News
navigation system, after the successful launch last month of the fi rst two operational Galileo satellites. A range of advanced services
Galileo’s fi rst two satellites E
urope is a step closer to having its own smart satellite
will be made possible by the new constellation, including more precise in-car navigation, eff ective road transport management, search and rescue services, and reliable electricity provision, all of which rely heavily on satellite navigation technologies to work effi ciently. Over a period of 20 years, the
Galileo programme is expected to deliver €90 billion in additional revenues for industry and in pub- lic and social benefi ts.
FCS installer programme
T
he FCS is to expand its FITAS programme, which
offers accreditation for installers of communications equipment into vehicles. New training modules will offer specialist accreditation for installations in ‘blue light’ fl eets and petrochemical tankers, and a module covering retrofi tting of DAB vehicle radios is under consideration too. This would enable installers to compete for work resulting from the proposed analogue shutdown. Commenting on the plans,
John Thomson, chairman of the FCS Installers Committee, said: “We are excited about these latest developments to the FITAS programme, which we believe will offer more value to both existing and new members of the programme. I am also pleased that Jason McComb will be taking on the role of scheme manager. Jason’s experience and understanding of the needs of installers and their customers in conjunction with our new training offerings will allow us to take FITAS to the next level.”
4
Refi ning M2M I
nteroperability of M2M products based on new ETSI
standards was demonstrated at an ETSI Machine to Machine workshop held last month in France. Participating in the event
Entering orbit – the fi rst spacecraft in a planned constellation of 30 From 2014, Galileo will off er
three services: the Open Service (free of charge), the Public Regulated Service (PRS) and the Search-and-Rescue Service.
Further services to follow, as the system reaches its full complement of 30 satellites, will include a Commercial Service and a Safety- of-Life Service.
Ofcom maps highlight UK’s mobile not-spots U
sing data supplied by communication providers,
Ofcom has published a series of maps showing outdoor mobile coverage in the UK, alongside its fi rst report to the Government on the country’s communications infrastructure, Matt Conder writes. The regulator is working with
the Government on how best to spend the recently announced £150 million fund set aside to address the UK’s mobile not- spots. Ofcom’s maps show that 97
per cent of premises and 66 per cent of the UK landmass can receive a 2G signal outdoors from all four 2G networks, whilst outdoor signals from all fi ve 3G networks are available to 73 per cent of premises but only 13 per cent of the country’s landmass. Rural areas such as mid-Wales
have the worst geographic 3G coverage, whilst densely populated areas like London come out on top. However, Bob Warner,
were 13 diverse organizations which presented a wide cross- section of M2M applications. These included smart energy, environmental sensing, m-health, intelligent transport, ambient assisted living, personal robots, home automation, medical appliances and smart metering. Demonstrations organized
by ETSI’s Technical Committee for Machine to Machine communications (TC M2M), covered architectural components specifi ed in the ETSI M2M standard, including M2M devices, gateways with associated interfaces, applications and access technologies. Amon the companies involved
chair of the Communications Consumer Panel, an independent advisory body, believes that indoor coverage could be even worse. “Ofcom quotes fi gures for outdoor mobile coverage of buildings and UK geography, but what also matters to most mobile users is the coverage that they get when they’re at home or at work”, he said. “Although the Ofcom report explains that actual consumer experience will differ from the outdoor fi gures, in reality consumers indoors will experience much worse coverage.”
Femto communities Meanwhile, in an effort to fi ll the 3G not-spots, Vodafone is seeking 12 communities across the UK to take part in rural mobile coverage trials. Scheduled to begin in 2012, the trials will test the latest version of femtocell technology as a means of providing 3G signals in local areas.
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http://maps.ofcom.org.uk
were Actility, Cinterion Wireless Modules, Grid2Home, Intecs, Intel, InterDigital, NEC, OFFIS, Radisys, Sensinode, Telecom Italia and Vodafone. Erik Brenneis, head of M2M
at Vodafone, said: “Building on new ETSI specifi cations, Vodafone and Intel demonstrated a breakthrough ability to use the SIM card to securely deploy new M2M services on remote devices. This opens the door to signifi cant new commercial applications and cost reductions in the operation of M2M services.”
Remote subscription Telefónica, parent company of O2
, and the smart card
maker Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) have demonstrated a “pre-standard” technology for remotely managing M2M SIM subscription data based on the principles of the embedded SIM. In a live test, a subscription from Telefónica Spain was transferred securely over the air to Telefónica UK.
LAND mobile November 2011
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