By FirstNet CTO Devices Group

Earlier this year, staff from FirstNet’s technical headquarters traveled to Barcelona, Spain to attend the 2016 Mobile World Congress (MWC) to observe firsthand the latest developments in various wireless technologies.  The show is invaluable for gathering information related to innovative products and leading edge technology developments. Some interesting statistics about the MWC include –

• Over 100,000 individuals, having some level of involvement in the wireless technology industry, attended the show. There was a high level of international participation with 204 countries represented.  
• Over 2,200 companies showcased their organizations via exhibition stands and hospitality spaces across nine halls and outdoor areas at Fira Gran Via and Fira Montjuic, covering a total of about 100,000 square meters.
• Exhibit areas were broken down into eight halls and nine pavilions.  Areas of particular interest for FirstNet were:
  • App Planet Pavilion
  • Wearables Pavilion
  • Wireless Devices
  • Wireless Services
  • Wireless Accessories
  • Internet of Things (IOT) Pavilion
  • Graphene Pavilion
  • Safety and Security Products
  • Cyber and Personal Security
  • Virtual Reality
  • Augmented Reality

Some key themes during the MWC that have future applicability to public safety are:

LTE Public Safety Specific Features & Products:  Several vendors displayed products that were designed with public safety in mind.  Some of these demonstrations included technology such as end-to-end push-to-talk utilizing Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) to enable group communications, proximity services to discover other devices in the area, mission critical Internet of Things (IoT) prototypes, ruggedized and secure devices, and secure mobile device management platforms.

5G Technology:  Several major equipment providers and mobile network operators (MNOs) demonstrated 5G technology.  Long term, the network slicing concept is thought to be the key enabler that will unlock the full potential of 5G.  A U.S. MNO announced that it could launch 5G technology as early as 2017 after the completion of trials in the 28 GHz band.  Several MNOs from around the world also announced the formation of an alliance to develop specifications for 5G trials beginning in 2016.  Early 5G launches are likely to be limited to a select group of large MNOs building out high-capacity coverage in urban areas to enable services such as advanced broadcasting or 3D imaging. 

Ironically, increased speed is in many ways the least significant feature of 5G and the true value of the technology will come from network slicing to segment the physical network into logical networks.This will enable enhanced mobile broadband services to be optimized for different applications, such as IoT and massive machine type communications (mMTC). The IoT and mMTC markets stand to benefit the most from the network slicing concept due to the large increase in the deployment of these devices and specific demands, such as network bandwidth, latency, etc., of each application that controls a given device.mMTC typically refers to the connectivity of large numbers of low-cost and low-energy devices. It is anticipated that a leading use case of mMTC is in transportation monitoring and control applications.

Athird phase of 5G development that may be of particular interest to public safety includes critical machine type communications (cMTC), augmented reality, and tactile internet , as these services require a super low-latency network.It is anticipated that critical machine type communications will be employed by industries such as manufacturing, energy distribution, intelligent transport systems, and telemedicine to name a few.All of these industries have the need for highly reliable and available communications, real-time control and automation, and very low end-to-end latency.In public safety’s case, a very low-latency network will be necessary to truly enable mission critical push-to-talk and 5G may be a further enabler of this feature along with improving resiliency and providing additional redundancy.

Smartphones:  More than 40 smartphones were announced by over 20 global manufacturers during the show.  Several device vendors used the show as a platform to launch flagship products.   But they also focused on advancements in peripheral product development and improvements of existing device features that will enhance the consumer experience.  Some of these items included better cameras, device accessories such as earpieces, smart watches, products that enable virtual reality, and others.

Wearables:  The majority of the 167 wearables on display at the show were intended for the consumer market.  However, there were some wearables incorporating augment reality (AR) techniques geared towards industry.  One example was a glove that monitors an individual’s movements and incorporates a laser scanner on the wrist.  Having a laser scanner placed on the wrist helps eliminate the need for a handheld scanner which frees up an individual’s hands to perform other activities.  It is possible that public safety could use AR to add information to a user’s real-world view to create an enhanced, composite experience.  AR is used for remote assistance in industry today, where specialists at a centralized site are able to advise colleagues in the field.  An application of the AR concept in public safety might be in the area of telemedicine, where a doctor is remotely assisting paramedics in the field from the hospital.  For mobile network operators, the growth of AR is a positive development.  Since the majority of AR capable headsets rely on cellular connectivity, this creates an opportunity for managed services to be provided by an MNO.

Balloons and Drones for Connectivity:  Several of the keynote speeches were focused on connecting “unconnected” areas where it is not economical to deploy conventional infrastructure for high-speed Internet access.  Balloons are being considered in order to directly transmit 4G signals to mobile handsets on the ground by using an MNO’s spectrum.  This has the potential to be a more affordable way of reaching users in certain terrains than deploying conventional network infrastructure.  The use of solar powered drones to supply coverage in underserved areas is also being actively investigated as an alternative to conventional network infrastructure.  In the future, it may be possible that balloons and drones could be utilized as a network extender to provide coverage to public safety in areas of difficult terrain that are not covered by a conventional terrestrial network, or areas that are inaccessible by conventional means.

Internet of Things (IoT):  Several vendors and MNOs demonstrated IoT solutions such as LTE machine type communication (LTE-MTC) and narrow band IoT (NB-IoT) operating in licensed spectrum.  These solutions are based on 3GPP-approved Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards. The mobile IoT licensed standards allow MNOs to optimize their existing mobile network infrastructure through an upgrade to LTE-MTC for LTE networks.  In addition to operating on 4G networks, NB-IoT can be deployed in networks operating on 2G technology   Vendors demonstrated how LTE-MTC can be used for connected shoes, wearables, and health care devices, as well as industrial devices such as smart meters, fleet tracking, and smart grid monitoring.  Vendors and MNOs also showed how IoT could be used to address the challenges of extending coverage to difficult-to-reach indoor locations such as basements, as well as remote rural areas.  In addition, vendors and MNOs demonstrated use cases involving NB-IoT for connected bikes, smart parking, pet tracking, and water metering.  The IoT space has direct applicability to public safety with things like cameras (body, traffic, etc.), tracking of public safety assets, biometric sensors, robot control, and other potential uses.

Virtual Reality (VR):  The major difference between VR and AR is that VR creates a fully simulated environment.  Many device vendors and network operators had VR demonstrations in their booth.  Most of these demonstrations involved the use of video cameras capable of taking 360-degree video.  These 360-degree capable cameras have the ability to be paired with the latest smartphones and a VR headset.  Device vendors were using VR at MWC to showcase innovation and draw consumers to their brand.  Currently, VR is a new concept, and issues surrounding the business model for device manufacturers and the high cost of VR headsets have yet to be worked out.  VR could be applied to some aspects of the training of public safety personnel.

As commercial wireless technology transitions to public safety use, there are areas that are customized to support the public safety operational procedures and working environments.  Examples of these areas include ruggedization of devices for operation in hazardous environments, modification of user interfaces to match the public safety usage requirements, and enhanced security capabilities to allow connection to limited access databases.  

Generally, advances in technology first happen with commercial products and eventually transition to public safety platforms, so monitoring the advancements in the area of commercial products provides some advance notice of what may be coming in the future to public safety platforms.  In some cases, there may be a need to accelerate the transition of commercial focused technology for the benefit of public safety users.          

FirstNet’s priority is to support the latest technological advances for the benefit of public safety users of the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN).  The information gathered at MWC identified a number of areas for further investigation by FirstNet to help facilitate the best in class technology when standing up the NPSBN for public safety stakeholders.      

Video links for MWC, which include the keynote addresses, are available at the following link:
http://www.mobileworldlive.com/

The full list of exhibitors at the 2016 MWC is available at:
https://www.mobileworldcongress.com/exhibition/our-exhibitors/

Thanks
-The FirstNet Devices Group