The FCC and OSHA on Thursday released a new Communications Tower Best Practices Guide as part of an effort to reduce the number of fatalities involved in communications tower work. The Commission indicated the guide was the result of workshops that sought the input of industry stakeholders.
“As more Americans use mobile devices to call, text, and stream content, the safety of workers who maintain and construct communications towers is more critical than ever,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Heath Dorothy Dougherty said in a joint statement. “Every day, communications tower workers face potential hazards that can be deadly if not performed safely, and dozens of fatalities have occurred over the past few years. Every tower climber death is preventable.”
Ericsson this week praised 3GPP’s decision to select CP-OFDM waveform for its 5G New Radio specs, citing its own research that found the technology is well-suited to the demands of next generation wireless.
“We realized that CP-OFDM was in fact the most appropriate candidate for NR,” Senior Researcher Ali A. Zaidi and Master Researcher Robert Baldemair wrote in a blog post. “CP-OFDM ranks best on the performance indicators that matter most – compatibility with multi-antenna technologies, high spectral efficiency, and low implementation complexity. Moreover, CP-OFDM is well-localized in time domain, which is important for latency critical applications and TDD deployments. It is also more robust to oscillator phase noise and Doppler than other multicarrier waveforms. Robustness to phase noise is crucial for operation at high carrier frequencies (e.g., mmWave band).”
Zaisi and Baldemair acknowledged OFDM has two drawbacks – less frequency localization and high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) – but said these can be mitigated with well-established techniques like clipping, companding, and windowing. “These techniques can be easily applied to CP-OFDM at the transmitter in a receiver agnostic way,” they said.
Nokia announced it has been selected by the NASPO ValuePoint as a supplier of packet microwave communications for U.S. state and local governments.
Nokia said its 9500 Microwave Packet Radio (MPR) is a multi-service platform supporting both traditional TDM services and Ethernet-based services. The company said the combined approach enables a smooth evolution to modern packet-based applications and was developed with the public sector’s stringent security requirements in mind.
Nokia noted the agreement comes at a time when U.S. state and local governments are either upgrading or planning to upgrade their networks to support services for first responders, public safety officials, and public works teams.
Verizon is gearing up to add the Moto Z2 Play to its Moto Z product line. The Moto Z2 Play will be available in Lunar Gray and Fine Gold on Verizon this summer. Visit verizonwireless.com on Friday, June 2 for more information. Snap on Moto Mods, including a projector and stereo speaker, are currently available for the Z2 Play, with more scheduled to be released this summer.
Iceland’s Post and Telecom Administration (PTA) has reportedly announced the closing of its auction of spectrum licenses for 700, 800, 2100, and 2600 MHz bands. The biggest interest and the highest bids were given on the lower bands, where Síminn received 2×20 MHz in 700 MHz band and Vodafone and Nova both received 2×5 MHz in 800 MHz band. The spectrum was valued 17.5 million Icelandic krona (around $177,422) per 5 MHz in the both bands.
Filed Under: Industry regulations + certifications