The Mobile World Conference (MWC) returns to the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 26 to 28, 2023.
The event will feature exhibition from major U.S. operators, including AT&T business, T-Mobile business, and Verizon business as well as new sessions dedicated to sports and entertainment, software developers and the GSMA’s SEC CON event.
MWC, in partnership with the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA), invites industry leaders and attendees to connect and discuss topics such as the industry’s transition to a circular economy, the future role of artificial intelligence (AI) in society, and what comes after 5G.
To reflect the United States’ position as a global technology hub and a market at the forefront of 5G innovation, the event is centered around four key themes:
5G Acceleration, as adoption explodes to become the most common mobile technology in North America by 2025.
Age of AI, as the world awakes to the opportunities and challenges of generative AI.
Digital Everything, as the expansion of digital technologies is felt across every industry, from sports and entertainment to manufacturing, financial services and smart mobility.
Enterprise Mobility, as the revolutionary phase of 5G in enterprise is well underway.
The event will feature a variety of keynote speakers, including Amanda Toman, the director for the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce.
For the first time, the GSMA will bring its SEC CON event to MWC Las Vegas on day two, welcoming leading security experts to explore the importance of keeping telecoms infrastructure secure in times of conflict.
A full directory and registration can be found on the MWC Las Vegas website.
The company states that by using actual test call data to emulate active sensor compensation, its solution improved from 4.8- to 2.8-meter accuracy at the 80th percentile, which exceeds the commonly accepted definition of floor-level accuracy of under 3 meters.
The testing focus was to evaluate barometric-based solutions in advance of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) establishing a vertical location accuracy metric for compliance by wireless carriers in the Top 50 markets, beginning in 2021.
Polaris Wireless was one of two technology vendors selected to participate and was the only solution tested in all buildings in all three cities: 48 buildings, 312 test locations and 55,592 test calls. The Polaris Wireless test included the widest variety of device and barometric sensor manufacturers.
Polaris Wireless achieved an official Stage Z vertical accuracy of 4.8 meters, 80th percentile, with a minimal one-time compensation of the barometric sensor outside of the test cities. However, this one-time compensation did not present a true test of Polaris Wireless vertical location accuracy.
Barometric sensor compensation is arguably the leading source of error in vertical location determination. During the test, Polaris Wireless did not enable active, in-market compensation of the baro sensor and instead relied solely on just a few test calls outside of the test market.
Polaris Wireless vertical accuracy from CTIA test data. (Chart: Polaris Wireless)
After learning that the other vendor included active, in-market compensation, Polaris Wireless submitted a comparable set of results using the same methodology to the CTIA for consideration in the report. This data was drawn exclusively from actual test calls, in the period before final results were published, to emulate the original performance as if active compensation had been activated.
These are referred to as “limited active compensation” results because sensor bias estimates were updated monthly instead of in real time. The figure shows the increase in Polaris accuracy when allowing for this active compensation.
Polaris Wireless says it continues to improve on its three-dimensional accuracy for both public safety and commercial applications, and is exploring additional forums for independent performance evaluation.
NextNav Results: Vertical accuracy delivered by various phone models using signals from an installed network of NextNav beacons. (Plots: NextNav, from ex parte FCC filing, Aug. 8)
According to NextNav, its altitude service delivered floor-level accuracy in 94 percent of test calls in recent blind industry tests commissioned by the Cellular Telephone Industry Association.
The Stage Z Tests were designed to develop a proposed Z-axis (vertical) metric for indoor wireless 9-1-1 calls, as required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
NextNav’s Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS)-based services enable mobile phones and other devices to reliably determine their location and timing in indoor and urban environments where GPS signals cannot be received, the company said. NextNav’s 3D location services include accurate horizontal positioning, floor-level altitude precision, and context and visualization applications.
Polaris Results: Vertical accuracy (Plots: Next Nav, from ex party FCC filing, Aug. 9)
Delivered over a managed network on the licensed spectrum with carrier-grade dependability and metropolitan-wide coverage, NextNav’s services are designed for public safety applications, E911 and critical infrastructure as well as the multitude of consumer, internet of things and commercial applications that require reliable indoor 3D location or precision timing.
According to NextNav, the Stage Z Tests evaluated the ability of various technologies to accurately locate mobile 911 callers in the vertical dimension in challenging indoor environments spread across an entire metropolitan area. The tests were conducted using popular off-the-shelf iOS and Android devices running a software client provided by NextNav. The tests included more than 70,000 emergency-style calls generating altitude fixes from more than 200 different test locations.
“Our ability to deliver floor-level height accuracy has the potential to speed up emergency response time and save lives,” said Ganesh Pattabiraman, co-founder and CEO of NextNav. “The ability to precisely locate the exact floor is a significant breakthrough for wireless 9-1-1 location technologies.”
Taoglas, a provider of IoT (Internet of Things) and M2M (Machine to Machine) antenna solutions, has launched a new series of high-performance LTE + GNSS or Wi-Fi antennas. The announcement was made at CTIA Super Mobility, held Sept. 7-9 in Las Vegas.
The Taoglas Guardian X 11-in-1 antenna.
The Guardian series includes 4, 5, 6 and even 11-in-1 antenna options for 4G LTE cellular applications that also require GNSS or Wi-Fi or satellite options.
“Drilling holes in assets and doing long coaxial cable runs is a thing of the past for many IoT applications, particularly in the transportation industry,” said Dermot O’Shea, joint CEO at Taoglas. “Most vehicles and assets are no longer made from metal, but of a carbon fiber or composite material. This means the antenna does not need to be outside the asset but can be mounted internally.”
One example is in the trucking industry, where antennas are mounted under the roof and above the headliner, eliminating the need for holes to be drilled. “This saves huge amounts of time and cost for the installation as well as increasing device performance due to the cable runs being shorter,” O’Shea said. “It also decreases the likelihood of antenna damage due to impact or vandalism.”
The Guardian series antennas are delivered in a gloss-finished, compact square-shaped enclosure (146 x 134 x 20 mm). In the series are these options:
MA931 – 6 in 1 (2 x Cellular, 3 x Wi-Fi, 1 x GNSS)
MA930 – 6 in 1 (2 x Cellular, 2 x Wi-Fi, 1 x GNSS, 1 x Satellite)
MA950 – 5 in 1 (2 x Cellular, 2 x Wi-Fi, 1 x GNSS)
MA961 – 4 in 1 (2 x Cellular, 2 x Wi-Fi)
Also, an extension to the line is the Guardian X series, with the first product being MA4000, an 11-in-1 antenna (six cellular, four Wi-Fi, one GNSS).
The Guardian X dimensions are 540 x 183.1 x 35.4 millimeters. Despite its small size, the MA4000 antenna eliminates the requirement for multiple holes to be drilled in a valuable asset. The enclosure material is flame retardant, as is the CFD-200-FR low-loss cable. This means the antenna is compliant for airline, bus and rail passenger applications and complies with UNECE regulation R 118.
Azuga’s Fleet Driver Rewards App Wins CTIA E-Tech Award
Ananth Rani founded Azuga in 2013.
When Ananth Rani began work in 2012 on the Fleet Driver Rewards app that has made connected vehicle provider Azuga a CTIA up-and-comer, he wasn’t sure he was making the right decision.
“Frankly, it was a bit of an experience to see if there was still room in the market for another vendor,” he said recently as he took time to sit-down at a coffee shop in Las Vegas’ Sands Expo Center amid CTIA Super Mobility 2015. “I thought, ‘What the hell am I getting myself into?’”
The gamble paid off for the Azuga and its dedicated co-founder. Azuga’s app took home second place in the Mobile Cloud division at the CTIA E-Tech Awards Thursday. The honors go to what CTIA describes as “the most innovative emerging mobile services, solutions and technology from areas such as the cloud, network equipment, M2M and the Internet of Things.”
What makes Azuga’s app innovative says Rani, is that it appeals to a unique user: The fleet driver.
Not just managers. Not just owners. The drivers themselves.
“Azuga is all about social telematics,” he says. “It comes from the heart. I tell fleet managers, ‘Do you want to be remembered as a gotcha guy or an attaboy?’”
A Silicon Valley veteran, Rani utilized a principal more likely to be seen in apps marketed to consumers: gamification. Fleet drivers earn points based on things like hard-braking, acceleration, sustained high speeds and driving in adverse weather conditions, among other metrics determined by a Ph.D. in statistics that Azuga has on staff.
“The expectation was that a driver will naturally move toward a safer fleet by competing with the rest of the drivers, and that as the risk goes down the miles per gallon goes up,” Rani said, “and that’s your ROI.”
The reward for winning is no simple badge: Drivers’ profiles are pulled from LinkedIn and their rankings are visible among the “Azuga Awesome Drivers” group on the social network. Rani says Azuga is “not J.D. Power” but aspires to have the same reputation for determining safe drivers.
Azuga Fleet Driver Rewards can gift a reward as a donation to groups like World of Children.
There’s also cash on the line. The company gives out quarterly prizes to the Top 10 drivers and Top 10 fleet managers of the 50,000 nationwide users, and the 1,000+ corporate customers can then also choose to award their drivers based on their own goals through an electronic gift card program that is tied to 14 national brands, including Amazon, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Burger King. The driver sees the amount awarded and then has the choice of gift cards. Azuga has also recently added three charities to which the drivers can pass the reward as a donation.
Safety and savings aside, employee retention is an additional
“This is a blue collar world where the employee takes the truck home at night. Feeling engaged is the key to employee retention in a world where they may never see the boss and where they only see their manager for a meeting every few weeks.”
Azuga’s OBD-II connector is manufactured by parent company Danlaw Inc.
Azuga pairs with hardware manufactured by its parent company, Michigan-based Danlaw Inc. Rani sees the relationship as one that benefits Azuga with the “automotive grade DNA” and calls it “Silicon Valley meets Detroit.”
Azuga Fleet costs 69 cents per day per vehicle, and customers are companies of varying sizes with Aaron’s, the rental furniture and home appliances chain, using it for 3,000 trucks and 6,000 drivers on the large end and single-driver landscape companies at the small end.
Growth plans for the app including functions to help drivers find parking, locate a parked truck and easily message clients that they are on their way. The app is also being reviewed by state governments as a tool to determine whose cars need to be emissions-tested and to track hours required for state graduated driver licensing.
It’s currently being tested by the Oregon Department of Transportation as a way to assign a road usage charge that funds highway repairs. The topic is politically divisive, with opponents saying replacing the gas tax with a per-mile fee is inequitable and subsidizes gas-guzzlers and advocates saying it will lead to safer roads and is an easier, faster alternative to tolls. The din doesn’t concern Rani. He says the intent is the same that inspired the fleet management app.
TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) announced at CTIA today that by year’s end the company will offer Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) for all of its technology solutions for location-based services (LBS) and messaging. Integrating NFV enables TCS customers, including global wireless operators and enterprises, to virtualize entire classes of network node functions into communication services that will cost-effectively run on common off-the-shelf, non-proprietary hardware platforms.
The new architecture is expected to enable customers to build specific and individualized networks that address their changing needs, and reduce time to market for new functionality and features. The solution can be deployed using a cloud-based, low-cost data center environment for both messaging and location solutions.
“By migrating all of our best-in-class solutions to NFV, we will be able to make our software available at any time and on non-proprietary platforms, reducing costs and complexity. This flexibility and agility will reduce customer costs, both CapEx and OpEx,” TCS Commercial Software Group President Jay Whitehurst said in a statement. “Virtualizing our location-based and messaging platforms is a critical expansion vector for TCS as we can now serve a larger set of customers in a more cost-effective manner.”
In a press release, TCS quoted a study by ABI Research saying it is the global leader in precise LBS infrastructure. TCS offers time-tested, end-to-end, LBS solutions that include applications, infrastructure, mapping, and content, processing more than 7 billion LBS transactions monthly.
TCS, based in Annapolis, Md., is a world leader in secure and highly reliable wireless communications. for E911, commercial LBS, cybersecurity, defense and more.
R&S TS8991 Wireless Performance Test Chamber.(PRNewsFoto/Rohde & Schwarz)
PCTEST Engineering Laboratory, an accredited testing laboratory for wireless testing and certification, has expanded its over-the-air (OTA) conformance testing capabilities with the purchase of a CTIA-compliant R&S TS8991 Wireless Performance Test Chamber (WPTC) from Rohde & Schwarz.
The R&S TS8991 OTA Test System is configured with hardware and software extensions for legacy and LTE A-GPS, a R&S ZND vector network analyzer for passive antenna measurements and faster system calibrations, and a second antenna boom with additional R&S NRP power sensors for faster total radiated power (TRP) measurements. The entire system is controlled via R&S AMS32 wireless performance software.
As the number of technologies and the variety of mobile devices continue to increase, the ability to verify a device’s radiated performance is becoming more important to ensure end-user quality of experience. For 4G/LTE, there are major developments involving the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communication, LTE at 5GHz (LTE-U), assisted global navigation satellite system (A-GNSS), and carrier aggregation, which are driving the need for improved as well as additional OTA tests required for both carrier acceptance and industry conformance test plans.
“As wireless devices become more specialized and continue to push the boundaries of transmission efficiency, the ability to fully characterize a device in an over-the-air environment is becoming more critical,” said Randy Ortanez, president of PCTEST Lab. “Every day we are seeing the acceptance bar being raised and more test cases defined from operators and standard bodies such as CTIA and 3GPP. To meet these growing demands, we are very pleased to be working with our partner Rohde & Schwarz who is able to deliver and support a complete turn-key solution for our OTA testing needs.”
PCTEST is exhibiting in the Test Pavilion of Hall C, Booth 5159, at the CTIA Super Mobility trade show, taking place this week at the Sands EXPO in Las Vegas. Rohde & Schwarz is exhibiting in Booth 3249.
Wheeler Also Discusses Spectrum Incentive Auction on CTIA Stage
LA Times writer Jon Healey interviews the FCC’s Tom Wheeler in a fireside chat at CTIA.
As one of Super Mobility 2015’s first speakers, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler reaffirmed his support for the net neutrality rules that CTIA-The Wireless Association, the event’s host, has been fighting in court.
Wheeler harkened back to his speech to this same audience last year where he received a “less than thunderous response” to his suggestion that broadband should be classified as a public utility. Previously, the FCC had treated broadband as an information service separate from the telephone network.
“If you have that kind of a role in delivery of Internet, then you ought to be governed under a similar set of rules that apply to everyone and not have a wireless exception,” Wheeler said.
Net neutrality rules enacted by the FCC early this year prohibit mobile broadband providers from throttling Internet content and utilizing paid prioritization. CTIA filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., this summer in conjunction with other industry associations, opposing the regulation saying it could have “devastating impact on Americans and the U.S. economy.”
“Imposing Title II on wireless would be a gross overreaction that would interrupt the world’s best wireless industry and interfere with the significant innovations and competition consumers enjoy today.”
Wheeler disagreed on stage during a fireside chat with Los Angeles Times editorial writer Jon Healey. He pointed out the “tens of billions of dollars” the wireless industry has invested.
“I’m very bullish on the continued growth of this industry and the continued protection of consumers and how they use the net,” he said.
Wheeler said he was also “supremely confident” that the incentive auction for 600MHz of broadcast TV spectrum, scheduled to start March 29, 2016, would go off without a hitch and that broadcasters would be there and would agree to sell their spectrum rights. Don’t believe him? Take it from James Murdoch, new CEO of News Corp., he said.
“I told him I was going to be talking to you today, and I said, ‘Can I tell him you’re going to show up?’ and he said, ‘Yup,’” Wheeler explained to Healey. “We had a fascinating discussion about how the broadcast business has changed. The most interesting part of my conversation with…Murdoch was talking about innovation and need to be continually innovative. The broadcast auction offers incredible opportunities for broadcasters to get a pot of money to innovate with without losing the business model they’ve been successful with.”
TESSCO Technologies is introducing a low-cost investment vehicle tracking, monitoring and control solution at CTIA Super Mobility, being held Sept. 9-11 in Las Vegas. TESSCO is a provider of the product and value-chain solutions required to build, use and maintain wireless systems. The company is displaying the fleet management solution at booth 5932.
“Spending in the U.S. logistics and transportation industry totaled $1.33 trillion in 2012. However, fleet management systems have remained largely disjointed and costly for smaller fleets. Our Fleet Management Solution provides choice, convenience, best-in-class products and a total source for all of the elements needed to deploy a management solution faster and at the lowest cost investment,” said Steven Tom, TESSCO VP of Analytics, Innovation & Learning. “We provide the expertise and service built on our deep experience in wireless networks and in-vehicle communications. We deliver the end-to-end products and services including sensors, telematics, vehicle mounts and internet connectivity.”
Join Steven Tom for his presentation “The Road Ahead: The Future of Fleet Management and Telematics” on the Networked Society & Startup Stage at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9. He will share details about the new product offering as well as look ahead to the future of fleet management.
The Antenova ODB (on-board devices) design fully assembled.
Antenova Ltd., manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules for M2M and the Internet of Things, has built a model design for on-board devices (OBD) and vehicle telematics, which the company will be showing at CTIA Supermobility 2015.
The OBD design uses three new antennas inside an OBD housing to link to GNSS satellite, Bluetooth and a terrestrial network, while obtaining optimum performance from all three antennas simultaneously. The design also features a new small GNSS RF module to fix location, which Antenova is showing for the first time.
Antenova is using the latest antennas from it product ranges in the OBD design:
the Armata 3G FPC antenna for penta-band frequencies which operates at 824-960 MHz and 1710-2170 MHz
a new GNSS antenna named Bentoni operating at 1559-1609 MHZ,
the tiny Weii PCB-mounted antenna, which provides a Bluetooth connection at 2.4GHZ.
All three are new antennas Antenova released this year.
The new GPS/GNSS module (Antenova part number M10578) is a complete receiver that provides accurate location tracking for OBDs. It uses the latest MediaTek chipset with an additional LNA to give added performance when mounted under dashboards and out of line of sight with the sky.
Antenova’s product designers recently introduced the concept of “Design For Integration” (DFI), which considers how the RF antenna will operate when it is embedded with a manufacturer’s product. Antenova’s antennas are always used within a customer’s design, so they are designed to provide superior RF performance from within the device, and to make the integration of the RF elements easier for the designer. In addition to this, Antenova provides its customers with technical support during the design, integration and testing phases.
“We are demonstrating how a design for an OBD can give great performance, even when new antennas are added to an existing design,” explained Colin Newman, Antenova’s managing director. “OBD devices are growing fast in popularity, and the design of the RF components is critical to the overall performance of a device. In particular, Antenova’s engineers have invested many years in designing antennas that work effectively in very small spaces, whilst maintaining the efficiency of the antenna.”
Antenova offers a range of antennas for Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, ISM, 802.11, 3G, GSM, GPRS, Edge, UMTS, WCDMA, LTE, GLONASS, BeiDou and Gallileo.
Michael Che co-hosts Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update.
Saturday Night Live comedian and co-anchor of “Weekend Update” Michael Che will be featured at CTIA Super Mobility 2015. Named as one of Rolling Stones’ 50 Funniest People, Buzzfeed’s 50 Hottest Men in Comedy and Variety’s Top 10 Comics to Watch, Che will report from the keynote stage with his thoughts on wireless news, hot topics and features at the industry’s annual convention.
CTIA Super Mobility 2015, the largest mobile marketplace in the Western Hemisphere, will be held Sept. 9-11 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. More than 40,000 people are expected to attend.
“CTIA Super Mobility is the best show for anyone who wants to create or improve their mobile strategy, since it’s the entire ecosystem under one roof. While wireless technology will certainly be the focal point, it’s also an opportunity to hear from Michael, who is one of America’s funniest people, share his perspective about our mobile-first lives,” said CTIA Vice President and Show Director Robert Mesirow.
Michael Che joins a lineup of keynote speakers representing the mobile industry’s diverse community, from innovative network providers to disruptors in media, retail and fitness, CTIA-Wireless said.
CTIA Super Mobility 2015 Keynote Lineup
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 9:00-10:30 a.m. PT
Meredith Attwell Baker, President & CEO, CTIA–The Wireless Association
Ron Smith, CTIA Chairman and President & CEO, Bluegrass Cellular
Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Marcelo Claure, President & CEO, Sprint
Show Report: Michael Che, “Weekend Update” Co-anchor, “Saturday Night Live,” NBC
Thursday, Sept. 10, 9:00-10:30 a.m. PT
Glenn Lurie, President & CEO, AT&T Mobility
Bob Pittman, Chairman & CEO, iHeartMedia, Inc.
Marni Walden, EVP & President of Product Innovation and New Businesses, Verizon
Friday, Sept. 11, 9:30-10:30 a.m. PT
Robin Thurston, Chief Digital Officer, Under Armour
Includes: Septentrio Consolidates Sales for Americas with Altus; NovAtel Adds IMU to SPAN Line; IFEN Launches SX3 Software Receiver; ION Awards Given to Misra, Banville; CTIA Super Mobility Week;ION GNSS+ Conference
