Tesla's request to market a sensing device for the 60-64 GHz band at higher power than specified in FCC rules for applications including child safety systems and seat belt reminders (see 2008200027) got general support in comments posted through Tuesday in docket 20-264. Commenters also supported an Infineon Technologies waiver request, with the same deadlines, in docket 20-263, for in-vehicle child safety systems that operate in the 57-64 GHz band at higher power. “Granting Tesla’s request … will be in the best interest of the public by creating significant safety and security benefits through advanced vehicle safety applications” and won’t pose interference risks, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation said. “Children unknowingly left in or independently accessing ‘hot cars’ result in tragic, yet preventable, fatalities,” said Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety. Infineon's waiver would “accelerate the advancement and availability of such devices” and “will not increase the potential for interference to other spectrum users,” Tesla said. ADC Automotive Distance Control Systems said "the Commission should encourage the development and deployment of in-cabin technologies such as the chip technology proposed by Infineon."
ICANN promotes Naela Sarras to vice president-stakeholder engagement, North America, effective in November ... Engine Executive Director Evan Engstrom leaves, effective Oct. 1; hired by Milltown Partners as a director ... APCO hires Alison Venable, who graduated this year from the University of Maryland School of Law, as government relations counsel.
Philips unleashed a torrent of complaints Thursday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, accusing seven tech companies of infringing various “secure authenticated distance measurement” patents for digital video delivery content protection. Accused of violating four patents were LG (in Pacer) for a laptop and 43-inch 4K smart TV, plus Dell, HP and Lenovo (in Pacer) for laptops and 27-inch monitors. Chip companies Intel, MediaTek and Realtek (in Pacer) allegedly infringed two of the four patents. All the finished products were sold through Best Buy, Walmart or other big-box retailers, said the complaints. Philips said it gave each of the defendants “actual notice” of the alleged infractions via warning letters, yet all “continued to actively induce, and contribute to, their customers’ infringement." Philips seeks a jury trial and wants punitive and compensatory damages “in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the patented inventions.” The defendants didn't comment Friday.
The pandemic has been a “huge wake-up call” for industry on the supply chain for critical communications equipment, underlining vulnerabilities, said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. Others on an American Enterprise Institute webinar Friday stressed network virtualization's growing importance.
The U.S. needs to increase funding to support “collaborative, pre-competitive R&D” in the semiconductor industry and offer “incentives” for boosting domestic production, said the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Thursday. It should invite participation of semiconductor enterprises “headquartered in like-minded nations,” said ITIF. The increasing cost, complexity and scale required to innovate and manufacture semiconductors “means that no single nation or enterprise can go it alone,” it said. “In the face of challenges from China, allied cooperation in semiconductors is critical.” China views the semiconductor sector as the linchpin of its digital development and "broadest-scale economic growth plans,” said ITIF. It has shown it’s willing to use “every tool at its disposal in its efforts to develop a world-class semiconductor industry,” it said.
Apple energized its growing services business at its Tuesday event, announcing a subscription-based fitness app, Fitness+ ($9.99 a month; $79 yearly), and an expected bundled services offering (see 2008130029) under the moniker Apple One. “It’s all about recurring subscription revenue,” tweeted Futurum analyst Daniel Newman. Gartner's Mikako Kitagawa called the prices “competitive,” questioning if they will be enough to pull in users “other than existing Apple service customers.” Heavy Spotify or Netflix users need to have “a good reason to add Apple Music or TV," she emailed.
The FCC made the right decision on Ligado, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Incompas Tuesday during its virtual conference. Pai stressed FCC focus on 5G, saying the upcoming C-band auction will be “massive.” Pai said more is coming, including on the 5.9 GHz band and a follow-up order on 6 GHz (see 2008200040). “We have a lot of big irons in the fire,” he said.
Open radio access networks got a push from the FCC Monday, with a nearly daylong virtual forum headlined by Chairman Ajit Pai and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. All the commissioners, who have discussed the importance of ORAN and the growing dominance of China’s Huawei in equipment markets, also spoke.
Making internet services ubiquitous in households, a Silicon Labs’ virtual conference theme last week (see 2009110043), necessitates addressing security and other concerns, speakers said. “Our services should melt into the background, becoming as reliable and essential as running water or electricity,” said Grant Erickson, Google principal software engineer. Manufacturers incur high development costs to support multiple, “lightly differentiated and fundamentally non-interoperable stock keeping units,” he said. Consumers don’t know what works together and how their privacy and security are protected, he said. Such challenges must be met to reach the $150 billion 2023 valuation Google expects for the IoT, Erickson said. Google put its weight behind Project Connected Home Over IP. Erickson called CHIP a “critical movement to break through the fragmentation that’s holding the market back.” Comcast invested heavily there, said Jim Kitchen, vice president-product in its connected home devices and platforms unit. That the CHIP code will be available to developers as a starting point will drive ubiquity and interoperability that hasn’t existed before, Kitchen said. Though the IoT has gotten better with advances in technology, it’s confusing for end users, he said. He cited a “boundary” for shopping in store or online to "confidently purchase a device that they know is going to work with the rest of the things that are in their home or with whatever platform they’ve decided to invest in.” He doesn't “know if getting to the next level of interoperability is going to be the thing that finally lets these products get into 300 million homes in North America, but I know that has to happen before we get into 300 million homes.”
Wi-Fi 6 is becoming a “major influence” in the IoT that Silicon Labs is supporting, said General Manager Matt Johnson at the chip company's virtual conference last week (see 2009100068). The next-generation Wi-Fi technology was the impetus behind the company’s purchase of Redpine Signals’ connectivity business this year. Johnson touted power consumption and “always-on” Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi 6 brings to the IoT the ability to support "hundreds of nodes without affecting network performance,” Johnson told us. “It allows prioritization and management across all the devices with their unique and different needs, and it supports doing this with lower power, which is something Wi-Fi has not been traditionally good at.”