Mobile World Congress 2017!

The Mobile World Congress is one of the world’s largest exhibitions for the mobile industry. It provides one of the best opportunities to hear and learn from industry leaders in the entire world as well.  The event offers conferences featuring prominent executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world; an almost unmatched gathering of knowledge. The 2017 event will take place in Barcelona, Spain between February 27 and March 2, 2017. Annual attendance is normally in the range of 90,000-100,000 people, and represents more than 200 countries from across the globe. For more information about the event or to register for a space of your own visit the Mobile World Conference 2017’s website here.

Where to find AIR802

This year AIR802 is be a member of the State of Illinois Pavilion as part of an exhibition of featuring manufacturing companies that call the state home in the U.S. As a company we are excited to bring many new product innovations from design to production this coming year; even be announcing two of these aforementioned developments at this year’s Mobile World Conference!

Air802 invites everyone to stop by and visit us in Hall 7, Stand 7G70. We encourage all customers and interested international distributors to contact us and setup individual appointments. We understand the event is jam packed though, feel free to stop by and chat at your convenience if scheduling a meeting is too difficult. We love to chat! Air802 is very much looking forward to the opportunity to meet with everyone in the beautiful city of Barcelona. Individuals can reserve a meeting spot by visit our registration page here!

***  With limited time available appointments will be first come first  *** serve. If you would like to simply receive further information on AIR802 give us a call or send us an email! We would love to work with you to determine how we  can help you out this year!

The Restriction on Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) was first accepted by the European Union in February 2003. The goal of this legislation was to create unified standards on the acceptable amount of materials that are hazardous to human health being sold in the European Union. For example lead (pB) is dangerous to brain development in children.
In January 2013, RoHS 2, which restricts substances utilized in the manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment went into effect. Specifically it:

1.  Establishes simple, effective and enforceable regulatory conditions.
2. Makes enforcement more harmonious with better legal clarity.
3. Sets forth the exemptions to the rules with more transparency.
4. Establishes gradual increases in the requirements with efforts towards full compliance by July 22, 2019 unless exemptions are renewed.

RoHS 1 & 2 Restricted Substances

The following six substances have remained through the original RoHS and the newer RoHS 2 rules:

1. Lead (pB): 0.1% by weight (<1000 ppm)
2. Mercury (Hg): 0.1% by weight (<100ppm)
3. Cadmium (Cd): 0.01% by weight (<100ppm)
4. Hexavalent Chromium (Cr VI)I: 0.1% by weight (<1000 ppm)
5. Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB): 0.1% by weight (1000 ppm)
6. Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDCE): 0.1% by weight (<1000 ppm)

Compliance Versus Exempt

Often confusion or lack of understanding exists around the term “Compliant” vs “Exempt”. RoHS compliance requires all manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment to comply with RoHS 2 regulations. However there are over 80 current exemptions to the regulations. These exemptions are scheduled to expire in 2019 unless they are renewed. Some might be renewed while some new substance restrictions may be introduced.

Current Market Place for Wireless Products

1. Some have the viewpoint that compliance will be required in the next few years thus they make the decision to utilize RoHS in current products.
2. Generally products being utilized in the medical industry today are much more likely to require RoHS compliance vs. exempt.
3. RoHS is not always, but is often considered by customers globally outside of the European Union.
4. At AIR802, the product of concern is coaxial connectors.

• These connectors are manufactured with brass.
• Typical brass exceeds the lead (pB) allowable levels.
• While some of our connectors, particularly those in antennas are often  compliant, the majority exceed the lead (pB) levels, which are exempt from the rules.
• There is no legal requirement to keep them under limits. At this point, it is driven by customer demand.
• If customers request we will use a different grade of brass which will meet the restriction limits (even though not required today).
• Generally, use of brass with lead at <1000 ppm will add roughly 40% to the cost of connectors.

Please comment or contact us with any further questions!

 

What is a Connected Vehicle?

The Wikipedia definition of a connected car is: “A connected car is a car that is equipped with Internet access, and usually also with a wireless local area network. This allows the car to share internet access with other devices both inside as well as outside the vehicle.”

Outlook:

Current research and momentum are moving well beyond this with vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to roadside infrastructure (V2I) applications and technology. Imagine a safer world, one with near crash-free driving!

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that this technology could be a game changer, with the potential to reduce 80% of all vehicle crashes involving non-impaired drivers. As a result, putting teenagers behind the wheel for the first time can be less of a worry for parents. Travel time can be reduced through real-time assessments of all potential routes, traffic, and emergency updates like accidents and weather. The possibilities for improvements with this technology are astounding!

 In addition to these factors the continued improvements to fuel efficiency and vehicle design by manufacturers will lead to huge time and money savings. The possibilities are as exciting as they are endless; travel as we know it is rapidly changing for the better.

The Future is Now

All sound farfetched? Research and the creation of standards are already underway with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The efforts are centered on the use of the 5.850 to 5.925 GHz spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently exploring whether this spectrum can be shared with unlicensed Wi-Fi devices. Certainly applications and demand for spectrum are continuously growing. Consequently it will be very interesting to see the path legislation in regards to the connected vehicle, the use of the spectrum, and general technological advances will take in the near future. Networking News will continue to keep you up to date!

 

In our last edition we began a discussion on the critical importance of quality going back to as far as the ancient Greek society. We pointed out that often today buying decisions are based on a lack of proper knowledge and training.

Hence the old Bell System had intensive training programs and detailed specifications that resulted in a highly reliable telephone system. However today the knowledge level of many engineers, technicians and management in our industry is seriously insufficient.

Therefore isn’t it ironic that customers outside of the USA always seem to value American made products for their quality? As a result they often seek out these American made products in their purchasing efforts. Yet, unlike our foreign counterparts, far too many consumers in the U.S. look for the lowest cost versus seeking the value found in high quality.

What are the attributes of Quality?

1. Performance
   > Products or deployed networks should meet the specifications
2. Reliability
   > High product failure rates result in significant downtime and operational costs.
3. Durability
   > Will the product hold up in the environment which it is used
4. Serviceability
   > Reputable firms have warranties

Why is Quality Important?

1. Productivity
   > Poor Quality results in breakdowns, network inefficiency or even work stoppages
2. Profitability
   > Quality increases profitability
3. Reputation / Customer Loyalty / Customer Expectation & Satisfaction
   > If poor choices are made it will affect your personal reputation
   > Poor choices can result in poor products and/or services leaving your company reputation damaged and losing customer loyalty
4. Meeting Standards
   > Do the products meet safety and defined industry standards
5. Costs
   > Poor Quality increases costs particularly over the long-term

Furthermore the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently conducted a report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education entitled “Time for the U.S. to Reskill?.” The organization discovered that a whopping 36 million adults in the U.S. are considered low skilled workers; lacking basic skills in literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. While these are considered the minimal skills necessary for meaningful employment in a high-tech global economy the reality is that in wired or wireless networking careers the true skill level needed is much, much higher.

Yet how to solve this  problem and close this gap is debatable. First of all, at the very minimum the corporate world employing technical workers should offer internal seminars, courses or pay for outside training courses while creating mandated levels of skilled knowledge for their employees. In addition, bonuses or merit pay increases should be tied to those employees motivated to increase their knowledge level and whom make an attempt to provide excellence in Quality.

Look for future articles detailing specific examples related to the IT networking industry.

Click Here To READ “QUALITY IN OUR SOCIETY – PART 1”

In April we discussed the encroachment on the unlicensed 5 GHz band, more specifically that Qualcomm has been pushing for using for sharing the 5.1 to 5.8 GHz channels for LTE-U (U=unlicensed). There has certainly been much debate about sharing this spectrum which is commonly used by WiFi, including the most recent 802.11ac standard being used in newer products. The debate has only intensified recently, with big players stepping up one both sides to make their arguments heard on the issue.

Major carriers such as Verizon, T-Mobile and others paid huge amounts of money for their ability to use this spectrum. Thus, for those companies the encroachment on the 5 GHz band, the same band that they depend on for WiFi deployments without even incurring a cost, doesn’t sit well. The WiFi Alliance, along with others, have stated their concern about possible interference and future problems among current WiFi networks. The counter argument by Qualcomm and supporters of the use of LTE-U is that it won’t result in any more interference than the creation of a new WiFi access point would now.

Both sides remain steadfast and the debate does not appear to have a clear answer in sight. The WiFi Alliance is reporting that by September they will have a test plan to in place for examining the exact result of this use of LTE-U; Qualcomm is demanding immediate testing. Hopefully, the results of these tests will ease the debate a some and provide us with some clarity.

The result of this debate could have some major effects on the entire mobile industry. It is without a doubt something very important to keep an eye on for everyone in the industry.  Those concerned about the potential effects can provide their comments to directly to the FCC or to your residing state congressmen.

 

 

 

Check out our full look at The 3.5 GHz Spectrum here