Preparing for Metaverse-Ready Networks

Metaverse means different things for different people. If you explain Metaverse with an example, many people understand but they are generally looking at things from a different point of view. A bit like blind men and an elephant. Similarly when we talk about Metaverse-ready networks, it can mean different things to different people, depending on their background.

Back in Oct 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta with a vision to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses. This was followed by a blog post by Dan Rabinovitsj, Vice President, Meta Connectivity, highlighting the high-level requirements for these metaverse-ready networks. 

At Fyuz 2022, the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) announced the launch of Metaverse-Ready Networks Project Group primary whose objective is to accelerate the development of solutions and architectures that enhance network readiness to support metaverse experiences. Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Sparkle, T-Mobile and Telefónica are the initial co-chairs of this Project Group.

A blast from the past - I'm listening to a Nokia CTO, Alessandro Bovone, setting out Nokia's view of the future #CWIC2022 pic.twitter.com/DSN96eK2qh

— David Wood (@dw2) November 2, 2022

Cambridge Wireless' CWIC 2022 discussed 'The Hyperconnected Human'. One of the sessions focussed on 'Living in the Metaverse' which I think was just brilliant. The slides are available from the event page and the video is embedded below:

Coming back to metaverse-ready networks, the final day of Fyuz 2022 conference featured 'The Meta Connectivity Summit' produced by Meta. 

8.3 milliseconds is the magic number to have a seamless experience in the Metaverse#Metaverse #MetaverseConnectivity #Fyuz22 https://t.co/UsqDEgvBEU

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) October 27, 2022

The main stage featured a lot of interesting panel sessions looking at metaverse use cases and applications, technology ecosystem, operator perspectives as well as a talk by CIO of Softbank. The sessions are embedded below. The breakout sessions were not shared. 

Metaverse is also being used as a catch-all for use cases and applications in 6G. While many of the requirements of Metaverse will be met by 5G and beyond applications, 6G will bring in even more extreme requirements which would justify the investments in the Metaverse-Ready Networks.

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: Demystifying and Defining the Metaverse
• Free 6G Training: What is Metaverse and will it play a big part in 6G?
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G eXtended Reality (5G-XR) in 5G System (5GS)
• The 3G4G Blog: A look at 5G Applications, Application Functions & Application Servers
• Free 6G Training: What is Extended Reality (XR)?
• Free 6G Training: Three Degrees of Freedom (3DoF) vs Six (6DoF) in Extended Reality
• Free 6G Training: One XR Device to Rule Them All!
• Free 6G Training: Nokia Bell Labs eBook and Talks on 6G
• Free 6G Training: Presentations from The 2022 Brooklyn 6G Summit (B6GS) 

5G for Content Acquisition and Distribution

The Cambridge Wireless (CW) Content Production & Delivery group recently delivered a two part webinar series exploring ‘5G for content acquisition and distribution’ These online events introduced participants to the state of play with 5G for content distribution and production and the path to delivering the benefits 5G.

Aspirational discussion of benefits of 5G for content production and distribution needs to be turned into operational reality. 5G will enhance what is possible to be achieved with current mobile systems and the advantages to distribution and consumption are obvious through bigger pipes and enhanced agility to support ever evolving content and application platforms. The possibilities for content production and acquisition are also exiting but may be less obvious. 5G will allow service and capacity to be delivered where required through use of small cell and potentially highly localised private 5G networks, edge computing and support of a wide range of equipment and applications (not just those use cases directly involved in content acquisition).

The first session on 24 Nov 2020 in the series considers the role of 5G for content distribution and security. It covers the role of 5G for the creation of a more varied and vibrant ecosystem for content and the desire of some content creators for greater focus on security.

Henry Johnson, Director, Plum Consulting, '5G opportunities in the provision of content distribution' - 5G services promise to provide connectivity performance in terms of bandwidth and latency which have hitherto been possible only with fixed network connectivity. This session will look into the capabilities and potential limitations of 5G services once deployed and what that might mean for content delivery to consumers. [PPT presentation]

Malcolm Brew, University of Strathclyde, ‘5G-enabled remote broadcast’ - Malcolm will share some Strathclyde’s insights over the last 10 years in working with BBC and Ofcom on ‘Spectrum Sharing’ and how this has recently been lead to working in an IBC Accelerator Program ‘5G In Remote Production’ [PDF] 

For limited time, the recording is available here.

The 3G4G Blog: LTE / 5G Broadcast Evolution - https://t.co/nMM6VvxGbg via @5Gxcast #3G4G5G #IEEE5G #5GIEEE #eMBMS #LTEBroadcast #MissionCriticalComms pic.twitter.com/aSxdsFkX9A

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) August 29, 2019

The following is the description from session 2, on 2nd Dec 2020:

Join the CW Content Production and Delivery Group’s aspirational discussion of benefits of 5G for content production and distribution needs to be turned into operational reality.

There is no doubt 5G will enhance what is possible to be achieved with current mobile systems and the advantages to distribution and consumption are obvious through bigger pipes and enhanced agility to support ever evolving content and application platforms.

The possibilities for content production and acquisition are also exciting, but may be less obvious. 5G will allow service and capacity to be delivered where required through use of small cell and potentially highly localised private 5G networks, edge computing and support of a wide range of equipment and applications (not just those use cases directly involved in content acquisition).

Ian Wagdin, Senior Technology Transfer Manager, BBC R&D, '5G in Content Production, work in standards and deployments' - A look at what’s here and what’s coming and how 5G may impact broadcast workflows. [PDF]

Paola Sunna, Technology and Innovation Department, EBU, '5G for Content Production' - EBU perspective on 5G for professional content production and challenges/ambitions in the Horizon 2020 project 5G-RECORDS. [PDF] 

For limited time, the recording is available here.

A nice talk looking at 5G and Broadcast - 'BBC, 5G and me' by Ed King, Principal Architect, BBC at @TheIET #5GUnleashed 2020 conference - https://t.co/RtTIxZnvN4#Free5GTraining #eMBMS #5Gbroadcast pic.twitter.com/j0d6r7Xqeq

— 5G Training (@5Gtraining) March 6, 2020

Other Recent News / Articles / Videos on 4G/5G Broadcast:

• SoftBank Corp. Showcases 5G-powered Entertainment and Advanced Technologies at Pop Culture Complex (link)
• 5G TODAY: BAVARIA’S BROADCAST TRIALS (link)
• Webinar: The role of broadcast and multicast in 5G-TOURS: High-quality video services distribution (link)
• Delivering Media with 5G Technology: FeMBMS, 5G-Xcast and beyond (link)
• 5G TODAY: 5G Broadcast trial using FeMBMS (link)
• 5G Today: On the Road to 5G Broadcast (link)

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: LTE / 5G Broadcast Evolution
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)
• The 3G4G Blog: Multicast Operation on Demand (MooD) and Service Continuity for eMBMS 

The Futuristic Concept of 'Smart & Intelligent' Batteries

I did a presentation back in 2013 on the concept of smart batteries. Even though there has been a lot of progress in wireless charging since back then, it hasn't reached even close to the vision that I have. As a result, I converted it into a video to start a discussion on if and when this would be possible. The slides and video are embedded below and I welcome any discussion in comments below.

Misc: The Futuristic Concept of ‘Smart & Intelligent’ Batteries from 3G4G

5G Private and Non-Public Network (NPN)

Private Networks have been around for a while and really took off after 4G was launched. This is due to the fact that the architecture was simplified due to the removal of CS core and also the advancements in silicon, storage, computation, etc. allowed creation of smaller and more efficient equipment that simplified private networks.

While private networks imply an isolated network for selected devices that are allowed to connect on to the network, Non-Public Networks are much broader in scope. Chief among them is the ability of certain devices to be capable of working on Private as well as Public Network or roaming between them.

I recently ran a workshop on 'Introduction to Private 4G & 5G Networks' with a well known Industry analyst Dean Bubley. One of the sections looked at the Network Architecture based on the 3GPP standards. This tutorial is a part of that particular section. Slides and video embedded below. There are also some interesting videos on YouTube that show how and why Private Networks are needed and some use cases. The playlist is embedded in the end.

Advanced: Private Networks & 5G Non-Public Networks from 3G4G

Playlist of Private Networks Use Cases.



Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Industry 4.0
• The 3G4G Blog: What is Industrial IoT (IIoT) and how is it different from IoT?
• 3G4G: M2M, MTC & IoT

AI your Slice to 5G Perfection

Back in November, The Enhanced Mobile Broadband Group in CW (Cambridge Wireless) held an event on 'Is automation essential in 5G?'. There were some thought provoking presentations and discussions but the one that stood out for me was by Dan Warren from Samsung

I consider that to be quite an achievement. I'll take it as a compliment #cwembb

— Dr. Dan Warren (@TMGB) November 28, 2019

The slides are embedded below but I want to highlight these points:

• Some Network Functions will be per slice whereas others will be multi-slice, the split may not be the same for every slice
• Two slices that have the same 'per slice vs multi-slice' functional split may be different network hardware topologies
• Enterprise customers will likely want a 'service' contract that has to be manifested as multiple slices of different types. 
• Physical infrastructure is common to all slices

The last point is very important as people forget that there is a physical infrastructure that will generally be common across all slices.

Again, when you apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize the network functions, does it do it individually first and then end-to-end and if this is applied across all slices, each of which may have a different functionality, requirement, etc. How would it work in practice?

Agree with pretty much all of this, but there are other points. Key to success of this as a 'full industry' solution is how slicing works when roaming and across interconnect. That is fundamental to SLA support on fully mobile devices and applications (inc. NPN to MNO mobility)

— Dr. Dan Warren (@TMGB) February 4, 2020

5G - Peak Complexity from 3G4G

As Dan says in his tweet, "It is hard to implement AI to optimise a point solution without potentially degrading the things around it.  Constantly being pushed to a bigger picture view => more data => more complexity"

Let me know what you think.

Related Posts:

• Tutorial: Service Based Architecture (SBA) for 5G Core (5GC)
• Exploring Network Convergence of Mobile, Broadband and Wi-Fi
• Prof. Andy Sutton: Backhauling the 5G Experience - Jan 2020
• 5G Core Architecture Webinar from Apis
• 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC)
• Updated 5G Terminology Presentation

Free 5G Training

Many readers of this blog would be aware that I run 5G 'An Advanced Introduction to 5G Technology' training course for Cambridge Wireless at regular intervals. The next one is on 10th March 2020, in Cambridge. In fact I am also running a 'Introduction to Private 4G & 5G Networks' workshop on 4th Feb 2020 in London.

Many people ask me if they I have an online course available. While I haven't, I have quite a few videos on 3G4G YouTube channel and also have a 3G4G training page. People (mainly students or newbies) still ask me what sequence of videos they should go through, etc. So to make everyone's life simple, I created 2 YouTube playlists. Both are embedded below for ease.

Part 1. This is for people who know basic telecommunications theory and don't know much about mobile technology in general




Part 2. This is for people who understand 2G/3G/4G basics and want to learn about 5G.


I will add/remove/update videos when we add new videos on our channel. Feel free to skip videos if you already know a topic. There is quite a lot of other information on the 3G4G YouTube channel if you want to explore more

Where do you go after you have watched these videos? Go to the 3GPP homepage and start looking at specifications, news, etc. You can also start looking at the specifications on 3G4G page here.

Hopefully this is a good starting point.

SEE ALSO: https://www.free5gtraining.com/

5G Evolution with Matthew Baker, Nokia

I wrote a summary of CW (Cambridge Wireless) TEC conference here a couple of months back. The last session was on "Getting ready for Beyond-5G Era". Matthew Baker, Head of Radio Physical Layer & Co-existence Standardization, Nokia Bell Labs was one of the speakers. His talk provided a summary of 3GPP Rel-15 and then gave a nice and short summary of all the interesting things coming in Rel-16 and being planned for Rel-17. The slides from his presentation is embedded below:

5G Evolution: Progressive Enhancement & N ew Features for New Markets from 3G4G

Nokia also created a short video where Matthew talks about these new features. It's embedded below:



Related Posts:

• Summary of #CWTEC 2019 Conference: 5G, Satellites & Magic MIMO
• 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC)
• R&S Webinar on LTE-A Pro and evolution to 5G
• Introduction to NR-Light a.k.a. NR-Lite
• An Introduction to Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)

Private 4G / 5G Cellular Networks and Bring Your Own Spectrum

With 4G maturing, private cellular networks are finally getting the attention that they deserve and has been promised for quite a while. In a Industry Analyst event, Nokia announced that they are running 120+ private networks including transportation, Energy, Public sector, Smart cities, manufacturing and logistics, etc. (tweet below). The Enterprise Business division is now accounting for 5% of the revenue.

Interesting to see that Nokia is running 120+ private networks including:
* 24 in transportation
* 35 in Energy
* 32 in public sector and smart cities
* 11 in manufacturing and logistics#CWTechTrain
Nice tweet 👇 Details 👉 https://t.co/pU9gnuh5Wphttps://t.co/FHGM1e2JxK

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) November 19, 2019

Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief at Light Reading, in an opinion on Telecoms.com pointed out:

One of the more immediate revenue stream opportunities right now is wireless private networks, and the good news is that this opportunity doesn’t require 5G. Instead, the potential looks set to be enhanced by the availability of a full set of 5G standards (including the yet-to-be concluded core network specs) and the maturity of associated technology.

In the meantime, 4G/LTE has already been the cellular foundation for an increasingly thriving wireless private networks sector that, according to ABI Research, will be worth $16.3 billion by 2025

Another market sizing prediction, this time by SNS Telecom & IT, pitches annual spending on private 4G and 5G networks at $4.7 billion by the end of 2020 and almost $8 billion by 2023. 

However this plays out, there’s clear anticipation of growing investment. What’s particularly interesting, though, is which organizations might pocket that investment. That’s because enterprises and/or organizations looking to benefit from having a private wireless network have a number of options once they decide to move ahead with a private network – here are three permutations that look most likely to me:

1. Build and run it themselves – technology vendors get some sales in this instance
2. Outsource the network planning, construction and possibly even the day-to-day. management of the network to a systems integrator (SI) – the SI and some vendors get the spoils. It’s possible here, of course, that the SI could be a technology vendor.
3. Outsource to a mobile network operator – the operator and some vendors will get some greenbacks.

For sure there will be other permutations, but it shows how many different parts of the ecosystem have some skin in the game, which is what makes this sector so interesting.

What’s also interesting, of course, is what the enterprises do with their private networks: Does it enhance operations? Help reduce costs? Create new business opportunities? All of the above?

Let’s not forget the role of the regulators in all of this. In the US the private wireless sector has been given a shot in the arm by the availability of CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) shared spectrum in the currently unlicensed 3.5 GHz band: This has given rise to numerous trials and deployments in locations such as sports stadiums, Times Square and even prisons.

In Germany, the regulator has set aside 100MHz of 5G spectrum for private, industrial networks has caused a storm and even led to accusations from the mobile operators that the move ramped up the cost of licenses in the spectrum auction held earlier this year.

In the UK, Ofcom is making spectrum available in four bands:

• the 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz shared spectrum bands, which are currently used for mobile services;
• the 3.8-4.2 GHz band, which supports 5G services, and
• the 26 GHz band, which has also been identified as one of the main bands for 5G in the future.

Slide shared by Mansoor Hanif, CTO, Ofcom at TIP Summit 2019

The process to enable companies and organizations (Ofcom has identified manufacturers, business parks, holiday/theme parks and farms as potential users) in the UK to apply for spectrum will go live before the end of this year, with Ofcom believing that thousands of private networks could be up and running in the coming years.

Dean Bubley from Disruptive Analysis recently spoke about BYOSpectrum – Why private cellular is a game-changer at TAD Summit. The talk is embedded below and is definitely worth listening:



TelecomPaper reported:

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy said that companies can start to apply to use 5G frequencies in the 3.7-3.8 GHz range on industrial campuses. Local frequencies enable firms to build their own private networks, rather than rely on telecommunications providers to build networks. 

The Automotive Industry Association (VDA) and other industry associations including the VCI, VDMA and ZVEI have welcomed the allocation of frequencies for industrial campuses. According to VDA, several dozen companies have already registered their interest in such frequencies with the Federal Network Agency. 

The firms believe that 5G can replace existing networks, including WLAN, provide improved coverage of entire company premises, enable full control over company data and reduce disruption to public mobile networks.

The spectrum licences will be allocated based on the applicant's geographic footprint and use of a certain area. Prices also take account the area covered by the network, as well as the amount of bandwidth used and duration of the licence.

The formula for the prices is very interesting as shown in the tweet below

License fee formula for local frequency use published by the German regulator yesterday

Formula: fee = 1000 + B * t * 5 * (6a1 + a2)

* 1000: base fee in €
* B: bandwidth in MHz (10-100MHz)
* t: allocation time in years
* a: area in km²https://t.co/NuAPyMAYuQ#5G #IIoT@UK_5G pic.twitter.com/a4ullfkKze

— Sylvia Lu (@SylviaLuUk) November 1, 2019

Unsurprising to see @BoschGlobal apply for local 3.7GHz spectrum for #Private5G #5G networks at key site in Germany

Initially it's for "the lead plant for Industry 4.0 in Stuttgart-Feuerbach and the research campus in Renningen"https://t.co/1OJ3tksse3

— Dean Bubley (@disruptivedean) November 22, 2019

In Japan, NTT Docomo is working in co-operation with industry partners to help them to create their own private 5G networks. More announcements on this are expected at MWC next year.

Finally, I am running an Introduction to Private 4G /5G Networks Workshop with Dean Bubley on 04 Feb 2020. If this is an area of interest, consider attending it.

I will be running an "Introduction to Private 4G & 5G Networks" workshop / training along with Dean Bubley (@disruptivedean) on 04 Feb 2020 in London. Agenda and other details here: https://t.co/x6xsCpd946 @cambwireless @UK_5G #CWTechTrain pic.twitter.com/iwYzXyZzua

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) November 18, 2019

Related Posts:

• Non-public networks (NPN) - Private Networks by another name

Summary of #CWTEC 2019 Conference: 5G, Satellites & Magic MIMO

I was involved in helping organise yet another CW TEC conference this year. The topic was quite interesting and we had some brilliant speakers. Some of the excellent presentations were shared too, links below. Here is a very quick summary of the event, linking also to couple of excellent summaries below.

The topic was a bit unusual and it rhymed very well with the attendees which were from many different backgrounds, from 5G, communications, satellites, electronics, T&M companies, etc. Here is the opening video that will show you the motivations behind this



The day started with a breakfast briefing from Cambridge Consultants that looked at how Massive MIMO is the key to unlocking 5G User Experiences. Presentations available here.

#CWTEC is underway with a thorough breakfast briefing from @CambConsultants. What is 5G NR? What is #MassiveMIMO? How about #beamforming? Delegates get up to speed with the day’s subject area before talks kick off at 10AM. We can’t wait! pic.twitter.com/lGELOWeZk2

— Cambridge Wireless (@cambwireless) September 26, 2019

Session 1 was titled "What has Massive MIMO ever done for us?". The narrative for the session was as follows:

Clearly the desire for more and more capacity in cellular networks has driven the industry to find more and more novel techniques. The work done over the years and boosted by Tom Marzetta’s article titled “Noncooperative Cellular Wireless with Unlimited Numbers of Base Station Antennas” has set high expectations for this emergent technology, so much so the term Magic MIMO has been coined. However, how significant is it into today’s early 5G rollout and what can we expect over the coming years? Are there still further enhancements we should expect to see?

There were 3 talks as follows:

• Sync Architectures for 5G NR by Chris Farrow, Technical Manager, Chronos Technology (slides)
• Three UK’s RAN transformation: Spectrum, RAN architecture strategy, Why? by Dr Erol Hepsaydir, Head of RAN and Devices Strategy and Architecture, Three UK (slides)
• Active antenna systems in RAN: performance, challenges and evolution by Anvar Tukmanov, Wireless Research Manager, BT (slides)

Anvar Tuknanov from ⁦⁦@bt_uk⁩ showing improvement in communications capacity as technology has evolved to 5G M-MIMO. ⁦@cambwireless⁩ #CWTEC ⁦@CGI_UKNEWS⁩ #ExperienceCGI pic.twitter.com/IZXJk2n6u4

— Andrew Palmer (@AndrewPalmerCGI) September 26, 2019

Session 2 looked at "Non-Terrestrial & Hybrid Networks". The narrative for the session was as follows:

There are different initiatives underway to make satellite and other non-terrestrial networks as part of 5G. In addition, many different mobile operators have demonstrated compelling use-cases with drones, balloons and other aerostats. Other innovative approaches like European Aviation Network uses a hybrid-network using terrestrial network supported by a satellite connection as a backhaul for in-flight Wi-Fi. In addition to latency, what other challenges are stopping mass adoption of Non-terrestrial and Hybrid networks? What about advanced features like slicing, etc.?

There were 3 talks as follows:

• Opportunities for blending terrestrial and satellite technologies by Dr Jaime Reed, Director, Consulting, Space, Defence and Intelligence, CGI (slides)
• Non-terrestrial Networks: Standardization in 5G NR by Dr Yinan Qi, Senior 5G Researcher, Samsung R&D Institute UK (slides)
• Satellites and 5G: A satellite operator’s perspective by Simon Watts, Principal Consultant, Avanti Communications (slides)

A fantastic technical in-depth session on Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) by Yinan Qi, Samsung. Loved it @TMGB
#CWTEC pic.twitter.com/QUpxA3wKj9

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 26, 2019

Session 3 looked at "5G: A Catalyst for Network Transformation". The narrative was as follows:

5G has set high expectations in the user as well as operator community. While eMBB can be supported with an upgrade of existing 4G infrastructure, URLLC and mMTC may require massive change in the network architecture. Operators have already started the transformation process with backhaul upgrades, new data centers, distributed core and cloud rollouts, etc. How are networks evolving to accommodate these deep changes? What other changes will be required in the network to support the growth until the next new generation arrives?

This session featured 3 talks as well

• An Introduction to Open RAN Concept by Zahid Ghadialy, Senior Director, Strategic Marketing, Parallel Wireless UK & EMEA (slides)
• Powering the successful deployment of 5G infrastructure by David George, Vice President of EMEA and APAC, Sitetracker (slides)
• The 5G transformation: no sweet without sweat by Antonella Faniuolo, Head of Network Strategy, Planning, Digital & Optimisation, Vodafone (slides)

We loved @zahidtg’s #OpenRAN diagrams in his session at #CWTEC this afternoon. Good explanation of why OpenRAN matters and how it actually works. #5G @Parallel_tw pic.twitter.com/DTna4pC7bA

— Cambridge Wireless (@cambwireless) September 26, 2019

The final session topic was "Getting ready for Beyond-5G Era". The narrative was as follows:

Many technologies like Full duplex, etc. that were originally intended to be part of 5G were not able to make it into the standards. Along with these, what other revolutionary changes are needed to make Beyond-5G technologies not only fulfil the vision, ambition and use-cases that were originally envisaged for 5G but to take it a step further and make it a game changer.

This session featured 3 talks as well, as follows:

• Thinking Beyond 5G: Projects and Initiatives by Alan Carlton, Vice President, InterDigital Europe (slides not available)
• 5G Evolution: Progressive enhancement and new features for new markets by Matthew Baker, Head of Radio Physical Layer and Coexistence Standardization, Nokia (slides)
• Why 6G’s design goals need far more than just radio & core innovation by Dean Bubley, Analyst & Futurist, Disruptive Analysis (slides not available)

3GPP Release - Technology
99 - UMTS (3G)
4
5 - HSDPA (3.5G)
6 - HSUPA
7 - HSPA+
8 - LTE (3.9G)
9
10 - LTA-A (4G)
11
12
13 - LTE-A Pro (4.5G)
14
15 - 5G
16
17
18 - 5.5G?
19
20
21 - 6G?#CWTEC #3G4G5Gpic.twitter.com/vQi5Dhfsno

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) October 8, 2019

And my personal highlight was that I launched World's first coloured 5G tie

Did I mention I am launching my World's First Coloured 5G Tie that caters for all different implementations of 5G 😁 #CWTEC@cambwireless @3g4gUK @Parallel_tw @3GPPLive @IBTwi @AndrewPalmerCGI @alainmouradUK pic.twitter.com/j0ebPnSxaB

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 26, 2019

Hopefully you found the presentations shared as useful. Please also read the summaries of CWTEC provided below.


Related Articles:

• CW Technology & Engineering Conference Review by CW (Cambridge Wireless)
• CWTEC: 5G, Massive MIMO and Satellites by David Chambers, ThinkSmallCell
• Dean Bubley made a nice Twitter Thread on CWTEC here.
• All the information about the conference is available here.

CW Seminar: The present, the future & challenges of AR/VR (#CWFDT)

One of my roles is as a SIG champion of the CW (Cambridge Wireless) Future Devices & Technologies Group. We recently organised an event on "The present, the future & challenges of AR/VR". The CW team has kindly even summarised it here. I have also tried to collect all the tweets from the day here.

Why is this important? Most of the posts on this blog is about the mobile technology and I am guessing most of the readers are from that industry too. While we are focussed too much on connectivity, it's the experience that makes the difference for most of the consumers. On the operator watch blog, I wrote recently about South Korea and the operator LG Uplus. Average data usage by 5G users in Korea is as high as 18.3GB, and average 4G users use 9GB in the same period, according to MSIT in May 2019. 5G data is about 2 times than that of 4G. This remarkable traffic growth is driven by UHD and AR/VR contents. According to the operator LG Uplus, new services featuring AR and VR functions are proving popular and already account for 20% of 5G traffic, compared with 5% for 4G.

Coming back to the CW event, some of the presentations were shared and they are available here for a limited time. There were so many learnings for me, it's difficult to remember and add all of them here.

The awesome @NadiaAzizTweet explaining how to quickly start making your own AR/VR apps @cambwireless @NTT_DATA_UK #CWFDT pic.twitter.com/jSIQZypqKT

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 17, 2019

Our newest SIG champ Nadia Aziz covered many different topics (presentation here) including how to quickly start making your own AR/VR apps and how AR apps will be used more and more for social media marketing in future.

Fantastic talk by Mariano Cigilano, Creative Developer at @UNIT9 on the challenges of making a VR application and what they have learned along the way #CWFDT @cambwireless @NTT_DATA_UK pic.twitter.com/9xtIQ0Om4H

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 17, 2019

Mariano Cigliano, Creative Developer at Unit9 (presentation here) discussed the journey of their company and what they have learned along the way whilst developing their solution to disrupt the design process through integrating immersive technologies.

Learnt two new design concepts, Brown-boxing and Bodystorming from Aki Järvinen, @DigiCatapult #CWFDT @cambwireless @NTT_DATA_UK pic.twitter.com/vLrlTQSIcv

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 17, 2019

Aki Jarvinen from Digital Catapult (presentation here) explained about Brown-boxing and Bodystorming. Both very simple techniques but can help get the app designers story straight and save a lot of time, effort and money while creating the app.

Some fantastic motivation for VR training by @jamescwatson from @immerse #CWFDT - VR 5G training 🤔 @cambwireless @NTT_DATA_UK pic.twitter.com/TF01mJyzw9

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 17, 2019

James Watson from Immerse (presentation here) talked about VR training. So many possibilities if done correctly and can be more interactive than the online or classroom training's.

Schuyler Simpson, Vice President - Strategic Partnerships & Operations at Playfusion (presentation here) discussed the reality of enhanced reality, diving deep into the challenges about creating an experience that resonates best with audiences. In his own words, "Enhanced Reality blends visual, audio, haptic, and intelligent components to create highly personalized, immersive, and most importantly, valuable experiences for organizations and their audiences."

A fantastic workshop and pitch back session at #CWFDT event. Lots of people all the way till the end. Thanks @cambwireless @NTT_DATA_UK @NadiaAzizTweet @twinstan @PatChan288 pic.twitter.com/zi6Z2i2nlr

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) September 17, 2019

The most valuable learning of the day was to create an AR/VR app (just in theory), assuming there is no technology limitation. The whole journey consisted of:

• Brainstorming of the Use Case
• Key Pain Points
• Sort the pain points in priority and select top 3 or 5
• Map customer journey
• Define persona for which the app is being designed
• Map their journey
• Touch points
• What can be improved on those touch points 
• Design a VR/AR application for the defined problem 
• Storyboarding AR/VR use case
• UX design considerations – spatial, emotional.. 
• Scribe a prototype 
• Playback to others.

Many thanks to today's sponsor/host @NTT_DATA_UK, our wonderful #CWFDT SIG Champs (pictured below on the fantastic balcony) Graham, @zahidtg, David, Charlie, @NadiaAzizTweet & Sophie, our speakers and of course today's delegates for making our #CWFDT event a huge success! pic.twitter.com/khMXch37Tt

— Cambridge Wireless (@cambwireless) September 17, 2019

Thanks to everyone who helped make this whole event possible, from the SIG champs to the CW team and the host & sponsors NTT Data. Special thanks to our newest SIG champ, Nadia Aziz for tirelessly working to make this event a success.

Related Articles:

• CW Blog: The present, the future & the challenges of AR/VR
• Twitter Moment: The present, the future & the challenges of AR/VR
• Short summary of #CWFDT event 'Smart Devices of 2025'
• Robots in Telecoms World - A presentation from #CWFDT event on 'Robots: Assistance, Automation, Entertainment'

5G and Electromagnetic energy (EME)

Every time a new generation of mobile technology is being rolled out, there are scare stories about the radiation, cancer, etc. I last wrote a post on this topic back in 2011 and also in 2009. The main thing that has changed since is that 5G is being rolled out today as 4G was being rolled out then.

The Australian operator Telstra recently completed extensive testing of their 5G network infrastructure in real-world settings using commercially available 5G devices, and their data confirms two things. Firstly, the 5G technology produces electromagnetic energy (EME) levels at around 1000 times below the safety limits in many cases. Secondly, all the testing has found 5G EME levels to be similar to 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi. You can read the details and complete report here.

Last month I went to a seminar titled 'Update on Current Knowledge of RF Safety', organised by CW Radio Technology Group and National Register of RF Workers. Richard Hargrave from BT explained the challenge with compliance when a 5G carrier is added.

The implications as he said are:

• Some sites in urban areas become increasingly difficult to provide required capacity while maintaining compliance using standard designs
• Significant time and cost can be associated with works necessary to ensure compliance – new planning permissions, physical structures, new site acquisition etc
• As 5G is deployed further, particularly as additional spectrum is auctioned in 700MHz and 3.6-3.8GHz bands these problems will be exacerbated

His presentation is available here. Another presentation from Moray Rumney, asking some tough question on 5G safety is available here. Simon Rockman has written a summary of this seminar on Forbes, here.

I heard the Swiss operator Sunrise mentioning in a presentation at 5G World 2019 that the EMF limit in Switzerland is 10 times stricter than the rest of the world. This implies that 5G in Switzerland is extremely safe. The slide from the presentation can be seen in the pic above.

We also have couple of related videos on this topic, maybe of interest:

• Non millimeter Wave (mmWave) 5G
• 5G Spectrum - Short Version
• 5G Spectrum - Long Version

Further Reading:

• Electromagnetic energy (EME) - Telstra Consumer Advice
• 5 surveys of 5G show EME levels well below safety limits - Telstra
• Is 5G Dangerous? - Simon Rockman, Forbes
• 5G Dangers: Myth or Science? - Apis Training
• 5G health risks: What's the evidence? - BBC

Presentations on Macro Cells and Millimetre-wave Technology from recent CW (Cambridge Wireless) events

CW (Cambridge Wireless) held a couple of very interesting events from 2 very popular groups.

The first one was on "5G wide area coverage: macro cells – the why and the how". This event looked at the design and optimisation of the macro cell layer and its role within future heterogeneous networks. You can access the presentations for limited time on CW website here.

The presentations available are:

• Macro Cell developments that support LTE evolution and 5G deployments by Colin Bryce, Commscope
• Review of current macro network site types and design by Andy Sutton, British Telecommunications
• Smart rollout to maximise ROI by Mike Page, Radio Design
• Strategic planning: an overview of the role of the macro cell by Iris Barcia, Keima
• How massive MIMO can deliver the promise of new 5G Radio Networks by George Grayland, 5GFutures

Related posts that may be of interest:

• Keima: Automated 4G / 5G HetNet Design
• Prof. Andy Sutton: 5G Radio Access Network Architecture Evolution - Jan 2019
• #CWHeritage Talk: The history of synchronisation in digital cellular networks

Commercialising millimetre-wave technology - Presentations from @cambwireless #CWRadioTech event last week available now: https://t.co/PJbrBiJ8UR #4G #5G #Spectrum #Frequencies pic.twitter.com/6naiUSK1qw

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) May 21, 2019

The second one was on "Commercialising millimetre-wave technology". The event reviewed the commercial opportunities at millimetre-wave frequencies, what bands are available and what licensing is needed. You can access the presentations on CW website for limited time here.

The presentations available are:

• ‘Measurements, Modelling and Testing Millimetre Wave Communication Systems’ by Mark Beach, University of Bristol (Communication Systems & Networks Research Group)
• The Design of a Plastic Packaged Front-end IC for mmWave 5G by Liam Devlin, Plextek RFI
• Design Considerations for the Realisation of Cost-Effective, High-Performance mmWave PCBs by James Henderson, Plextek
• Millimetre wave wireless for improved wireless connectivity in Transport by Mark Barrett, Blu Wireless Technology
• Unlicensed, unlimited: 60GHz mmWave’ by Paul Morris, CCS
• Millimetre-Wave Circuit Simulation Challenges’ by David Morris, Keysight Technologies
• Use Cases & Enabling 5G NR Technologies by Mark Beach, University of Bristol (Communication Systems & Networks Research Group)
• Whitepaper by Paul Holes, Anritsu

We recently made a video to educate people outside our industry about non-mmWave 5G. It's embedded below.

Examples of 5G Use Cases & Applications

I recently did another 5G training for CW (Cambridge Wireless) & UK5G. One of the sections in that was about Use Cases. A very common questions that people ask is what can 5G do that 4G can't. The answer frankly is sometimes not very straightforward.

#5G teacher extraordinaire @zahidtg from @Parallel_tw is back in action today with his popular #CWTechTrain "An Advanced Introduction to 5G". Spaces are still available for CW's next training day on #IoT (29 May) - find out more here: https://t.co/FBMECW88ge pic.twitter.com/DtMqttefg1

— Cambridge Wireless (@cambwireless) May 2, 2019

While you can get a very high speed and very reasonable latency 4G system, it's not necessarily a commonplace. Similarly 5G is a bit over-hyped. There is a lot of potential in the technology but the theory may not translate into practice. Take for example millimeter wave. There is a large amount of bandwidth that can be available to each operator in this spectrum. The laws of physics however restrict how far mmWave can travel and also the fact that mmWave does not penetrate through glass, walls, etc. Does that mean that an indoor 5G system would be required to complement an outdoor one? Would Wi-Fi be able to complement cellular in-building? There are many unanswered questions at the moment.

There is also the debate around 5G icon displayed on your smartphones. When you see 5G, would it really be 5G or just re-branded 4G? Light Reading has explained this issue nicely here.

So while there are many potential applications & use cases that will benefit from 5G in the long run, the answers are not that easily available today. Anyhow, the collection of videos and slides embedded below will provide you with an insight on how different vendors and operators are looking at potentially using 5G.

Miscellaneous: 5G Uses Cases - April 2019 from 3G4G

The latest version of these slides are available to download from UK5G website here.

Some interesting April Fools' Day 2019 Technology Jokes

This year April Fools' Day wasn't as fun as the last one, even though it was on Monday. Many tech companies that make effort didn't make one this year. In fact Microsoft went even further and banned any public facing April Fools' pranks. Anyway, here are some of the jokes that I found interesting.

Parallel Wireless 7G Vision
This one was important for me as it features me (Yay!) and also enhanced my video editing skills. Grateful to CW (Cambridge Wireless) for being part of it too.

Parallel Wireless would today like to announces our 7G Vision (#7GVision) - https://t.co/Ffj63NX5F3 - Cambridge Wireless (@cambwireless) will form new Special Interest Group (SIG) to support the 7G Vision with @zahidtg joining the team too. pic.twitter.com/puz3cOoOGn

— Parallel Wireless (@Parallel_tw) April 1, 2019

Video is slightly long but funny hopefully



In short, the focus for the next few years will be do design a 7G logo that can explain the vision and connect with people. Did I mention 7GPPPPP?

"#7G Public Private Political Polling Partnership (7GPPPPP) with many different companies and organizations has also been formed to work on this vision."

Well played @Parallel_tw @cambwireless! ;)#AprilFools https://t.co/Lhxqk2Eifq

— Emanuel Kolta (@EmanuelKolta) April 1, 2019

Google Sssnakes on a map

Google temporarily added a version of the classic game Snakes into its Google Maps app for April Fools’ Day this year.

The company says that the game is rolling out now to iOS and Android users globally today, and that it’ll remain on the app for the rest of the week. It also launched a standalone site to play the game if you don’t have the app.

Jabra Ear bud(dy)

World’s first shared headphone - engineered for shared music moments. The website says:

The headphones come with an ultra-light headband that extends seamlessly to accommodate the perfect fit for every pair of buddies, so you’ll never have to enjoy another music moment alone. The Jabra Earbud(dy)™ comes with a unique Buddy mode that promises a shared music experience that is tailored to suit each person’s preferences. Fans of voice command will be thrilled to know that with just one touch, the Jabra Earbud(dy)™ can connect to dual voice assistant.


T-Mobile Phone BoothE

T-Mobile USA and their CEO John Legere never disappoints. They always come up with something interesting. Here is a video of the prank


From MacRumours:

T-Mobile is again fighting one of the so-called pain points of the wireless industry with the launch of the Phone BoothE, a completely sound-proof and high-tech phone booth that lets T-Mobile customers escape from noisy areas to make their phone calls. Inside the Phone BoothE you can charge your devices, connect to a smart screen called "Magenta Pages" to mirror your smartphone display, and adjust the lighting to take great selfies.

In regards to the name, T-Mobile is taking a shot at AT&T's misleading 5GE label: "The Phone BoothE is an evolution towards the new world of mobility. Like many in the tech and wireless industry today, we decided that by adding an "E" to the name, you would know it's a real technology evolution." 

Although this is an April Fools' Day joke, T-Mobile has actually built the Phone BoothE and deployed them in select locations around New York City, Seattle, and Washington, DC, where anyone will be able to use them. The company on Monday also revealed the T-Mobile Phone BoothE Mobile EditionE, which is more in line with a straightforward April Fools' Day hoax, as it's "literally a magenta cardboard box with a hole in it." 

While the actual site disappeared after April 1, the archived version can be seen here.

X-Ray vision Nokia 9 PureView

UPDATE: Getting ready for go-live! pic.twitter.com/ijsAXz8QhG

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) April 1, 2019

The Nokia 9 PureView has plenty of cameras on its back, but did you know that the black sensor isn’t a 3D ToF camera but rather an X-Ray sensor? Can be unlocked with the new Nokia X-Ray app in Play Store


"Digi-U" from Ericsson Digital

We announce a new innovation from our @EricssonDigital team - a Digi-ize yourself app called: "Digi-U". This app is available for download to your smart phone and within 10 minutes you will have transformed yourself into a mini-me hologram.

For more: #HappyAprilFoolsDay :-) pic.twitter.com/iCDiU1lHhj

— Ericsson Digital (@EricssonDigital) April 1, 2019

Parallel Wireless Adds AMPS (1G) Capabilities to Their Unified ALL G Architecture

From the press release:

Worlds First Fully Virtualized AMPS (vAMPS) to enable Modernization and Cost Savings

Parallel Wireless vAMPS is compatible with: Total Access Communications Systems (TACS) in the U.K.; Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) System in Scandinavia; C450 in Germany; and NTT System in Japan, among others, and will allow global operators to modernize their 1G infrastructure. The 1G vAMPS solution is also software upgradable to vD-AMPS, for operators who wish to follow that path.

Truphone foldable SIM (F-SIM) for Foldable Smartphones

From Truphone website:

F-SIM – the foldable SIM – designed especially for the new foldable smartphones and tablets demonstrated at this February’s MWC Barcelona, including Huawei’s Mate X and Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.

Widely tipped as the next generation in SIM technology, the foldable SIM works on minute hinges that allow it to fold smaller than any previous SIM form factor. Made specifically for foldable phones and other devices, Truphone’s latest innovation fulfils on its broader brand promise to engineer better connections between things, people and business—anywhere in the world.

The F-SIM comes in ‘steel grey’ and, for only £5 more, ‘hot pink’. Pricing structures vary depending on data, storage, roaming charges and device model.


Google Screen Cleaner in the Files app




Mother of All USB-C Hubs for Apple Macbook - HyperDrive Ultimate Ultimate Hub

The Mother of All USB-C Hubs for Apple Macbook - HyperDrive Ultimate Hub with built-in battery, speaker, 3.5" floppy disk drive, parallel, serial, PS/2, AT ports & 40 other ports from @Hyper - https://t.co/KpbZflRDcY #AprilFoolsDay #AprilFools2019 #AprilFools pic.twitter.com/xLIGXLcr8G

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) April 2, 2019

Other funny April Fools jokes:

• Captain Marvel Universal Pager
• Polite Car Horn from Honda Canada
• Duolingo Push
• Shutterstock Announces Plans to Build World’s Largest Brick-and-Mortar Library
• Parody Apple Ad: "The Sound Gardener"
• Audible for Fish
• Logitech Hamsters
• Nissin/HyperX Limited Edition Cup Noodle Headphones
• Roku Press Paws Remote for Pets
• OnePlus Warp Car - Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a single 20 minute charge
• Google Tulip: Decoding the language of flowers
• Introducing Waymo Pet - a self-driving service for pets
• Nvidia R.O.N.: The world's first AI powered virtual gaming assistant.

One of the funniest jokes is Qualcomm's HandSolo that was released back in 1998. You may enjoy watching here.

Related posts:

• Some interesting April Fools' Day 2018 Technology Jokes
• Some interesting April Fools' Day 2017 Technology Jokes
• Some interesting April Fools' Day 2016 Technology Jokes
• Some interesting April Fools' Day 2015 Technology Jokes
• Some interesting April Fools' Day 2014 Technology Jokes