Microsoft, Boku, O2 and Wind are expanding carrier billing on Windows 10 for the cross-platform universal Windows Store. Using only their mobile phone number, O2 subscribers in the UK and Wind subscribers in Italy can now purchase apps, software, movies, music, games and more on any Windows 10 device including mobile phones, tablets, PCs and laptops. Once a customer’s mobile phone number is stored in a user’s Windows Store account, purchases can be made without a credit card and charges will appear on the subscriber’s mobile bill.
Google is seeking permission from the Federal Communications Commission to test wireless broadband technology as an alternative to fiber. According to its filing with the FCC, Google is aiming to test the technology in 24 U.S. locations over a period of two years. The company said the requested authorization is “needed to advance technologies in the 3.5 GHz band.”
Moxa, a manufacturer of communications and networking equipment for industrial automation, is now offering system integrators and OEM machine builders a solution to connect sensors and devices to a management platform or database over 4G LTE wireless networks.
Now available in North and South America, Moxa’s 4G LTE Jump Start Kit addresses two key pain points when connecting operations to the Industrial Internet of Things – collecting data from industrial devices, and transmitting that data in an efficient format to a cloud-connected platform. The solution contains a programmable Modbus data logger with built-in 4G LTE communications, a Modbus gateway that connects to most commercially-available PLCs and RTUs, and an I/O module to collect analog and digital sensor data.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has worked with industry partners to integrate commercial technologies into a mobile wireless communications system to demonstrate improvements to emergency communications and foster research on systems that can be quickly placed in strategic locations. About the size of a large file cabinet, NIST’s Rapidly Deployable Public Safety Research Platform – affectionately dubbed a “Nerdcart” – offers more capabilities and faster setup than typical cell-on-wheels systems.
The platform enables over 200 local users of broadband smart phones, Wi-Fi, data terminals and older walkie-talkie radios to communicate with each other using voice, text, instant messages, video and data. The range is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in a rural environment. Crucially, the system interconnects Long Term Evolution (LTE) phones with the public safety community’s traditional Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems. The nation’s estimated 5 million public safety personnel are expected to use a mix of both systems.
The mobile system can also be connected to the internet, satellite or a commercial cellular network to link users to a broader community. NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division staff are currently exploring integrating sensor data and analytics into the system, and developing requirements for linking up with both personal area networks that are already in place as well as temporary Incident Area Networks, which are created as needed and can expand as an incident grows in size and complexity.
The work was funded, in part, by the Department of Homeland Security’s First Responder Group.
Filed Under: Infrastructure
