Sprint looks beyond Kansas City for future smart city deployments

 

Sprint  is considering partnerships with other cities on smart city deployments similar to the one it has struck with Kansas City, Mo.

Meanwhile, Sprint's partners in Kansas City, beyond Cisco Systems, are gearing up for the deployment near the carrier's headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. They include construction and engineering firm Black & Veatch and Sensity, a company that makes and manages smart sensors for lighting and other applications.

In Kansas City Sprint will deploy hardware from Cisco to construct, own and manage the intelligent Wi-Fi network as part of a smart city deployment covering a 2.2-mile Kansas City streetcar line through downtown,

The project is expected to cost more than $15 million over the next decade. The city is investing $3.7 million in public funds, Sprint is spending around $7 million and Cisco is going to pony up $5 million. The service is expected to be operational when the streetcar opens to the public, probably on or before March 1, 2016, and if the system works well, it could be expanded beyond downtown.

The project is expected to cost more than $15 million over the next decade. The city is investing $3.7 million in public funds, Sprint is spending around $7 million and Cisco is going to pony up $5 million. The service is expected to be operational when the streetcar opens to the public, probably on or before March 1, 2016, and if the system works well, it could be expanded beyond downtown.

The network will also support smart city applications that deliver maps and information, as well as help manage parking, traffic, city lighting, water and waste management. Additionally, Sprint said that its subsidiary Pinsight Media+ will operate the data analytics and advertising platform and will e-enable commerce.

One of Sprint's partners is Black & Veatch, which is also based in Overland Park. The 100-year-old engineering and construction firm supports oil and gas projects, wastewater management, telecoms and also has clients in the federal government. The company is also working with Tesla on electric charging infrastructure for Teslas's cars in California, Connecticut and New York. Several years ago, the firm started a smart cities-focused division that cuts across all of the vertical industries Black & Veatch supports. The unit supports applications for transportation, energy grids, smart parking and lighting, roadways and more.  

Black & Veatch works closely with Cisco but Cisco needed a systems integrator for the project, which is the role Ellermeier's firm will serve. Black & Veatch is also going to bring its expertise in water systems, watershed management and other areas and is working with Cisco and the city's water department on projects like advanced leak detection in pipelines.

The deployment schedule of the smart city systems has not been set yet, Ellermeier said, but will proceed in phases that will extend past the opening of the street car line.

Another partner is Sensity, which was founded in 2012 and is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. The firm decided that smart LEDs were the perfect infrastructure to embed sensors that could collect data for use in smart city applications, since many cities are moving to LED lighting.

Sensity has an application platform that exposes the data its sensors are collecting and analyzing through a set of APIs. Harrington said that lets application developers "go far beyond lighting control" and develop apps for security, smart parking traffic analytics and people counting for retail stores.

Sensity is deploying 125 core nodes and 125 video nodes as part of the Kansas City deployment and there are prototype or reference design applications that Sensity will enable directly via its partnership with Cisco. One potential use case could be using video cameras in lights to identify open parking spots, and then having an app tell citizens where the spots are and letting them pay for the spot, which cuts down on emission from cars. Another could let cities dynamically price parking based on demand. Another could store security camera footage locally in cameras embedded in street lights and only send back data when it is requested.

Pinsight, noted that the company is "a hometown team" with its headquarters in downtown Kansas City, in the streetcar line's footprint. Part of the company's role will be to deliver the free public Wi-Fi portal, which could also promote local apps, businesses and services. The firm will also enable local companies to promote targeted advertising and offers based on factors like customer location profiles and foot traffic.

Microsoft Wi-Fi Service is Coming Soon for Business travelers

Business travelers are often frustrated in their efforts to get reliable Wi-Fi service in airports and hotels. Even when they do find Wi-Fi, the user often has to fill out a form and provide a credit card number for the paid service.

Well, Microsoft appears to be working to eliminate public Wi-Fi service hassles with a service called Microsoft Wi-Fi, according to various reports about a draft website, microsoftwifi.com, that prematurely released details of the service.

Microsoft is planning to rebrand its Skype Wi-Fi service to Microsoft Wi-Fi and offer the service to Office 365 for business subscribers.

Microsoft Wi-Fi will have 10 million hotspots, up from the 2 million that Skype Wi-Fi boasts. Users can pay for Wi-Fi access using Microsoft Wi-Fi cards that can be topped off when needed.

A Microsoft Wi-Fi app will be available for Windows, Windows Phone, Mac OS X, Android and iOS operating systems. Users will be able to find the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot using an interactive map.

Cisco Prepares Customers for Wave 2 with New Access Points and Wireless Controllers

The next wave of wireless access points are starting to hit the market. Cisco is among the first to release not only 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless access points, but also Wave 2-compliant controllers.

Cisco unveiled the Cisco Aironet 1850 Access Point, a Wave 2 AP that makes use of the protocol's multi-user, multi-in, multi-out – or MU-MIMO – features to provide faster Wi-Fi connections with an enterprise.

Among the trends driving a need for Wave 2 are the proliferation of devices to the WLAN (including the Internet of Things) and the fact that apps are very chatty.

The Aironet 1850 represents Cisco's first Wave 2 AP. Compared to the previous generation of 802.11ac APs, the 1850 offers greater coverage and performance.

Cisco plans to begin shipping the 1850 AP in July

In addition to the access point, Cisco also announced two controllers to support Wave 2. They're both aimed at campus environments, although at different scales. Here's more information on both:

• The Cisco 8540 Services Controller was designed to be highly scalable and service-rich. It's intended for large campus deployments and offers up to 40Gbps of throughput, as well as support for up to 6,000 access points and 64,000 clients. According to Sethuraman, it's a 75 percent performance increase over previous controllers.
• The Cisco 5520 Services Controller was designed for medium to large campus environments. It offers up to 20Gbps of throughput and can handle 1,500 access points and 20,000 clients. Sethuraman noted the 5520 has a 33 percent performance gain over previous access points.

It's a truth for many enterprises, particularly those considering cutting the cord and Wi-Fi-enabling every device on their premises. Wave 2 makes that easier, although some industry analysts have questioned how quickly deployments of the new standard will happen.

Google's Vision For How Phones, Watches and IoT Will Work Together

During a Google I/O presentation, Google developers offered up some details about how they built some of Android's location-aware apps, like an automatic car finder feature, and said that new products like watches and connected devices promise much more interesting apps in the future. 

The speakers showed how combining data from various sensors and devices can let developers predict what kind of activity a user is doing and thus trigger certain functions.

To collect data about user movements in order to build models, Google enlisted employees who recorded 65,000 "sensor traces," which are essentially graphs that show movement based on data collected from a phone's accelerometer. The employees labeled the activity they were doing at the time so that Google could create models for activities like walking or biking.

It found that adding data from additional devices and sensors helped improve accuracy a lot. For instance, Stogaitis showed a sensor trace graph from accelerometer data that looked just like data from someone walking. But when he added data from the barometer on the phone, he noticed that there was a slight spike in barometric pressure, which correlates to elevation. It turned out that the employee who collected this data was walking down stairs.

In another example, the accelerometer data again looked like someone walking. But that same user was also wearing a watch and its accelerometer data was much steadier. The user was riding a bike.

Once Google collected this user data, it created machine learning models that can examine sensor data to predict what users are doing.

That kind of information was useful when Google built its car finder app. That app first looks at accelerometer data to determine that a user is in the car. It then looks at the tilt sensor in the phone to determine when the user goes from a sitting to a standing position, indicating that they are leaving the car. At that moment the app saves the location of the user.

A number of apps or features that developers could write that take advantage of this kind of contextual awareness. For instance, an IM app might automatically read text messages when the app detects that a user is in the car. An app could show users at the end of the week how much time they spent commuting to work during the week.

That's the kind of application that could be useful to businesses that might want to measure the time it takes workers to complete certain jobs as a way to improve efficiencies.

When developers combine that better data with new kinds of connected devices, they'll be able to build even more interesting apps, he predicted. "The ability to understand context becomes richer," he said. For instance, a user could say "turn on lights" and because your phone knows your precise location, it can instruct the nearest light to turn on. Or, a user might be able to knock on their own door and the system would recognize the knock and the movement as the home owner and unlock the door.

Many of the APIs required to build the kinds of apps Kadous and Stogaitis discussed are already available from Google.

Orlando Airport Upgrades to 802.11ac Wi-Fi Network, Deploys Beacons and Mobile App for Travelers

Orlando International Airport recently deployed an advanced Wi-Fi network, Bluetooth beacons and a mobile app to help business and leisure travelers navigate their way around the airport.

With 36.1 million annual passengers, Orlando is the second busiest airport in Florida and fourteenth busiest in the United States.
The airport has also installed more than 1,000 Bluetooth beacons throughout the facility.

A new mobile app developed by the Faith Group for the airport provides travelers the ability to locate their ticket counter, terminal or gate, check their flight information, find restaurants and shops, and locate the correct baggage claim upon arrival.

The app indicates a traveler's position and provides him or her with a path to a selected point of interest in all terminals of the airport. You select a destination and the app displays a path with a blue line from where you are currently to that point.

More than 14,000 devices connect to the Wi-Fi network daily, with peak levels reaching 3,000 devices at one time.

The airport also has plans to use data about passenger traffic and flow patterns to determine staffing levels at security checkpoints. "We have huge fluctuations in traffic because the second largest cruise port in the U.S. is located 40 miles away, and most European flights arrive within a three-hour period," Newsome noted.

In addition, the airport is building a Wi-Fi-enabled parking lot for people to park, wait for their party's flight to arrive, while still conducting business or enjoying entertainment via their mobile devices. In addition to Wi-Fi, the parking lot will have electrical outlets and restrooms.

A New OS and Communications Layer for IoT From Google

Google has announced it will introduce a stripped down version of Android designed to run Internet of Things devices. It also said it will offer a communications layer so devices can communicate with each other, the Internet and phones.

The platforms join several other efforts, many of which have a host of major companies backing them and are aimed at creating standards or de facto standards around various technologies required to enable IoT.

It's notable that Google didn't mention any partner companies that are backing its technologies since many of the major companies that have expressed interest in playing a role in IoT have already aligned with other efforts.

Google has a leg up in IoT world because it already has important pieces of the puzzle in place. For instance, it owns Nest, the popular smart thermostat. Android is the No. 1 phone platform in the world. And Google has a cloud platform in place that vendors can use to collect and process data from IoT devices. Brillo, the new IoT OS, is "derived from Android," but includes only what's required to run devices with minimal footprints. It will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Google is also planning to offer a communications layer it calls Weave that will let devices talk to each other, the cloud and phones. Weave is essentially standardized schemas so that all the devices can have a common language, he said. Developers will be able to submit new schemas, and Google plans to run a certification program for them.

Weave can run on Brillo-powered devices or on top of existing stack. That implies that proprietary or other IoT OS platforms could use Weave. One key feature Brillo and Weave enable is that Android devices will recognize other devices based on Brillo or Weave.

Google has the weight and established cadre of developers to allow these new technologies to take off. But the company still faces some of the same challenges that have so far held back other efforts at enabling IoT.

The biggest such challenge is that the truly interesting possibilities of IoT aren't possible unless all devices can communicate with each other. Unless all device makers adopt the same technologies, though, that won't happen.

There are already a number of initiatives aimed at developing technologies that can enable IoT. Some are competitive, others are more complimentary. They include the Open Internet Consortium, backed by Cisco, Samsung, GE, Intel, ADT, Honeywell, Siemens, HP, Dell and others; the Allseen Alliance, backed by Microsoft, Qualcomm, LG, Canon, Sony, Panasonic and other big names; the Industrial Internet Consortium with Cisco, AT&T, GE, IBM and Intel involved; and the IPSO Alliance, which counts ARM and Ericsson as backers.

Google working on IoT Operating System under Android brand

Google is working on an operating system to run Internet of Things devices under the Android brand. The new OS, code named "Brillo," is being designed to run on low-powered devices with as few as 64 or 32 megabytes of random-access memory. By contrast, the current Android OS runs on smartphones with at least 512 megabytes of RAM, the report observed.

Google will be competing with its largest Android device manufacturer Samsung in the IoT platform market. 

Other big IT firms looking to define the IoT platform space include Microsoft, which unveiled an IOT version of its upcoming Windows 10 OS, and Huawei, which recently announced its LiteOS for IoT devices for infrastructure companies. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your IoT engines!

#InsideInnovation at Cisco IOE Innovation Center openBerlin

We can control the lights, the AC consumption, and power consumption. I can see everything here running on a dashboard, running on an iPad.
Berlin is a great city. It's a melting pot for a lot of young people coming here. And it has a huge research community that is not only attracting German talent but also international talent. Berlin is really planning to be the digital city of Europe.
We came here because we want to be close to these world market leaders to learn from them and get their ideas, and develop products and solutions.
Cisco openBerlin, as a Center of Innovation based in Germany has the main focus of enabling innovations in manufacturing, in transportation and logistics. Because Internet of Everything is happening so fast the only way to adopt it is rapid prototyping.
The solution that we created between Cisco and Azeti Networks helps tracking and managing assets for different verticals.
 With the Azeti Cloud App, we can control the remote sites. For example, turning on and off a generator or opening a door. Turning on and off the light or the AC. And this is done through the intelligent devices from Cisco and our software stack from Azeti Networks.
The innovations that we are developing in openBerlin are going to ease the digitalization of life, make the data smart today, and also do a real showcase of what is possible with Internet of Everything.

http://newsroom.cisco.com

CIOs beware, IoT is coming

The Internet of Things revolution is under way, and CIOs need to consider ways to incorporate IoT devices, apps and platforms into their company.
Azmi Jafarey, CIO at Ipswitch, offers some areas for CIOs to consider when contemplating an IoT deployment, in a Computerworld article. 
"At the business level there will be two imperatives. For those manufacturing physical goods, there will be the pressure for 'smart everything'--what should be measured and why, how the data should be used and when, and how such sensors can be made virtually invisible," Jafarey wrote. "The second imperative, and this will be for all: How can IoT data be used to understand and optimize business processes, tools, communications and buying and selling behavior?".
CIOs will need to seize the initiative and use IoT to their firm's competitive advantage, Jafarey advised.
But the task will not be easy. The quantity, collection, analysis and employment of the data generated by IoT devices will be challenging. In fact, SanDisk is forecasting a 14-fold increase in enterprises data by 2020, even without include IoT in the forecast.
To help handle the data volume, cloud computing will be vital for IoT data transmission, storage and analysis.
Jafarey noted that IoT data will also bring issues about privacy, security and theft, particularly when the data is coming a wide array of sources.
So what is a CIO to do? "The leading IT departments will embrace IoT as a green-field for partnership with the business to explore how new business models and predictive customer knowledge can evolve," he concluded.
As with any new enterprise technology, CIOs need to get ahead of the IoT curve or be overwhelmed by it.

Fred Donovan - http://www.fiercemobileit.com

Samsung launches family of ARTIK IoT development platforms

Samsung, the leading maker of Android mobile devices, is looking to make its mark in the Internet of Things. As part of that effort, the Korean company purchased IoT startup SmartThings last year and announced earlier this year that it is investing $100 million in IoT development, noted by eWeek.

This week, Samsung took another step on its IoT journey by unveiling at IoT World 2015 its family of ARTIK platforms to help developers build IoT apps.

"Our goals in building ARTIK were to minimize fragmentation and enable faster adoption of IoT….ARTIK provides an end-to-end solution for making interconnected applications, from low-power wearables to high-end smart homes," explained the ARTIK team.

The ARTIK platform come in three sizes--ARTIK 1, 12mm x 12mm; ARTIK 5, 29mm x 25mm; and ARTIK 10, 29mm x 39mm. The larger the size, the greater number of features and increasing performance levels there are.

ARTIK 1 has a dual-core processor, 1 MB of one-chip memory and 4 MB of flash memory, Bluetooth low energy connectivity, a secure element, and a 9-axis motion sensor; ARTIK 5 has a dual-core ARM-A7 processor, 512 MB LPDDR 3 memory and 4GB eMMC memory, WiFi/BT/BLE + ZigBee/Thread (802.11 b/g/n) connectivity, and secure element; ARTIK 10 sports an ARM-based Octa Core processor, 2GB of LPDDR3 memory and 16GB eMMC memory, WiFi/BT/BLE + ZigBee/Thread (802.11 b/g/n) connectivity, and a secure element.

The Internet of Things: Where healthcare and electronics converge

On the technology front, Internet of Things use cases are plentiful when imagining a medical device industry of the future. The term “connected health” has entered popular nomenclature and will likely become ubiquitous as innovative organizations seek Internet of Things use cases that solve some of our most challenging health-related issues.
Imagine a future in which your medical profile, vitals and dialysis machine inputs are captured with the help of connected medical devices. You won’t even have to visit the doctor to receive treatment. Data captured is analyzed and used to make well-informed decisions regarding your health. Doctors can monitor your vitals remotely and respond to any concerns proactively.
Imagine a future in which pediatric and elderly care is done largely through the use of sophisticated wearable devices that can            monitor heart rate, blood pressure, movement, sleeping patterns and even blood sugar. Data collected is scaled up to do bulk analysis on specific treatment types or prescribed medicines. Emergency response is fully automated, so when a fall is detected, or heart rate rises to dangerous levels, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are alerted and on the way well before any caregiver notices a problem.
Imagine a future in which personal health is managed through wearable devices similar to the Fitbit, or the iWatch. Steps are counted, and sleep patterns are recorded. How often you stand or walk or run or bike is all collected and analyzed for the purpose of providing guidance on how best to achieve personal health goals. If you don’t walk enough one day, perhaps you’re notified the following day that you’ll need to make up for your lack of exercise by running a given distance in a given time period. And of course you shouldn’t eat desert that day, or else you may be off your plan.
Systems such as these can provide the insight needed for average people to manage their own day-to-day fitness and health. And these systems will likely aid the individual in achieving fitness goals. The data that is captured and displayed may certainly compel the individual to be more accountable.
Someone recently said: “The human body has become a source of real-time contextual data.” If a small device such as a Fitbit can be worn without inconvenience, yet still collect significant volumes of data on the wearer’s health, the use-case scenarios are quite numerous. They are only limited by our own creativity and the economics supporting the adoption of these devices.
As regulation and the emergence of the Internet of Things compels huge changes, the medical device industry will likely look much different by 2020, when full UDI compliance is mandated. In addition, by 2020 the Internet of Things is estimated to have fifty percent more connected devices used globally than are being used today.
The convergence of these two industry characteristics will make for some interesting times. I’m excited to see what the future holds.

http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com

Connected Devices and Your Privacy

Baby monitor

What it does. Modern multitasking parents can check in on their infants via smartphone using fully networked, motion-sensing, HD video-streaming systems with built-in speakers that let them talk to their baby while loading up the washing machine.

That type of right-there access is comforting for a parent, but it’s positively sickening if a hacker is also tuning in. The threat isn’t theoretical. In January, it was reported that a nanny in Houston heard an unfamiliar voice coming from a two-way baby monitor made by Foscam. According to reports, the voice said, “That’s a really poopy diaper,” then warned her to password-protect the camera.

In 2013 and 2014, the British press reported that sadistic hackers took over monitors to scream at sleeping children, and last fall officials in the U.K. warned that live feeds from baby monitors and home security cameras around the world were accessible to the public on the Internet. When Consumer Reports checked recently, we found a site that was still hosting security-camera feeds, including some that appeared to be from people’s homes.

What you need to know. An unprotected camera is worse than no camera at all. Internet-­connected baby monitors and home security cameras use your home Wi-Fi network, and certain models can communicate directly with a phone using Bluetooth when you’re home. Parents need strong passwords on their home network and on the baby monitor itself to keep the feeds secure.

Thermostat

What it does. Connected thermostats are like ordinary programmable thermostats on steroids. They may sense when people are home, learn a family’s preferred temperature settings, and allow users to make adjustments remotely using a smartphone. Features vary: The Honey­well Lyric employs geofencing—it tracks whether homeowners’ phones are nearby—and the Nest programs itself by observing when users are home or away. Nest, which is owned by Google, is courting connected-­home partners including LG refrigerators, lock companies, and Dropcam security cameras (also owned by Google).

What you need to know. In order to work, some smart thermostats need to track when you are home. If that unnerves you, you’re not going to want one of those products.

www.consumerreports.org

Self Driving Cars (Power by the Internet of Things)

Watch this video on driverless cars powered by the Internet of Things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCj9v88pq8M

How The 'Internet Of Everything' Is Helping ‘Unbanked' Citizens Around The World

Unbanked, underbanked, underrepresented, and nearly uncounted are a few adjectives describing three quarters of the world's population. Many adults are in this state due to poverty, travel distance, and a plethora of paperwork. More than 50% of people living in developing countries don't have bank accounts, leaving them vulnerable to theft and exploitation. Most of this segment consists of women. Fortunately, with some low-income countries quickly adopting mobile phone use, financial services such as mobile payments and money transfers are becoming accessible for communities that would otherwise be precluded from banking privileges. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest number of adults using banking institutions. But according to Frost & Sullivan, mobile payments in that region could reach $1.3 billion by 2019.

MasterCard is expanding its mobile remittance services in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, enabling African citizens living abroad to send funds through mobile money transfers, payment cards, bank accounts, or cash outlets from their homeland. During Mobile World Congress on March 3rd, MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga delivered a keynote address emphasizing the importance of financial inclusion for citizens everywhere.

The Future of Retail Banking
"In the future with the Internet of Things, where every device will be connected to the Internet, what kind of life will those who are financially excluded have?" said Banga during his speech.
"We'll have the Internet of Everything but not the Inclusion of Everyone."
It's worth noting that developing countries aren't the ones lacking financial inclusion in some parts. In 2013, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation collected data showing that 20% of U.S. households were underbanked, meaning they had a bank account, but also used alternative financial services.
Global Payout CEO, Jim Hancock, says great strides are being made in financial inclusion. "The ‘non-bank' industry is starting to find ways to establish transactional history and therefore use that to assist in establishing a credit rating for users, he says. "As a result, companies like ours may become a great kick-starter to eventually getting a traditional bank account, credit card or consumer loan."

What Role do Telecommunication Operators Play?
WorldRemit, an online service that allows people to send money to people abroad, is aiming to digitize the receive-side of remittances, moving people from cash to mobile money for speed, convenience and security. Iain Mackenzie, Communications Director of WorldRemit says interoperability is helping to drive the adoption of mobile money, as many countries have several different systems and until recently most didn't work together. Prior to these partnerships, users had to constantly cash-in and cash-out when sending money to friends.
"Tanzania is a great example of the progress being made, with all four operators now cooperating," says Mackenzie. "Remittances to mobile money are also helping to extend financial inclusion. It is much faster and safer to receive an international transfer on a mobile phone than a cash pickup, and once the money is received it can be used to buy insurance, pay bills and open a savings account."

Are Apps the Answer?
Of course, apps are part and parcel of the mobile revolution and financial inclusion. WorldRemit's app allows people to send money to more than 110 countries across six continents. Users of Global Payout's free mobile payment app receive their own eWallet account, direct deposit capabilities, domestic or international money transfer abilities, automatic currency exchange, and other services. The M-Ledger app enables users to keep a journal of their M-PESA (mobile money scheme) transactions in their phones. Originally created as a mobile microfinance system for Kenyans in 2005, M-PESA evolved into a general mobile money-transfer system, which people pay into by handing cash to an agent of the mobile network operator Safaricom. Money is then credited to a user's M-PESA account. M-PESA has provided cash flow for a number of startups in Nairobi.
It's clear that not only is financial inclusion good for financial technology companies, it's good for local economies, emerging markets, and the world's prosperity on a macro level.


Source: http://newsroom.cisco.com

This is how 5G networks will follow their users

www.linked.com

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