Release of UHF channels is good for M2M in the UK

The UK regulator, Ofcom, has announced that it is making two 6 channels (870-876 and 915-921 MHz) available for use by Short Range Devices, on a licence exempt basis. Its statement also forsees the need to authorise higher power applications and will be working on a mechanism for this. The latter could be useful for wide area network applications such car-related communication, smart metering and a host of other possible Internet of Things (machine to machine networks) (a similarly positioned band in the US has proved very popular for this purpose).

To encourage innovation, Ofcom has sought to make access requirements as neutral as possible

Power constraints arise from the risk to railway communication systems using E-GSM-R. This appears to be an area where Ofcom could in future apply dynamic spectrum access technology (i.e. geolocation) to enable constraints to be restricted to areas where the railway infrastructure is located.

 

 

 

Wi-Fi at your service

With the amazing proliferation of devices with Wi-Fi interfaces, there is growing interest in enterprises in providing efficient high quality coverage.

Many consumers report high satisfaction with their Wi-Fi at home, but have had mixed experiences on the move and in popular meeting spots such as coffee shops, hotel lobbies, conference suites etc.. These hotspots are especially important for visitors from other countries, who incurr roaming charges on their use of mobile/cellular data services.

In a home or small office, it is relatively straightforward to deploy Wi-Fi and obtain a high quality connection. In more dense public spaces, however the deployment of WiFi requires more planning and needs to be monitored (e.g. so that adjavcet hotspots do not interfere with each other and that crashed access points are restored quickly.

This creates opportunitis for enterprise Wi-Fi solutions, such as is offered by Aruba and Cisco. Recently in the news has been a company called Aerohive, which offers Wi-Fi solutions using cooperation between adjacent devices. The devices form what the company calls a 'hive' and communicate with each other to assure good network coverage and performance.

Aerohive's recent IPO indicated the strong market interest - with an estimated value of over $400m. It is a sign of growing demand for 'Wi-Fi as a Service', which allows businesses to beneft from this utility, without the need to invest in technical skills and resources.

 



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