 Mbps anywhere, even under high-load conditions or at the cell edge.

Massive broadband requires massive MIMO
Nokia Networks’ new 5G radio systems therefore feature advanced antennas and operate in the bands up to 100 GHz for extreme throughput and virtual zero latency. This year’s Brooklyn 5G Summit showed great advances in 5G radio by already demonstrating 10 Gbps over the air. Active antenna technology that uses a large number of antenna elements is a key technology for 5G massive broadband. Adaptive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) and beamforming technologies are expected to form a central part of 5G as they greatly enhance coverage and user experience across the whole range of frequency bands.

Focused power
Beamforming will be an important feature for 5G base stations because high data rates require sufficient signal strength. In particular for higher frequencies, beamforming is considered to be essential in overcoming the high path loss associated with the high frequency. The energy must therefore be concentrated and continuously steered to where user demand is. This means the transmitting power is used much more effectively, and also causes less interference to neighboring cells.

Serving moving targets
With beamforming, the base station transmits its signal into the direction of the receiving terminal instead of into the whole cell. In order to cope with moving terminals, the base station must be able to track the terminal and adaptively steer its beam into the direction of the terminal. Such adaptive beamforming can be implemented with phased array antennas.
A phased array antenna consists of various interconnected individual transmitters. With a variable and intelligent arrangement of the individual transmitters, the resulting antenna pattern achieves high directivity and the resulting beam can be flexibly adjusted to moving users and varying capacity needs.

From: blog.networks.nokia.com

How Harvested Energy Will Shape the Internet of Things and Smart Cities

The Internet of Things is expected to incorporate billions of devices in the future. That's a lot—far too many to all run on battery energy alone. For this reason, the harvesting of energy, or deriving energy from external sources, is growing in importance and being done with more ingenuity every day. Research firm IDTechEx expects the annual global sales of energy harvesting products, which is currently at $300 million, to reach $2.6 billion by 2024. Heat generated from the human body, leg movement, and finger tapping are just a few ways mobile devices are beginning to harness kinetic energy.  Experts predict that walking and running could one day be used to power buildings—a sign of what's to come for Smart Cities across the globe.
Taking wearables to a new level, a pair of smart shoes developed by a team of German designers may one day power wireless devices as the wearer walks. But the harvesting of energy to fuel technology is already moving beyond wearables. For example, the consumer electronics company Phillips sells a switch that wirelessly operates room lights, powered by the tap of a finger.

Dr. Wald Siskens, CEO of EnOcean, says finger tap energy will be the most popular energy source for gadgets in the near future for two reasons. One is that people are fascinated by having wireless control with just the small force of their finger press. The second reason is how easily kinetic energy can be transferred to a number of applications. Siskens says the same principle enables wireless and maintenance-free bus stop actions. The act of pressing the bell push generates enough electrical power for a wireless module to activate the stop display and audible stop signal. This energy harvesting wireless solution saves up to 100 meters of cabling in the bus.

"Being batteryless, and therefore maintenance-free, energy harvesting wireless sensors and switches are the assistants we need to collect and transmit the first data bit in an IoT system," says Siskens. "The intelligence to make use of the data can and will be implemented anywhere, but the systems that collect the initial information need to be reliable and perpetual so that we can "install and forget" this. Energy harvesting sensors will be the "Things" in the Internet of Things.'

What can harvested energy do for Smart Cities?
If the idea of walking and running motion being used to energize buildings and wireless bus stop actions becoming more prevalent are any indication, intelligent data collection and control will also be used to coordinate the lives of people in cities, and may ultimately prevent a city from collapsing. "This can only be realized with millions of sensor nodes collecting and delivering the data needed," says Siskens. "Malfunctions of battery-powered sensors could cause chaos in such a deeply connected system. But cables are no alternative either, as they are too complex and costly to install. In contrast, energy harvesting-powered devices can overcome both issues. Solar-powered occupancy sensors, for example, notify when somebody is walking a street and send a signal to activate the street light. The same can function with motion-powered sensors in the streets' surface when a vehicle passes."

Goldcorp Raises the Bar and Builds the Mine of the Future

The connection of people, process, data and things has propelled innovation across a variety of industries. Now, the Internet of Everything has gone underground, streamlining operations, maximizing production and enhancing safety practices for one of the world’s largest gold producers. In the Baie-James region of Northern Quebec, Goldcorp has incorporated Cisco’s Connected Mining solution, enabling them to create the ‘Mine of the Future’ at its Éléonore location.



‘High-Tech’ Mining and Technological Innovations
While the age-old process of blasting, mucking, and milling hasn’t changed much over the years, the technology used to make the processes safer, sustainable and more efficient has. Goldcorp’s connected ‘Mine of the Future’ has sensor networks, command and control rooms, innovation centers for developing next-generation solutions, and six-sigma programs for continuous improvement projects both above and below ground. Every miner and any piece of equipment Goldcorp has under its umbrella can be managed and monitored on a single secure, multiservice IP network.
Developed in a unique partnership with the Cree First Nation, the Éléonore Project has gold reserves of almost five million ounces expected to be retrieved over the next 15-20 years. According to Guy Belleau, Mine General Manager of Éléonore, this next generation mine was developed from the ground up under Goldcorp’s six pillars: – growing people; safety; partnerships; production; reserves and margins. Every detail in the mine’s construction considered the comfort & safety of the workforce, its environmental footprint, and the operational productivity of the mine.

Enabling Operational Excellence with Technology
Goldcorp has deployed one of the most efficient WiFi underground communication networks in the industry. The WiFi network was the driver for automated ventilation, real-time visibility and range-finding to underground operations.
According to Luis Canepari, VP of IT for Goldcorp, “The health and safety of our workforce is Goldcorp’s number one priority. So, we invested in technologies that boost workers’ connectivity to enhance safe production. Using Cisco and AeroScout technologies, we provide our workers with the means to communicate quickly and effectively with decision makers, ensuring the right flow of information, at the right time.  This provides us with safer, more cost effective and more efficient operations.” Take a look at this video to see the Goldcorp story.

A Focus on Miner Safety
According to Wade Bristol, Goldcorp’s VP, Mine Improvement, “Adapting our mines with modern technology and data transmission not only promotes better efficiencies, but more importantly, improves the workplace environment and worker safety.  This is a true win-win for our site teams and a real step-change for the industry.”
Every person entering (or exiting) the 650 meter deep mine is accounted for. As the miners enter the tag-in area, an AeroScout tag affixed to the band of the hardhat beacons presence over the Cisco Wi-Fi network and the system displays their name, picture and remaining tag battery life on a digital display. With an estimated 90% Wi-Fi coverage underground, the miners and their families have an extra level of comfort knowing that they have been accounted for.
In the underground control room, visual maps allows for real-time visibility to both personnel and vehicles at all levels underground. The AeroScout maps and dashboards are key safety tools used to ensure that nobody is left underground while blasting. In fact, Éléonore’s safety record is world-class and has improved 20% every year since the project started construction 4 years ago.

A Budding New Role for the Internet of Everything

softdevblogs.com

Even vegetables can be smart in the Internet of Everything (IoE). Amid the massive growth of connected devices expected between now and 2020, a small but increasing number of sensor technologies are being put to agricultural or horticultural use.

Stroll through the leafy boulevards of Mollet del Vallès in Catalunya, Spain, for example, and what you may not realize is that the health of the trees around you is being monitored through a smart system installed by the Spanish public sector services firm Urbaser.

"The use of sensors helps to monitor nutrients in the soil, humidity, temperature, density of weeds, and factors affecting production." - Sol Chip

In Avilés, northern Spain, a similar system allows Urbaser technicians to take ultrasound ‘x-rays' of tree trunks to check the plants are well. Spotting early signs of rot or other problems is not just important for the health of the plants.
If undetected, a rotten tree could break or fall and potentially hurt people nearby, particularly in an urban setting. A similar problem can occur when a tree becomes too top-heavy for its roots, so that it becomes more likely to topple over in high winds.

See Also: Forests get Smarter With Sensor Technology

An Australian firm called ENSPEC has come up with a smart sensor system designed to overcome just this issue.
Its Treesensor system is "the only method available to measure root-plate stability using natural wind forces, scientifically," according to Craig Hallam, managing director.
"Treesensor is designed to read accelerometers," he explains. "The data is stored on memory cards then uploaded to Treesensor in the cloud. There is also a software version to load on computers. It allows the arborist to determine if a tree is within the limits of stability."
These arboriculture applications are still in their infancy. In agriculture, though, the use of wireless sensor technology is already popular.
Sol Chip, which makes power systems for IoE devices, says: "The use of sensors helps to monitor nutrients in the soil, humidity, temperature, density of weeds, and factors affecting production."
The application of technology to farming has even led to the rise of new disciplines such as precision agriculture, where crop growth is carefully monitored and controlled through the use of satellite imaging and sensors.
This transition from ‘green digits' to ‘green digital' in agriculture is credited with helping to get young people back into farming. Rural youngsters are returning to farmsteads because of the intellectual challenges arising from the use of new technologies.
Another big area for IoE in agriculture is traceability systems. To date, RF identity tagging has been most extensively used to track livestock, but recently the Indian government has been studying the possibility of introducing a tracking system for mangoes.
‘Mangonet', as it is being named, is designed to help India circumvent a European ban on mango imports that was introduced in May 2014 because of fruit fly infestations.
Indian farmers resorted to technology to control the outbreak in their crops, logging field notes on iPads and introducing a pest surveillance system called HortiSAP (for Horticulture Pest Surveillance and Advisory Project), developed by the Indian National Centre for Integrated Pest Management.
Even so, nowadays you don't need to take a trip to India, or even to your local farm, if you want to see plants benefiting from network technology. With Parrot's Flower Power sensor system you can offer a dose of IoE to your floral friends at home.
"Flower Power monitors the four parameters that are crucial for your plant's health: sunlight, soil moisture, ambient temperature and fertilizer levels, parameters people cannot really verify by themselves," says Parrot's PR director, Vanessa Loury.
"Via this application, you'll be able to associate the sensor to the plant you'd like to monitor, out of a library of 8000 plants, trees, and vegetables. This means the sensor will know exactly what your plant requires to grow."
Loury says Flower Power was originally designed for "rookie gardeners, expert gardeners, or involuntary perpetual plant killers," but the company now wants to "make precision agriculture and horticulture accessible to everyone."
Whether it is in the field, roadside, or living room, what is clear is that the trend for Internet-connected plants is set to blossom.

By Jason Deign   newsroom.cisco.com

Welcome to the Connected Car Era - The Internet of Things

Is our car becoming a jumbo smartphone? The new ones, at least, are loaded with apps, can be accessed remotely via other devices, be opened using a passcode, and have (sometimes multiple) electronic displays. It's a whole new era in driving. And some cars even do the driving themselves.
We're not there, quite yet. But innovation in automobiles is happening at a blistering pace, even in a part of the automobile industry that has always been seen as a tech laggard.


www.pipelinepub.com

And then there are dozens of sensors that go into your car on the factory floor. David Buchko is at BMW's U.S. headquarters in New Jersey and says there's a ton of data even in the BMW Key Reader.
"The ‘key' has become far more important than just for starting the car. And it's all wireless – there's no physical connection to the car whatsoever."  Buchko says a lot of data is now stored in the Key Leader, which mechanics can use during service checks.

A glimpse into the future

Buchko at BMW's NJ headquarters, says the company is working with chief of trauma at the William Layman Research Center in Miami, Florida, to use data coming from car sensors to help in accidents.
"Sometimes, an accident victim may look fine but then go to the ER and have a catastrophic medical condition. We created new algorithms so the data can be sent to an ER from the scene, and even to the first responders (paramedics) before they arrive at the accident. They know earlier whether to call a medevac helicopter, etc."

www.techandinnovationdaily.com

In the medical profession, they call this "the golden hour" – when many life-threatening injuries can be treated.
This is all what's happening today. Now think what this will look like in the future. With a simple hand gesture, your car will drive itself to your new home – no need for a carrier truck.

Reference: newsroom.cisco.com

Nokia Networks Paves Way for 5G with 10 Gbps Demo - Another Driver of The Internet of Things

Nokia Networks NYU Wireless kicked off their inaugural Brooklyn 5G Summit last year, and they're back this year with another installment, this time featuring a Nokia demo of a 10 Gbps system.

Specifically, Nokia, along with National Instruments (NI), is demonstrating a 10 Gbps peak rate system over the air at 73 GHz. The 10 Gbps system in the demonstration uses 2x2 MIMO using single carrier Null Cyclic Prefix modulation and frame size of 100 micro seconds to achieve low latency and "impressive" data rates, according to a press release.

 Picture from buybackworld.com

Nokia's 10 Gbps demonstration with NI is designed to show that extremely fast broadband speeds will offer users enough capacity wherever they go to perform every function they want without a drop in speed or connection, regardless of how many people are connected at the same time.

Users, for example, will have the ability to download a full-length HD movie to their phone in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. Video chats will be "so immersive that users will feel like they can reach out and touch the other person right through the screen," according to the press release. 8K quality films in 3D will be available for view--which is 16 times the pixel count of full HD.

Nokia is using NI's software development platform in its demonstrations. NI says its software-defined platform based on LabView and PXI is ideal for researching and prototyping cutting-edge technology like what Nokia is doing with 10 Gbps data rates in the mmWave spectrum.

Reference: Monica Alleven - FierceWireless

Now Your Phone Can Talk To Your Car: This Is Just The Beginning of the Internet of Things

Jaguar InControl Apps technology allows vehicle-optimised apps on your smartphone to be controlled through the vehicle’s Touch screen, including Contacts, Calendar and Music Player. You can also download third-party apps offering a vast range of services. For example, EventSeeker gives you customised information about local events, no matter where you are. And you’ll never be far from a parking spot with Parkopedia, which has detailed information on millions of parking spaces. See below for more apps. 

http://www.jaguar.com/jaguar-range/f-type/features-options/in-control-apps.html

Dell targets Cisco in the data center

It appears that Dell is the next vendor to take aim at networking juggernaut Cisco. Dell, which building up its networking team and solutions portfolio, has no qualms about poaching top talent from its major competitors.

The first real volley over the castle walls was the recent hiring of Paul Perez, a former Cisco executive instrumental in the the vendor's successful Unified Compute System. Perez left Cisco in early March. A couple of weeks later rumors began surfacing that he was heading to Dell to take on the title of CTO in its enterprise solutions group.

An article on CRN noted that Dell is building a "dream team" for the data center that includes top technical talent who know their way around servers and switches, as well as channel sales veterans. It's a good strategy for going toe-to-toe with Cisco, which has long been known for hiring some of the industry's best talent and constructing a strong channel-partner ecosystem.

The CRN article also noted Dell's significant growth in its data center business. In some respects, Dell is now the number two vendor. But from a networking perspective, Dell has a long way to go, as the business is still dominated by long-time incumbents like Cisco and Juniper Networks.

That's not to say the biggest networking vendors don't have their own struggles. It's smaller vendors that are guiding and driving the software-defined movement, although Cisco and Juniper have both made strategic acquisitions to boost their own SDN initiatives.

Reference: Chris Talbot (Fierce Enterprise)

Cisco plans to expand SDN portfolio with Embrane buy

A small investment Cisco made in software-defined networking startup Embrane could lead to a new set of solutions for the vendor's SDN portfolio. Last year, Cisco invested $14 million into Embrane, but now the networking giant is looking to acquire Embrane to beef up its SDN solutions portfolio.

If the acquisition goes through (and there's a very good chance of that happening), Embrane will join the Cisco Insieme business unit. That makes sense, as several Embrane executives are former Cisco engineers. It's like coming home again.

The end goal, though, appears to be fusing Embrane with the existing Insieme offerings and making them part of Cisco's overall SDN strategy. Embrane Helios, the company's platform, deploys software-based appliances across commodity servers with the intention of providing enterprises with greater flexibility.

It's a good extension for cloud services providers, but it's also a potentially good tool for Cisco's enterprise customers, particularly those already interested in the Cisco Application-Centric Infrastructure model and the rest of Cisco's existing SDN portfolio.

Embrane bills itself as a lifecycle management platform for ACI services. It seems like that fits right in with Cisco's overall product portfolio. Specifically, it should be interesting to see how Embrane's technology fits into Cisco's SDN portfolio.

Hilton Romanski, Cisco's senior vice president and head of business development, wrote in a blog post that Embrane will also add to the vendor's virtualization and automation solutions.

Reference: Chris Talbot (Fierce  Enterprise)

The #InternetOfEverything Ushers in Opportunity for The Last Product Recall

In our consumer-centric society, product recall announcements grab headlines and attention. As their costs continue to climb, enterprises have weathered recent recalls with record-breaking costs that have soared into the billions. Beyond the bottom-line, product recalls can also be costly to people’s quality of life – an outcome that both companies and consumers are motivated to avoid.
Thankfully, the Internet of Everything (IoE) is on track to make the last product recall a reality.
Imagine a world where organizations can predict failures, patch code and remove parts from the supply chain before defective products reach consumers, completely preventing product recalls. What if issues could be fixed with wireless software updates so that consumers didn’t have to physically return and replace products?
Recently, I had the chance to discuss these ideas and more in a new Future of IT podcast episode with Matt Littlefield, president and principal analyst at LNS Research where we discussed how IoE is making the last product recall a reality.

Future of IT Podcast: Last Product Recall from Cisco Business Insights

From dynamic digitization to the importance of brand loyalty, Matt and I had several key takeaways for company leaders who are ready to make product recalls a thing of the past:

1. Digitization of the entire production process must be dynamic.

From a manufacturing perspective, the cost to pay people to examine every product just isn’t feasible in today’s business environment. In the event of a product recall, figuring out which products are defective, which ones aren’t, and where the “breakdown” occurred can prove nearly impossible. But with the introduction of a digital process – for example, high-speed imaging that provides analytical feedback from connected devices – companies can respond much faster in the event of a product recall, or even use this feedback to prevent a recall from happening in the first place.
Right now, we lack traceability across processes, simply because not every product is connected to a network. But we have the technology on-hand to make this happen. And once more smart connected products are deployed, the processes we use to collect and analyze data must be dynamic. This is because time is never on anyone’s side when a defective product, component, or part is discovered. From creation to inspection to production and beyond – everything must be digitized and dynamic.

2. IT and manufacturing must come together to apply analytics to production processes.

The Internet of Everything is all about the connections of people, process, data and things. But the key to tapping into the full potential of IoE is our ability to use the data it gives us to impact and change processes.
At many manufacturers, there seems to be an invisible line between IT and manufacturing teams. This situation must change if we want to use real-time data from connected sensors, devices, and products to anticipate quality control issues and ultimately eliminate product recalls. During our talk, Matt provided an amazing example of IT and manufacturing groups coming together in the pharmaceutical industry, with data coming from dispensing, labeling, and manufacturing systems laying the foundation for a fully traceable infrastructure.
Continued partnerships between IT and manufacturing – like Cisco’s venture with Rockwell – are tying analytics directly into manufacturing processes. And in the process, we’re able to reduce and eventually eliminate product recalls.

3. Companies must remember that true values lies in people who will benefit from IoE innovations.

Consumers are very loyal to brands, especially ones that trust-worthy and value their people. And when you consider the vast number of products consumers use and rely on – from connected cars, connected streetlights and even connected devices – the costs of a product recall go far beyond a company’s wallet. We’re potentially talking about loss of life. By working to eliminate product recalls, we can aim to prevent these tragedies.
Connectivity is changing everything about how we work, play, and live. Businesses need to see beyond what we can connect and automate and keep a keen eye on how IoE innovations can impact our society. We must see the whole value that connections can provide. And we must use the data that connected devices provide us in a way that captures the experiences end-users have with them and remain transparent into how this knowledge is used. This adds value to the products consumers purchase and solidifies their loyalty to companies that use the information they receive to create the most reliable – and recall-free – products on the market.

Curated from Joseph Bradley, blogs.cisco.com