tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/wireless-21744/articlesWireless – The Conversation2023-04-03T16:26:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2011322023-04-03T16:26:04Z2023-04-03T16:26:04ZHere’s how the Rogers-Shaw merger could benefit Canadian customers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518541/original/file-20230330-20-297ypl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3679%2C2495&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rogers' takeover of Shaw has been approved by the Canadian government, but the deal comes with stringent conditions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Canadian government has finally approved the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-shaw-approval-1.6797175">$26 billion takeover of Shaw by Rogers</a> after nearly two years of delays. When the merger was <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/15/2192622/0/en/Rogers-and-Shaw-to-come-together-in-26-billion-transaction-creating-new-jobs-and-investment-in-Western-Canada-and-accelerating-Canada-s-5G-rollout.html">first announced by Rogers in 2021</a>, it stirred up a significant amount of competition concern. </p>
<p>The Canadian Competition Bureau <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/competition-bureau/news/2023/01/statement-from-the-commissioner-of-competition-on-the-federal-court-of-appeals-decision-regarding-the-rogers-shaw-merger.html">was worried the merger would soften competition in the telecom industry</a>, resulting in higher prices and lower service quality for customers.</p>
<p>The bureau <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/competition-bureau-rogers-shaw-merger-1.6446827">filed a court application to block the deal in 2022</a>, but the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-shaw-appeal-court-1.6724045">Federal Court of Appeal rejected the application</a> and the subsequent <a href="https://financialpost.com/telecom/rogers-shaw-merger-approval-appeal-court">appeal from the bureau</a>.</p>
<p>But Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne appears to have heeded some of these concerns. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2023/03/statement-from-minister-champagne-concerning-competition-in-the-telecommunication-sector.html">In his statement on the merger</a>, the minister said the deal’s approval is contingent on a series of legally enforceable conditions for Rogers and Videotron, the company that Shaw is selling its Freedom Mobile wireless business to.</p>
<p>These conditions are to ensure this merger will, according to Champagne, “actually drive down prices across Canada.” With the advent of these conditions, this deal could end up benefiting Canadian consumers and the economy.</p>
<h2>Lowering service costs</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/these-are-the-conditions-and-penalties-if-violated-of-the-rogers-shaw-deal-1.6337353">Two of the merger’s conditions</a> require Rogers to set up low-cost mobile plans for low-income Canadians, and expand its existing low-cost internet plans. Rogers has good reason to meet these conditions — if it violates any of them, it could be fined up to $1 billion.</p>
<p>Meeting these low-cost conditions shouldn’t be an issue for the merged company. According to Rogers, the <a href="https://about.rogers.com/news-ideas/rogers-and-shaw-to-come-together-in-26-billion-transaction-creating-new-jobs-and-investment-in-western-canada-and-accelerating-canadas-5g-rollout/">financial benefit of the merger will be around $1 billion annually</a>. </p>
<p>Rogers will also be able to lower service costs through integration. Since Canada is such a large country geographically, but <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2018005-eng.htm">relatively small population-wise</a>, it would be wasteful for Rogers to build their own infrastructure, instead of taking advantage of Shaw’s.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A white middle-aged man gestures with his hands while speaking. Two Canadian flags stand behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518801/original/file-20230331-26-xtdw0z.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne speaks at a news conference about the Rogers-Shaw merger on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 31.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shaw has a fibre route in western Canada that is over 12,000 kilometres long — Rogers will be able to save money by using this pre-existing route to deliver its services, instead of building new networks.</p>
<h2>Increasing internet access</h2>
<p>This merger also has the potential to play a key role in Canada’s 5G infrastructure and increasing internet access for Canadians.</p>
<p>5G is the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-is-5g-here-is-short-video-primer/">fifth generation of mobile network technology</a>. It’s more reliable, faster and can handle more data than 4G can. In other words, it’s the future of wireless networks — a future Canada should capitalize on.</p>
<p>The merger’s conditions require Rogers to expand broadband internet access and 5G services across the country. This will be especially important for households in suburban and <a href="https://nationalpost.com/feature/left-behind-internet-access-rural-canada">rural areas in Canada</a>, since it’s harder for them to access fibre and internet alternatives.</p>
<p>Given that 98.6 per cent of households in urban areas can access to broadband, but <a href="https://www.ckom.com/2023/01/08/indigenous-communities-across-canada-working-to-provide-internet-access-for-underserved/">only 45.6 per cent of rural households and 34.8 per cent of First Nations reserves</a> can, the merger could benefit rural markets substantially.</p>
<h2>Revitalizing the economy</h2>
<p>5G services are estimated to <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/10/17/strengthening-canadas-position-leader-5g-and-digital-innovation">contribute $40 billion annually</a> and <a href="https://www.5gcc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CWTA-Accenture-Whitepaper-5G-Economic-Impact_Updates_WEB_06-19-2018.pdf">250,000 jobs to Canada by 2026</a>. Another one of the merger’s conditions is that Rogers create 3,000 jobs in Western Canada and maintain them for at least a decade.</p>
<p>These new jobs will be particularly important for Alberta, where Shaw’s home office is and where the company’s western headquarters will be located. The province has been <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-analysts-closely-watching-drastic-oil-slump-1.6316500">struggling with low oil prices</a> and <a href="https://www.iisd.org/publications/search-prosperity-oil-alberta-canada">declining oil demand</a> caused by a combination of market forces and international climate policies.</p>
<p>This merger could help Alberta diversify and sustain its economy <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-provincial-sales-tax-is-the-solution-to-albertas-fiscal-roller-coaster-191147">so it no longer needs to rely so heavily on the oil industry</a> for income. It could even help transition Calgary from an oil city to a technology hub.</p>
<p>It’s important to note, however, that this merger may still increase competition in the telecom industry in the short term, despite the federal government’s attempts to mitigate this with their stringent deal conditions. But in the long run, this deal could ultimately lead to increased innovation, which in turn, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-your-company-needs-an-innovation-strategy-in-2023-197186">would benefit consumers as well</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Song does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new conditions that have been heaped onto Rogers as a result of the Rogers-Shaw merger could end up benefiting Canadian consumers and the economy at large.Victor Song, Assistant Professor, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1978282023-02-13T16:37:25Z2023-02-13T16:37:25Z100 years of the BBC in Wales: an uneasy start and unclear future<p>Three months after the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/timelines/">BBC’s first transmission from London</a>, public service broadcasting in Wales began at 5.00pm on February 13 1923. The small studio above a cinema in the centre of Cardiff also served audiences in the west of England. This may explain the very limited amount of Welsh language material broadcast at the outset.</p>
<p>To ensure the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/British-Broadcasting-Corporation">British Broadcasting Company</a>, as it was then known, was in no doubt about the existence of the native language and culture of Wales, <a href="https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/755550d6-e5e4-3448-a161-d220d4a48103">Cylch Dewi</a> (a group of cultural nationalists) <a href="https://academic.oup.com/manchester-scholarship-online/book/24026/chapter-abstract/185414557?redirectedFrom=fulltext">arranged</a> the first wireless broadcast of a Welsh-language religious service from Swansea on February 22 1925. By the mid-1920s, they were producing programmes of their own for the BBC, following consultations with E.R. Appleton, Cardiff’s station director. </p>
<p>Concerns about the effect of the wireless on life in Wales, however, were widespread in the early years of broadcasting. In 1927, a report commissioned by the Welsh Board of Education, entitled <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/wales1927/index.html#03%E2%80%8B">Welsh in Education and Life</a>, was published. It contained a damning attack on the BBC:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Wireless is achieving the complete Anglicisation of the intellectual life of the nation. We regard the present policy of the British Broadcasting Corporation as one of the most serious menaces to the life of the Welsh language.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The BBC’s regional scheme had been devised by Peter Eckersley, the BBC’s chief engineer and Sir John Reith, the corporation’s director general. It included Wales as part of the so-called “west region”. This uneasy marriage with Bristol and the west of England from 1930 onward resulted in increased pressure from many parts of Welsh society (most notably the University of Wales and local authorities) for the BBC to recognise Wales as a nation with its own cultural and linguistic needs. </p>
<p>In 1932, one correspondent writing in the Plaid Cymru newsletter, Y Ddraig Goch, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mb2rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT37&lpg=PT37&dq=%22The+majority+of+the+material+broadcast+is+alien+to+our+traditions,+damaging+to+our+culture,+and+is+a+grave+danger+to+everything+special+in+our+civilisation%22&source=bl&ots=t6XNYhV1im&sig=ACfU3U1Ew_mrw0xyThoW3AbtD9uKBU3SAA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJnYHkx5L9AhX6QUEAHSueDlkQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20majority%20of%20the%20material%20broadcast%20is%20alien%20to%20our%20traditions%2C%20damaging%20to%20our%20culture%2C%20and%20is%20a%20grave%20danger%20to%20everything%20special%20in%20our%20civilisation%22&f=false">stated</a>: “The majority of the material broadcast is alien to our traditions, damaging to our culture, and is a grave danger to everything special in our civilisation.”</p>
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<p>With the opening of the Penmon transmitter on Anglesey in the north of Wales in February 1937, the corporation fully acknowledged Wales as a separate “region”. The <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Broadcasting_and_the_BBC_in_Wales/R7kVAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=broadcasting%20and%20the%20bbc%20in%20wales">historian John Davies argued</a> the establishment of the “Welsh region” was an important concession to nationalist sentiment. He compared it with the <a href="https://law.gov.wales/ecclesiastical-law-and-church-wales">disestablishment of the Church in Wales</a> from the Church of England in 1920. These events enhanced a sense of nationhood and a belonging to an entity called “Wales”.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A graphic featuring the text " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509749/original/file-20230213-3390-uhtmw5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>John Davies <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Broadcasting_and_the_BBC_in_Wales/R7kVAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=broadcasting%20and%20the%20bbc%20in%20wales">also argued</a> the establishment of the Welsh region had wider repercussions: “In the history of BBC broadcasting in Wales, the importance of the victory won in sound radio can scarcely be exaggerated. All the subsequent recognition of Wales in the field of broadcasting (and, it could be argued, in other fields also) stemmed from that victory.” </p>
<p>From this point onward, the BBC played a major part in Welsh life. It informed, educated and entertained in Welsh and English, initially on radio and then, from 1952, on television. </p>
<p>The creation of BBC Cymru Wales came in February 1964 as a result of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37146240_%27You_Say_A_Minority_Sir_We_Say_A_Nation%27_The_Pilkington_Committee_on_Broadcasting_1960-2_and_Wales">report of the Pilkington committee</a> on broadcasting. This was a government-appointed committee that considered the future of broadcasting in the UK. It laid the foundation for a regular television service in Wales. Ultimately, it led to the creation of national radio stations Radio Wales and Radio Cymru in the late 1970s, which continue to broadcast to this day. </p>
<h2>Future</h2>
<p>In December 2022, the <a href="https://museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/11771/BBC-100-in-Wales/">BBC 100 in Wales exhibition</a> opened at the National Museum Cardiff and will run until April. The exhibition to celebrate the corporation’s 100th anniversary was developed in conjunction with a group of young people to examine how the future may look for the corporation. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Igq8UtvqjIU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">BBC 100 in Wales opened at the National Museum Cardiff in December 2022.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/bbc-at-100-the-future-for-global-news-and-challenges-facing-the-world-service-192296">global</a> broadcasting landscape is ever-changing and the BBC is having to adapt to this. Challenges come from streaming services, other broadcasters and, not least, from a government that has called the very nature of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bbc-licence-fee-could-scrapping-it-be-the-end-of-public-service-broadcasting-in-the-uk-175292">public service broadcasting and the licence fee</a> into question. </p>
<p>In December 2021, the Welsh Labour government and Plaid Cymru announced a new <a href="https://www.gov.wales/co-operation-agreement-full-policy-programme-html">co-operation agreement</a>, which outlined several policy commitments over the next three years. Among them was the creation of a new shadow broadcasting and communications authority, which would draw up plans for the devolution of broadcasting and communications powers to the Senedd. A <a href="https://www.gov.wales/expert-panel-devolution-broadcasting-announced">panel</a> has been established to consider the way forward in this area. </p>
<p>How this might work in reality is, as yet, undetermined. Which aspects of broadcasting would be devolved remains unclear, as are the possible implications for the BBC and other broadcasters. There is also uncertainty over whether the Welsh government would even be able to persuade the UK government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport to devolve such powers.</p>
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<p>There are many factors which have played a part in creating, defining and maintaining a feeling of “Welshness” in Wales, as well as a sense of belonging. There is no doubt about the part the BBC has played. </p>
<p>Penblwydd hapus, BBC Cymru.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Medhurst receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council; The Leverhulme Trust</span></em></p>The BBC is celebrating 100 years of broadcasting in Wales.Jamie Medhurst, Professor of Media and Communication, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962712023-01-24T13:23:42Z2023-01-24T13:23:42ZDevice transmits radio waves with almost no power – without violating the laws of physics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505483/original/file-20230119-19742-3pzdvg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C4031%2C3005&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This experimental setup shows an ultra-low-power wireless communications device that could one day be used in tiny remote sensors.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zerina Kapetanovic</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new ultra-low-power method of communication at first glance seems to violate the laws of physics. It is possible to wirelessly transmit information simply by opening and closing a switch that connects a resistor to an antenna. No need to send power to the antenna.</p>
<p>Our system, combined with techniques for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/JSAC.2018.2872615">harvesting energy from the environment</a>, could lead to all manner of devices that transmit data, including tiny sensors and implanted medical devices, without needing batteries or other power sources. These include sensors for <a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/nsdi17/technical-sessions/presentation/vasisht">smart agriculture</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-021-00683-3">electronics implanted in the body</a> that never need battery changes, better <a href="https://doi.org/10.4018/JGIM.2020100108">contactless credit cards</a> and maybe even new ways for <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/communications">satellites</a> to communicate. </p>
<p>Apart from the energy needed to flip the switch, no other energy is needed to transmit the information. In our case, the switch is a transistor, an electrically controlled switch with no moving parts that consumes a minuscule amount of power.</p>
<p>In the simplest form of ordinary radio, a switch connects and disconnects a strong electrical signal source – perhaps an oscillator that produces a sine wave fluctuating 2 billion times per second – to the <a href="https://academy.wedio.com/what-is-a-transmitter/">transmit antenna</a>. When the signal source is connected, the antenna produces a radio wave, denoting a 1. When the switch is disconnected, there is no radio wave, indicating a 0.</p>
<p>What we showed is that a powered signal source is not needed. Instead, random thermal noise, present in all electrically conductive materials because of the heat-driven motion of electrons, can take the place of the signal driving the antenna. </p>
<h2>No free lunch</h2>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LnAus20AAAAJ&hl=en">electrical engineers</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HEb5C1wAAAAJ&hl=en">research wireless systems</a>. During the peer review of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201337119">our paper</a> about this research, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reviewers asked us to explain why the method did not violate the <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Demons%2C-Engines-and-the-Second-Law-Bennett/2480bf5e7b41a5b6d1db92e3387d7214bc68a49c">second law of thermodynamics</a>, the main law of physics that explains why <a href="https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/is-it-possible-to-construct-a-perpetual-motion-machine/">perpetual motion machines</a> are not possible. </p>
<p>Perpetual motion machines are theoretical machines that can work indefinitely without requiring energy from any external source. The reviewers worried that if it were possible to send and receive information with no powered components, and with both the transmitter and receiver at the same temperature, that would mean that you could create a perpetual motion machine. Because this is impossible, it would imply that there was something wrong with our work or our understanding of it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graphic in the top half showing a horizontal cylinder on the left with a pipe extending to the right with a 90-degree bend upward connecting to an upside-down triangle with pairs of curved lines on either side, and in the bottom half the same but disconnected" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505660/original/file-20230120-12-rlgt9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electrons that naturally move around inside a room-temperature resistor affect electrons in a connected antenna, which causes the antenna to generate radio waves. Connecting and disconnecting the antenna produces the ones and zeros of a binary signal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zerina Kapetanovic</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One way the second law can be stated is that heat will flow spontaneously only from hotter objects to colder objects. The wireless signals from our transmitter transport heat. If there were a spontaneous flow of signal from the transmitter to the receiver in the absence of a temperature difference between the two, you could harvest that flow to get free energy, in violation of the second law. </p>
<p>The resolution of this seeming paradox is that the receiver in our system is powered and acts like a refrigerator. The signal-carrying electrons on the receive side are effectively kept cold by the powered amplifier, similar to how a refrigerator keeps its interior cold by continuously pumping heat out. The transmitter consumes almost no power, but the receiver consumes substantial power, up to 2 watts. This is similar to receivers in other ultra-low-power communications systems. Nearly all of the power consumption happens at a base station that does not have constraints on energy use.</p>
<h2>A simpler approach</h2>
<p>Many researchers worldwide have been exploring related passive communication methods, known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2534169.2486015">backscatter</a>. A backscatter data transmitter looks very similar to our data transmitter device. The difference is that in a backscatter communication system, in addition to the data transmitter and the data receiver, there is a third component that generates a radio wave. The switching performed by the data transmitter has the effect of reflecting that radio wave, which is then picked up at the receiver. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gX9cbxLSOkE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An example of backscatter unpowered wireless communications.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.23919/JCIN.2019.8917868">backscatter device</a> has the same energy efficiency as our system, but the backscatter setup is much more complex, since a <a href="https://www.atlasrfidstore.com/rfid-insider/explaining-backscatter-from-basic-to-advanced-principles">signal-generating component</a> is needed. However, our system has lower data rate and range than either backscatter radios or conventional radios.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>One area for future work is to improve our system’s data rate and range, and to test it in applications such as implanted devices. For implanted devices, an advantage of our new method is that there is no need to expose the patient to a strong external radio signal, which can cause tissue heating. Even more exciting, we believe that related ideas could enable other new forms of communication in which other natural signal sources, such as thermal noise from biological tissue or other electronic components, can be modulated. </p>
<p>Finally, this work may lead to new connections between the study of heat (thermodynamics) and the study of communication (information theory). These fields are often viewed as analogous, but this work suggests some more literal connections between them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua R. Smith receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense Medical Command, DARPA, Bosch, and Amazon. He is a co-founder of start up companies Jeeva Wireless, Wibotic, and Proprio. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zerina Kapetanovic's Ph.D. work was funded by a Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Microsoft. </span></em></p>A wireless transmitter uses almost no power and at first glance appears to violate the laws of physics. It’s actually a clever use of physics that could one day transmit data from tiny remote sensors.Joshua R. Smith, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Computer Science and Engineering, University of WashingtonZerina Kapetanovic, Acting Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767812022-02-22T13:42:53Z2022-02-22T13:42:53ZWhat is 3G and why is it being shut down? An electrical engineer explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447377/original/file-20220218-19-1gyfpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5887%2C3904&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sun is setting on 3G networks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/frted/50211584991/">Ted/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Feb. 22, 2022, AT&T <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/plan-ahead-phase-out-3g-cellular-networks-and-service">is scheduled to turn off</a> its 3G cellular network. T-Mobile is scheduled to turn its off on July 1, 2022, and Verizon is slated to follow suit on Dec. 31, 2022.</p>
<p>The vast majority of cellphones in service operate on 4G/LTE networks, and the world has begun the transition to 5G, but <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-11-05/column-5g-wireless-transition">as many as 10 million phones</a> in the U.S. still rely on 3G service. In addition, the cellular network functions of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22912235/3g-shutting-down-att-verizon-tmobile">some older devices</a> like Kindles, iPads and Chromebooks are tied to 3G networks. Similarly, some older internet-connected systems like home security, car navigation and entertainment systems, and solar panel modems are 3G-specific. Consumers will need to <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22912235/3g-shutting-down-att-verizon-tmobile">upgrade or replace</a> these systems.</p>
<p>So why are the telecommunications carriers turning off their 3G networks? As an electrical engineer who <a href="http://www.ece.tufts.edu/%7Emaivu/">studies wireless communications</a>, I can explain. The answer begins with the difference between 3G and later technologies such as 4G/LTE and 5G.</p>
<p>Picture a family trip. Your spouse is on the phone arranging activities to do at the destination, your teenage daughter is streaming music and chatting with her friends on her phone, and her younger sibling is playing an online game with his friends. All those separate conversations and data streams are communicated over the cellular network, seemingly simultaneously. You probably take this for granted, but have you ever wondered how the cellular system can handle all those activities at the same time, from the same car?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three children in the backseat of a car use tablet devices" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How does it work when everyone in your car is using cellular voice and data service at the same time, and so are many of the people in the cars around you?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/siblings-using-digital-tablet-in-back-seat-of-car-royalty-free-image/1297084394">The Good Brigade/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Communicating all those messages</h2>
<p>The answer is a technological trick called <a href="https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/communications/article/21802209/electronic-design-fundamentals-of-communications-access-technologies-fdma-tdma-cdma-ofdma-and-sdma#%E2%80%9DOFDMA%E2%80%9D">multiple access</a>. Imagine using a sheet of paper to write messages to 100 different friends, one private message for each person. The multiple access technology used in 3G networks is like writing every message to each of your friends using the whole sheet of paper, so all the messages are written on top of each other. But you have a special set of pens with different colors that allows you to write each message in a unique color, and each of your friends has a special pair of glasses that reveals only the color intended for that person.</p>
<p>However, the number of colored pens is fixed, so if you want to send messages to more people than the number of colored pens you have, you will need to start mixing colors. Now when a friend applies their special lenses, they will see a little bit of the messages to other friends. They won’t see enough to read the other messages, but the overlap might be enough to blur the message intended for them, making it harder to read.</p>
<p>The multiple access technology used by 3G networks is called Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA. It was invented by Qualcomm founder <a href="https://www.invent.org/inductees/irwin-mark-jacobs#:%7E:text=NIHF%20Inductee%20Irwin%20Mark%20Jacobs%20Invented%20CDMA%20Technology">Irwin M. Jacobs</a> with several other prominent electrical engineers. The technique is based on the concept of spread spectrum, an idea that can be <a href="https://www.americanscientist.org/article/random-paths-to-frequency-hopping">traced back to the early 20th century</a>. Jacobs’ <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/289411?casa_token=F0fopuxled0AAAAA:fRxNKBHn6n4t6jdDbfwCFJ26gXM_DxKH8QMzJMdWUwgh4_oGcEFf9Y6MgqSqmzU9Rxn_Eyzc9A">1991 paper</a> showed that CDMA can increase the cellular capacity manyfold over systems at the time.</p>
<p>CDMA lets all cellular users send and receive their signals at all times and over all frequencies. So if 100 users wish to initiate a call or use a cell service at around the same time, their 100 signals will overlap with each other over the entire cellular spectrum for the whole time they communicate.</p>
<p>The overlapping signals create interference. CDMA solves the interference problem by letting each user have a unique signature: a code sequence that can be used to recover each user’s signal. The code corresponds to the color in our paper analogy. If there are too many users on the system at the same time, the codes can overlap. This leads to interference, which gets worse as the number of users increases.</p>
<h2>Slices of time and spectrum</h2>
<p>Instead of allowing users to share the entire cellular spectrum at all times, other multiple access techniques divide access by time or frequency. Division over time creates time slots. Each connection can last over multiple time slots spread out in time, but each time slot is so short – a matter of milliseconds – that the cellphone user doesn’t perceive the interruptions from alternating time slots. The connection appears to be continuous. This time slicing technique is time-division multiple access (TDMA).</p>
<p>The division can also be done in frequency. Each connection is given its own frequency band within the cellular spectrum, and the connection is continuous for its duration. This frequency slicing technique is frequency division multiple access (FDMA).</p>
<p>In our paper analogy, FDMA and TDMA are like dividing the paper into 100 strips in either dimension and writing each private message on one strip. FDMA would be, for example, horizontal strips, and TDMA would be vertical strips. With individual strips, all messages are separated.</p>
<p>4G/LTE and 5G networks use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), a highly efficient combination of FDMA and TDMA. In the paper analogy, OFDMA is like drawing strips along both dimensions, dividing the whole paper into many squares, and assigning each user a different set of squares according to their data need.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a graph in four parts, two showing stripes, one showing layers and another showing squares" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Different techniques for sharing access to wireless network resources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/21/3/273/htm">Entropy 2019, 21(3), 273</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>End of the line for 3G</h2>
<p>Now you have a basic understanding of the difference between 3G and the later 4G/LTE and 5G. You might still reasonably ask why 3G needs to be shut down. It turns out that because of those differences in the access technology, the two networks are built using completely different equipment and algorithms. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>3G handsets and base stations operate on a wideband system, meaning they use the whole cellular spectrum. 4G/LTE and 5G operate on narrowband or multi-carrier systems, which use slices of the spectrum. These two systems need completely different sets of hardware, from the antenna on the cell tower down to the components in your phone. </p>
<p>So if your phone is a 3G phone, it cannot connect to a 4G/LTE or 5G tower. For a long while, the cellular service providers have been keeping their 3G networks going while building a completely separate network with new tower equipment and servicing new handsets using 4G/LTE and 5G. Imagine bearing the cost of operating two separate networks at the same time for the same purpose. Eventually, one has to go. And now, as the carriers are starting to deploy 5G systems in earnest, that time has come for 3G.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mai Vu receives funding from National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>As the wireless telecommunications companies ramp up their 5G rollouts, they are beginning to pull the plug on their 3G networks. 2022 is the end of the line for the venerable cellphone service.Mai Vu, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1753062022-01-25T13:28:14Z2022-01-25T13:28:14ZHow 5G puts airplanes at risk – an electrical engineer explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442368/original/file-20220124-13-p8az99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1563%2C875&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The FAA raised concerns that new, full-speed 5G cellphone services near airports could interfere with aircraft operations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44073224@N04/28345407183/">Bernal Saborio/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New high-speed cellphone services have raised concerns of interference with aircraft operations, particularly as aircraft are landing at airports. The Federal Aviation Administration has <a href="https://www.faa.gov/5g">assured Americans that most commercial aircraft are safe</a>, and AT&T and Verizon have agreed to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073859389/verizon-att-5g-rollout-delay-airports-airlines-faa">hold off on installing their new cellphone antennas</a> near airports for six months. But the problem has not been entirely resolved.</p>
<p>Concerns began when the U.S. government <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-370267A1.pdf">auctioned</a> part of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/tech/c-band-5g-att-verizon-rollout/index.html">C-band spectrum</a> to wireless carriers in 2021 for US$81 billion. The carriers are using C-band spectrum to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-5g-an-electrical-engineer-explains-173196">provide 5G</a> service at full speed, 10 times the speed of 4G networks.</p>
<p>The C-band spectrum is close to the frequencies used by key electronics that aircraft rely on to land safely. Here’s why that can be a problem.</p>
<h2>Keeping order on the spectrum</h2>
<p>Wireless signals are carried by radio waves. The radio spectrum ranges from 3 hertz to 3,000 gigahertz and is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The portion of the radio spectrum that carries the signals from your phone and other wireless devices is <a href="https://www.ctia.org/news/what-is-spectrum-a-brief-explainer">20 kilohertz to 300 gigahertz</a>.</p>
<p>If two wireless signals in the same area use the same frequency, you get garbled noise. You hear this when you are midway between two radio stations using the same or similar frequency bands to send their information. The signals get garbled and sometimes you hear one station, at other times the other, all mixed with a healthy dose of noise. </p>
<p>Therefore, in the U.S., the use of these frequency bands is tightly regulated by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that radio stations, wireless carriers and other organizations are assigned “lanes,” or frequency spectra, to use in an orderly fashion.</p>
<h2>Bouncing radio waves off the ground</h2>
<p>Modern airplanes use altimeters, which calculate the time it takes for a signal to bounce back from the ground to determine a plane’s altitude. These altimeters are a vital part of automatic landing systems that are especially useful in cases where there is low visibility. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hand on an aircraft yoke in front of a multicolor display panel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442379/original/file-20220124-23335-w6fct0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The radio altimeter in an aircraft tells the pilot how far off the ground the aircraft is.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AustraliaMalaysiaPlane/6fb7b6c1d681451e988f5f9efad4205b/photo">AP Photo/Rob Griffith</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, if an altimeter interprets a signal from a wireless carrier as the rebounded signal from the ground, it may think that the ground is closer than it is and prematurely try to lower the landing gear and do the other maneuvers that are needed to land an aircraft. If interference with wireless carrier signals corrupts and garbles the altimeter’s radio signals, the altimeter may not recognize the rebounded signal and thus be unable to figure out how close to the ground the plane is.</p>
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<p>The portions of the radio frequency spectrum used by airplanes and cellphone carriers are different. The problem is that airplane altimeters use the 4.2 to 4.4 gigahertz range, while the recently sold – and previously unused – C-band spectrum for wireless carriers ranges from 3.7 to 3.98 gigahertz. It turns out the 0.22 gigahertz difference between the signals may not be quite enough to be absolutely sure that a cellphone carrier signal will not be mistaken for or corrupt an altimeter’s signal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four vertical rectangular devices mounted on the corner of a roof of a building with a church spire in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442380/original/file-20220124-27-n2x6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Full-speed 5G signals like those in services that wireless carriers are currently rolling out might interfere with aircraft altimeters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreak5GConspiracyTheories/71c36ff2fca14b4baf1ee83fda44af00/photo">AP Photo/Alastair Grant</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Steering clear of trouble – for now</h2>
<p>The telecommunication industry has argued that the gap of 0.22 gigahertz is enough and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/why-are-airlines-worried-about-5g-f908b6eff8551b580dfd111029c5be2d">there will be no interference</a>. The airline industry has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/07/1071409710/airlines-are-concerned-5g-wireless-service-may-affect-the-ability-to-land-planes">more cautious</a>. Even if the risk is very small, I believe the consequences of a plane crash are enormous.</p>
<p>Who is correct? The chances of such interference are very small, but the truth is that there isn’t much data to say that such interference will never happen. Whether there will be interference depends on the receivers in the altimeters and their sensitivity. In my view, there is no way to ensure that such stray interfering signals will never reach altimeters. </p>
<p>If the altimeters can register the stray signals as noise and filter them out, then they can function correctly. Upgrading aircraft altimeters <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/22/tech/5g-airlines-crisis-what-happened/index.html">is a costly proposition</a>, however, and it’s not clear who would pay the cost.</p>
<p>The FAA has been testing altimeters and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/01/airline-ceos-make-u-turn-now-say-5g-isnt-a-big-problem-for-altimeters/">clearing ones that can be relied on</a> in the near future. AT&T and Verizon have agreed to not put up 5G transmitters and receivers near the 50 largest airports for six months while a solution is being worked out. This has averted a major crisis in the near term, but it isn’t a permanent solution. </p>
<p>Moreover, regional airlines and rural airports <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/business/faa-5g-airliner-approvals/index.html">remain at risk of interference</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prasenjit Mitra works with Remcom Inc. He does not receive any funding from them. </span></em></p>Airplanes use radio waves to determine how far off the ground they are. New 5G cellphone services come close to the same frequencies the airplanes use. Here’s how that can be a problem.Prasenjit Mitra, Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1731962022-01-10T13:37:30Z2022-01-10T13:37:30ZWhat is 5G? An electrical engineer explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439744/original/file-20220106-27-13yr1qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4957%2C3381&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Telecommunications companies around the world are expanding their next-generation, or 5G, networks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/china-mobile-workers-maintain-a-communication-tower-stuck-news-photo/1315301495">Guo Shining/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>5G stands for fifth-generation cellular network technology. </p>
<p>It’s the technology that enables wireless communication – for example, from your cellular phone to a cell tower, which channels it to the internet. 5G is a network service provided by telecommunications carriers and is not the same thing as the 5 GHz band on your Wi-Fi router.</p>
<p>5G offers an order of magnitude – 10 times – more bandwidth than its predecessor, 4G. The greater bandwidth is possible because over and above low and medium frequency radio waves, 5G uses additional higher-frequency waves to encode and carry information. </p>
<p>Bandwidth is analogous to the width of a highway. The broader the highway, the more lanes it can have and the more cars it can carry at the same time. This makes 5G much faster and able to handle many more devices. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The top right corner of a smartphone screen showing signal bars, 5G indicator and battery indicator" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439745/original/file-20220106-25-1wc0vmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most newer smartphones work with 5G networks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/december-2021-berlin-the-5g-logo-can-be-seen-on-the-display-news-photo/1237122206">Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>5G can deliver speeds of around 50 megabits per second, up to more than 1 gigabit per second. A gigabit per second connection allows you to download a high-definition movie in less than a minute. Does this mean no more bad cell connections in crowded places? The increased bandwidth will help, but just as increasing the number of lanes on highways does not always reduce traffic jams, as <a href="https://www.thecgo.org/research/does-expanding-highway-capacity-solve-urban-congestion-problems/">more people use the expanded highways</a>, 5G is likely to carry a lot more traffic than 4G networks, so you still might not get a good connection sometimes. </p>
<p>In addition to connecting your phone and cellular-enabled laptop, 5G will be connecting many other devices ranging from photo frames to toasters as part of the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-internet-of-things/">Internet of Things</a> revolution. So even though 5G can handle up to a million devices per square kilometer, all that bandwidth could be quickly used up and require more – a future 5.5G with even more bandwidth.</p>
<h2>Flavors of 5G</h2>
<p>5G can use low-, mid- and high-band frequencies, each with advantages and disadvantages. Lower-frequency waves can travel farther but are slower. Using higher frequency waves means information can travel faster but these waves can only go limited distances. Higher-frequency 5G can achieve gigabit-per-second speeds, which promises to render ethernet and other wired connections obsolete in the future. Currently, however, the higher frequency comes at a higher cost and thus is deployed only where it’s most needed: in crowded urban settings, stadiums, convention centers, airports and concert halls.</p>
<p>A type of 5G service, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2018.1700294">Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications</a>, can be used where data needs to be transmitted without loss or interruption in service – for example, controlling drones in disaster areas. One day, after the technology is more robust, it could even be used for remote surgery.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=weekly&source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173196/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prasenjit Mitra receives funding from the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy.</span></em></p>5G is 10 times faster than 4G, promising better wireless internet access. It’s also expected to put the Internet of Things revolution in high gear.Prasenjit Mitra, Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1551932021-02-12T13:17:45Z2021-02-12T13:17:45ZHow Apple and Google let your phone warn you if you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus while protecting your privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383893/original/file-20210211-18-qfw3ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8256%2C5487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Exposure notification systems alert people when they've been exposed to the coronavirus but don't record the information.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-male-demonstrating-against-air-pollution-royalty-free-image/1190069899?adppopup=true">AleksandarGeorgiev/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.wjhl.com/local-coronavirus-coverage/virginia-launches-covidwise-express-for-app-less-exposure-notifications/">Virginia</a> has enabled app-less COVID-19 exposure notification services for iPhone users, joining California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. This means iPhone users in those states won’t need to install exposure notification apps and can instead turn on notifications in the phone’s settings.</p>
<p>The services use the coronavirus exposure notification system built jointly by
<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-and-google-partner-on-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">Apple</a> and <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/apple-and-google-partner-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">Google</a> for their smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android, which the companies <a href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/exposurenotification/supporting_exposure_notifications_express">updated to work without apps</a>. The system uses the ubiquitous Bluetooth short-range wireless communication technology. </p>
<p>As of January, 20 states and the District of Columbia <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/16/covid-19-exposure-notification-api-states/">are using the system</a> for exposure notification apps and app-less services. All of the apps and services are voluntary; however, the island of Maui in Hawaii now <a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/maui-travelers-required-download-covid-app">requires visitors to use one</a>.</p>
<p>Dozens of apps are being used around the world that alert people if they’ve been exposed to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. Many of them also report the identities of the exposed people to public health authorities, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-surveillance-can-help-bring-the-coronavirus-pandemic-under-control-but-also-threatens-privacy-135151">raised privacy concerns</a>. Several other exposure notification projects, including <a href="https://pact.mit.edu/">PACT</a>, <a href="https://bluetrace.io/">BlueTrace</a> and the <a href="https://covid-watch.org/">Covid Watch project</a>, take a similar privacy-protecting approach to Apple’s and Google’s initiative.</p>
<p>Recently, a study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30074-7">contact tracing can be effective</a> in containing diseases such as COVID-19 if large parts of the population participate. Exposure notification schemes like the Apple-Google system aren’t true contact tracing systems because they don’t allow public health authorities to identify people who have been exposed to infected individuals. But digital exposure notification systems have a big advantage: They can be used by millions of people and rapidly warn those who have been exposed to quarantine themselves. </p>
<p>So how does the Apple-Google exposure notification system work? As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C0ddY2kAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qtoNz_AAAAAJ&hl=en">who</a> study security and privacy of wireless communication, we have examined the system’s specifications and have assessed its effectiveness and privacy implications.</p>
<h2>Bluetooth beacons</h2>
<p>Because Bluetooth is supported on <a href="https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/markets/">billions of devices</a>, it seems like an obvious choice of technology for these systems. The protocol used for this is Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth LE for short. This variant is optimized for energy-efficient communication between small devices, which makes it a popular protocol for smartphones and wearables such as smartwatches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bluetooth allows phones that are near each other to communicate. Phones that have been near each other for long enough can approximate potential viral transmission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/january-2020-us-las-vegas-the-lettering-bluetooth-and-the-news-photo/1192777149?adppopup=true">Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bluetooth LE communicates in two main ways. Two devices can communicate over the data channel with each other, such as a smartwatch synchronizing with a phone. Devices can also broadcast useful information to nearby devices over the advertising channel. For example, some devices regularly announce their presence to facilitate automatic connection.</p>
<p>To build an exposure notification app using Bluetooth LE, developers could assign everyone a permanent ID and make every phone broadcast it on an advertising channel. Then, they could build an app that receives the IDs so every phone would be able to keep a record of close encounters with other phones. But that would be a clear violation of privacy. Broadcasting any personally identifiable information via Bluetooth LE is a bad idea, because messages can be read by anyone in range.</p>
<h2>Anonymous exchanges</h2>
<p>To get around this problem, every phone broadcasts a long random number, which is changed frequently. Other devices receive these numbers and store them if they were sent from close proximity. By using long, unique, random numbers, no personal information is sent via Bluetooth LE.</p>
<p>Apple and Google follow this principle <a href="https://covid19-static.cdn-apple.com/applications/covid19/current/static/contact-tracing/pdf/ContactTracing-BluetoothSpecificationv1.1.pdf">in their specification</a> but add some cryptography. First, every phone generates a unique tracing key that is kept confidentially on the phone. Every day, the tracing key generates a new daily tracing key. Though the tracing key could be used to identify the phone, the daily tracing key can’t be used to figure out the phone’s permanent tracing key. Then, every 10 to 20 minutes, the daily tracing key generates a new rolling proximity identifier, which looks just like a long random number. This is what gets broadcast to other devices via the Bluetooth advertising channel.</p>
<p>Someone testing positive for COVID-19 can disclose a list of their daily tracing keys, usually from the previous 14 days. Everyone else’s phones use the disclosed keys to recreate the infected person’s rolling proximity identifiers. The phones then compare the COVID-19-positive identifiers with their own records of the identifiers they received from nearby phones. A match reveals a potential exposure to the virus, but it doesn’t identify the patient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Australian government’s COVIDSafe app warns about close encounters with people who are COVID-19-positive. But unlike the Apple-Google system, COVIDSafe reports the contacts to public health authorities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-the-covidsafe-logo-seen-news-photo/1211085440?adppopup=true">Florent Rols/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the competing proposals use a similar approach. The principal difference is that Apple’s and Google’s operating system updates reach far more phones automatically than a single app can. Additionally, by proposing a cross-platform standard, Apple and Google allow existing apps to piggyback and use a common, compatible communication approach that could work across many apps. </p>
<h2>No plan is perfect</h2>
<p>The Apple-Google exposure notification system is very secure, but it’s <a href="https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2020/04/12/contact-tracing-in-the-real-world/">no guarantee of either accuracy or privacy</a>. The system <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/covid-contact-tracing-apps/">can produce a large number of false positives</a> because being within Bluetooth range of an infected person doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has been transmitted. And even if an app records only very strong signals as a proxy for close contact, it cannot know whether there was a wall, a window or a floor between the phones.</p>
<p>However unlikely, there are ways governments or hackers could track or identify people using the system. Bluetooth LE devices use an advertising address when broadcasting on an advertising channel. Though these addresses can be randomized to protect the identity of the sender, we demonstrated last year that it is theoretically <a href="https://doi.org/10.2478/popets-2019-0036">possible to track devices for extended periods of time</a> if the advertising message and advertising address are not changed in sync. To Apple’s and Google’s credit, they call for these to be changed synchronously. </p>
<p>But even if the advertising address and a coronavirus app’s rolling identifier are changed in sync, it may still be possible to track someone’s phone. If there isn’t a sufficiently large number of other devices nearby that also change their advertising addresses and rolling identifiers in sync – a process known as mixing – someone could still track individual devices. For example, if there is a single phone in a room, someone could keep track of it because it’s the only phone that could be broadcasting the random identifiers. </p>
<p>Another potential attack involves logging additional information along with the rolling identifiers. Even though the protocol does not send personal information or location data, receiving apps could record when and where they received keys from other phones. If this were done on a large scale – such as an app that systematically collects this extra information – it could be used to identify and track individuals. For example, if a supermarket recorded the exact date and time of incoming rolling proximity identifiers at its checkout lanes and combined that data with credit card swipes, store staff would have a reasonable chance of identifying which customers were COVID-19 positive.</p>
<p>And because Bluetooth LE advertising beacons use plain-text messages, it’s possible to send faked messages. This could be used to troll others by repeating known COVID-19-positive rolling proximity identifiers to many people, resulting in deliberate false positives.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Apple-Google system could be the key to alerting thousands of people who have been exposed to the coronavirus while protecting their identities, unlike contact tracing apps that report identifying information to central government or corporate databases.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-apple-and-google-will-let-your-phone-warn-you-if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus-136597">article</a> originally published on April 30, 2020.</em></p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johannes Becker works for Boston University. His research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Starobinski works for Boston University. His research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Bluetooth wireless communication makes it possible to track when people have been exposed to people infected with the coronavirus. The right cryptography scheme keeps alerts about exposures private.Johannes Becker, Doctoral student in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston UniversityDavid Starobinski, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1306372020-07-16T12:12:05Z2020-07-16T12:12:05ZHow brains do what they do is more complex than what anatomy on its own suggests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347388/original/file-20200714-139854-1ma5ygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=289%2C52%2C3470%2C2388&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists are still piecing together the puzzle of how the brain works.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/network-data-forming-ai-robot-face-and-brain-royalty-free-image/1189020672">Yuichiro Chino/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How the brain works remains a puzzle with only a few pieces in place. Of these, one big piece is actually a conjecture: that there’s a relationship between the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8040039">physical structure of the brain and its functionality</a>. </p>
<p>The brain’s jobs include interpreting touch, visual and sound inputs, as well as speech, reasoning, emotions, learning, fine control of movement and many others. Neuroscientists presume that it’s the brain’s anatomy – with its hundreds of billions of nerve fibers – that make all of these functions possible. The brain’s “living wires” are connected in elaborate neurological networks that give rise to human beings’ amazing abilities.</p>
<p>It would seem that if scientists can map the nerve fibers and their connections and record the timing of the impulses that flow through them for a higher function such as vision, they should be able to solve the question of how one sees, for instance. Researchers are getting better at mapping the brain using <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/tractography">tractography</a> – a technique that visually represents nerve fiber routes using 3D modeling. And they’re getting better at recording how information moves through the brain by using enhanced functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure blood flow.</p>
<p>But in spite of these tools, no one seems much closer to figuring out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRmdLgknI28">how we really see</a>. Neuroscience has only a rudimentary understanding of how it all fits together.</p>
<p>To address this shortcoming, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7z-nA_kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my team’s bioengineering research</a> focuses on relationships between brain structure and function. The overall goal is to scientifically explain all the connections – both anatomical and wireless – that activate different brain regions during cognitive tasks. We’re working on complex models that better capture what scientists know of brain function.</p>
<p>Ultimately a clearer picture of structure and function may fine-tune the ways brain surgery attempts to correct structure and, conversely, medication tries to correct function.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347390/original/file-20200714-18-rnnul0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electric near-field connections provide another level of communication within the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/brain-storm-royalty-free-image/686932281">PM Images/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wireless hot spots in your head</h2>
<p>Cognitive functions such as reasoning and learning use a number of distinct brain regions in a time-sequenced manner. Anatomy alone – the neurons and nerve fibers – cannot explain the excitation of these regions, concurrently or in tandem. </p>
<p>Some connections are actually “wireless.” These are <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/electric-field/the-primary-role-of-the-electric-near-field-in-brain-function">electric near-field connections</a>, and not the physical connections captured in tractographs.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>My research team has worked for several years detailing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TCBB.2019.2941689">origins of these wireless connections</a> and measuring their field strengths. A very simple analogy of what is going on in the brain is how a wireless router works. The internet is delivered to a router via a wired connection. The router then sends the information to your laptop using wireless connections. The overall system of information transfer works because of both wired and wireless connections. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347391/original/file-20200714-139969-idshml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electric fields stem from charged particles flowing in and out of neurons at their uninsulated nodes of Ranvier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/neuron-anatomy-structure-of-a-nerve-cell-royalty-free-illustration/1161436382">ttsz/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the case of the brain, nerve cells conduct electrical impulses down long threadlike arms called axons from the cell body to other neurons. Along the way, wireless signals are naturally emitted from uninsulated portions of nerve cells. These spots that lack the protective insulation that wraps the rest of the axon are called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537273/">nodes of Ranvier</a>.</p>
<p>The nodes of Ranvier allow charged ions to diffuse in and out of the neuron, propagating the electrical signal down the axon. As the ions flow in and out, electric fields are generated. The intensity and structure of these fields depends on the activity of the nerve cell. </p>
<p>Here at the <a href="https://www.globalneuronetworks.com/">Global Center for Neurological Networks</a> we’re focusing on how these <a href="https://theconversation.com/listening-in-to-brain-communications-without-surgery-111038">wireless signals work in the brain</a> to communicate information. </p>
<h2>The brain’s nonlinear world</h2>
<p>Investigations into how excited brain regions match up with cognitive functions make another mistake when they rely on assumptions that lead to overly simple models.</p>
<p>Researchers tend to model the relationship as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/074856">linear with a single variable</a>, measuring the average size of a single brain region’s response. It’s the logic behind the <a href="https://www.explainthatstuff.com/hearingaids.html">design of the first hearing aid</a> – if a person’s voice grows twice as loud, the ear should respond twice as much.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=656&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=656&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347393/original/file-20200714-30-1vxz9c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=656&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hearing aid users know that just doubling the sensory input is a rudimentary fix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-wearing-hearing-aid-in-ear-royalty-free-image/618545470">AndreyPopov/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But hearing aids have greatly improved over the years as researchers have come to better understand that the ear is not a linear system, and a form of nonlinear compression is needed to match the sounds generated to the listener’s capability. In fact, most <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-02665-5">living things do not have sensing systems that respond in a linear, one-to-one manner to stimuli</a>.</p>
<p>Linear models assume that if the input to a system is doubled, the output of that system will also be doubled. This is not true of nonlinear models, where many output values can exist for single value of the input. And most scientists agree that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12043-018-1559-4">neural computations are in fact nonlinear</a>.</p>
<p>A crucial question in understanding the link between brain and behavior is how the brain decides the best course of action among competing alternatives. For example, the frontal cortex of the brain makes optimal choices by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21100">computing many quantities, or variables</a> – calculating the potential payoff, the probability of success and the cost in terms of time and effort. Since the system is nonlinear, doubling the potential payoff may make a final decision much more than twice as likely.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/394259925" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The flow of information through the brain is much more complex and dynamic than a 2D model can adequately represent.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Linear models miss out on the rich variety of possibilities that can occur in brain function, especially those beyond what anatomical structure would suggest. It’s like the difference between a 2D and 3D representation of the world around us.</p>
<p>Current linear models just describe the average level of excitation in a brain region, or the flow across a brain surface. That’s much less information than my colleagues and I use when building our nonlinear models from both enhanced functional magnetic resonance imaging and electric near-field bioimaging data. Our models provide a 3D image of information flow across the surfaces of the brain and to depths within it – and get us closer to representing how it all works.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347397/original/file-20200714-18-1u8ov21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A healthy-looking brain can have functional problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/angiogram-examination-royalty-free-image/1178748283">Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Normal anatomy, physiological dysfunction</h2>
<p>My research team is intrigued by the fact that people with totally normal-looking brain structures can still have major functional problems.</p>
<p>As part of our research into neurological dysfunction, we visit individuals in hospice, bereavement support groups, rehabilitation care facilities, trauma centers and acute care hospitals. We are consistently startled to realize that people who have lost loved ones can <a href="https://humanparts.medium.com/brain-fog-after-a-death-f6b6882c8614">exhibit similar symptoms</a> to those of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<p>Grief is a series of emotional, cognitive, functional and behavioral responses to death or other kinds of loss. It’s not a state, but rather a process which can either be temporary or ongoing.</p>
<p>The healthy-looking brains of those suffering <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-truisms-wellness/201702/the-ways-we-grieve">physiological grief</a> do not have the same anatomical problems – including shrunken brain regions and disrupted connections between networks of neurons – that are found in those of people with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>We believe this is just one example of how the brain’s hot spots – those connections that are not physical – plus the richness of the brain’s nonlinear operation can lead to outcomes that wouldn’t be predicted by a brain scan. There are likely many more examples.</p>
<p>These ideas may point the way to the mitigation of serious neurological conditions through noninvasive means. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0406-z">Bereavement therapy and noninvasive, electric near-field neuromodulation devices</a> can reduce the symptoms associated with the loss of a loved one. Perhaps these protocols and procedures should be more widely offered to patients suffering from neurological dysfunction where imaging does reveal anatomical changes. It could save some of these individuals from invasive surgical procedures.</p>
<p>Diagramming all the brain’s nonphysical links using our recent advances in electric near-field mapping, and employing what we believe are biologically realistic many-variable nonlinear models, will get us one step closer to where we want to go. Better understanding of the brain will not only reduce the need for invasive operating procedures to correct function, but will also lead to better models for what the brain does best: computation, memory, networking and information distribution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salvatore Domenic Morgera has received funding for research in networks from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, The Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies, National Research Council, Communications Research Center, National Science Foundation, United States Special Operations Command, IBM, Harris Corporation, CMC Electronics, Motorola, Bell Canada, the University of South Floridak and other public and private agencies. He has founded the Global Center for Neurological Networks (globalneuronetworks.com) to create a national and international focus or research groups demonstrating a passion to understand the human brain.
</span></em></p>A bioengineer explains how a clearer picture of brain structure and function may fine-tune the ways brain surgery attempts to correct structure and medication tries to correct function.Salvatore Domenic Morgera, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering, Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer, University of South FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1365972020-04-30T12:12:50Z2020-04-30T12:12:50ZHow Apple and Google will let your phone warn you if you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384530/original/file-20210216-19-1t760pj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4050%2C2685&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Apps that warn about close contact with COVID-19 cases are key to relaxing social distancing rules.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cafe-overview-leidseplein-amsterdam-holland-royalty-free-image/121853371?irgwc=1&esource=AFF_GI_IR_TinEye_77643&asid=TinEye&cid=GI&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=TinEye&utm_content=77643">Walter Bibikow/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>An updated version of this article was published on Feb. 12, 2021. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-apple-and-google-let-your-phone-warn-you-if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus-while-protecting-your-privacy-155193">Read it here</a>.</em></p>
<p>On April 10, <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-and-google-partner-on-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">Apple</a> and <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/apple-and-google-partner-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">Google</a> announced a coronavirus exposure notification system that will be built into their smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android. The system uses the ubiquitous Bluetooth short-range wireless communication technology. </p>
<p>There are dozens of apps being developed around the world that alert people if they’ve been exposed to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. Many of them also report the identities of the exposed people to public health authorities, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-surveillance-can-help-bring-the-coronavirus-pandemic-under-control-but-also-threatens-privacy-135151">raised privacy concerns</a>. Several other exposure notification projects, including <a href="https://pact.mit.edu/">PACT</a>, <a href="https://bluetrace.io/">BlueTrace</a> and the <a href="https://covid-watch.org/">Covid Watch project</a>, take a similar privacy-protecting approach to Apple’s and Google’s initiative.</p>
<p>So how will the Apple-Google exposure notification system work? As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C0ddY2kAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qtoNz_AAAAAJ&hl=en">who</a> study security and privacy of wireless communication, we have examined the companies’ plan and have assessed its effectiveness and privacy implications.</p>
<p>Recently, a study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30074-7">contact tracing can be effective</a> in containing diseases such as COVID-19, if large parts of the population participate. Exposure notification schemes like the Apple-Google system aren’t true contact tracing systems because they don’t allow public health authorities to identify people who have been exposed to infected individuals. But digital exposure notification systems have a big advantage: hey can be used by millions of people and rapidly warn those who have been exposed to quarantine themselves. </p>
<h2>Bluetooth beacons</h2>
<p>Because Bluetooth is supported on <a href="https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/markets/">billions of devices</a>, it seems like an obvious choice of technology for these systems. The protocol used for this is Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth LE for short. This variant is optimized for energy-efficient communication between small devices, which makes it a popular protocol for smartphones and wearables such as smart watches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bluetooth allows phones that are near each other to communicate. Phones that have been near each other for long enough can approximate potential viral transmission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/january-2020-us-las-vegas-the-lettering-bluetooth-and-the-news-photo/1192777149?adppopup=true">Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bluetooth LE communicates in two main ways. Two devices can communicate over the data channel with each other, such as a smart watch synchronizing with a phone. Devices can also broadcast useful information to nearby devices over the advertising channel. For example, some devices regularly announce their presence to facilitate automatic connection.</p>
<p>To build an exposure notification app using Bluetooth LE, developers could assign everyone a permanent ID and make every phone broadcast it on an advertising channel. Then, they could build an app that receives the IDs so every phone would be able to keep a record of close encounters with other phones. But that would be a clear violation of privacy. Broadcasting any personally identifiable information via Bluetooth LE is a bad idea, because messages can be read by anyone in range.</p>
<h2>Anonymous exchanges</h2>
<p>To get around this problem, every phone broadcasts a long random number, which is changed frequently. Other devices receive these numbers and store them if they were sent from close proximity. By using long, unique, random numbers, no personal information is sent via Bluetooth LE.</p>
<p>Apple and Google follow this principle <a href="https://covid19-static.cdn-apple.com/applications/covid19/current/static/contact-tracing/pdf/ContactTracing-BluetoothSpecificationv1.1.pdf">in their specification</a>, but add some cryptography. First, every phone generates a unique tracing key that is kept confidentially on the phone. Every day, the tracing key generates a new daily tracing key. Though the tracing key could be used to identify the phone, the daily tracing key can’t be used to figure out the phone’s permanent tracing key. Then, every 10 to 20 minutes, the daily tracing key generates a new rolling proximity identifier, which looks just like a long random number. This is what gets broadcast to other devices via the Bluetooth advertising channel.</p>
<p>When someone tests positive for COVID-19, they can disclose a list of their daily tracing keys, usually from the previous 14 days. Everyone else’s phones use the disclosed keys to re-create the infected person’s rolling proximity identifiers. The phones then compare the COVID-19-positive identifiers with their own records of the identifiers they received from nearby phones. A match reveals a potential exposure to the virus, but it doesn’t identify the patient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Australian government’s COVIDSafe app warns about close encounters with people who are COVID-19-positive, but unlike the Apple-Google system COVIDSafe reports the contacts to public health authorities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-the-covidsafe-logo-seen-news-photo/1211085440?adppopup=true">Florent Rols/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the competing proposals use a similar approach. The principal difference is that Apple’s and Google’s operating system updates reach far more phones automatically than a single app can. Additionally, by proposing a cross-platform standard, Apple and Google allow existing apps to piggyback and use a common, compatible communication approach that could work across many apps. </p>
<h2>No plan is perfect</h2>
<p>The Apple-Google exposure notification system is very secure, but it’s <a href="https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2020/04/12/contact-tracing-in-the-real-world/">no guarantee of either accuracy or privacy</a>. The system could produce a large number of false positives because being within Bluetooth range of an infected person doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has been transmitted. And even if an app records only very strong signals as a proxy for close contact, it cannot know whether there was a wall, a window or a floor between the phones.</p>
<p>However unlikely, there are ways governments or hackers could track or identify people using the system. Bluetooth LE devices use an advertising address when broadcasting on an advertising channel. Though these addresses can be randomized to protect the identity of the sender, we demonstrated last year that it is theoretically <a href="https://doi.org/10.2478/popets-2019-0036">possible to track devices for extended periods of time</a> if the advertising message and advertising address are not changed in sync. To Apple’s and Google’s credit, they call for these to be changed synchronously. </p>
<p>But even if the advertising address and a coronavirus app’s rolling identifier are changed in sync, it may still be possible to track someone’s phone. If there isn’t a sufficiently large number of other devices nearby that also change their advertising addresses and rolling identifiers in sync – a process known as mixing – someone could still track individual devices. For example, if there is a single phone in a room, someone could keep track of it because it’s the only phone that could be broadcasting the random identifiers. </p>
<p>Another potential attack involves logging additional information along with the rolling identifiers. Even though the protocol does not send personal information or location data, receiving apps could record when and where they received keys from other phones. If this was done on a large scale – such as an app that systematically collects this extra information – it could be used to identify and track individuals. For example, if a supermarket recorded the exact date and time of incoming rolling proximity identifiers at its checkout lanes and combined that data with credit card swipes, store staff would have a reasonable chance of identifying which customers were COVID-19 positive.</p>
<p>And because Bluetooth LE advertising beacons use plain-text messages, it’s possible to send faked messages. This could be used to troll others by repeating known COVID-19-positive rolling proximity identifiers to many people, resulting in deliberate false positives.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Apple-Google system could be the key to alerting thousands of people who have been exposed to the coronavirus while protecting their identities, unlike contact tracing apps that report identifying information to central government or corporate databases.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johannes Becker works for Boston University. His research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Starobinski works for Boston University. His research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Bluetooth wireless communication makes it possible to track when people have been exposed to people infected with the coronavirus. The right cryptography scheme keeps alerts about exposures private.Johannes Becker, Doctoral student in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston UniversityDavid Starobinski, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/752892018-07-26T19:57:20Z2018-07-26T19:57:20ZLet the light shine on super-fast wireless connections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228987/original/file-20180724-194140-11t9bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Light can be used as a high-speed form of wireless communication.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/ra2studio</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in a world of wireless communications, from the early days of radio to new digital television, Wi-Fi and the latest 4G (soon to be 5G) connected smart devices.</p>
<p>But there are limits to this wireless world. With the <a href="https://investor.cisco.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/news/news-details/2017/Cisco-Mobile-Visual-Networking-Index-VNI-Forecast-Projects-7-Fold-Increase-in-Global-Mobile-Data-Traffic-from-2016-2021/default.aspx">prediction of 12 billion mobile-connected devices by 2021</a> and a projected <a href="http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/index.html#mobile-forecast">sevenfold increase in wireless traffic</a>, the search is on for any new method of wireless connectivity.</p>
<p>One solution could be right before our very eyes, if only we could see it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-5g-network-threatens-to-overcrowd-the-airwaves-putting-weather-radar-at-risk-97179">The 5G network threatens to overcrowd the airwaves, putting weather radar at risk</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Current wireless connections</h2>
<p>All wireless applications – such as mobile communications, Wi-Fi, broadcasting, and sensing – rely on some form of electromagnetic radiation. </p>
<p>The difference between these applications is simply the frequency of the signal (the carrier frequency) used in the electromagnetic radiation.</p>
<p>For example, current mobile phones sold as 3G and 4G operate in the lower microwave frequency bands (850MHz, 1.8GHz, 2-2.5GHz). A wireless local area network such as Wi-Fi operates in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, whereas digital terrestrial television operates at 600-620MHz.</p>
<p>The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation covers a very broad range of frequencies and some of these are <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/theacma/australian-radiofrequency-spectrum-plan-spectrum-planning-acma">selected for specific applications</a>.</p>
<p>These frequency regions are <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/04/tpg-and-vodafone-just-bought-the-last-of-the-700mhz-spectrum-for-1-5-billion/">highly contested and valuable resources</a> for wireless applications.</p>
<h2>Running out of spectrum</h2>
<p>Our current spectrum use in the lower microwave region will soon be <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-running-out-of-wireless-spectrum-so-what-can-we-do-25205">heavily congested, even exhausted</a>. It would be difficult to squeeze any more spare spectrum for any wireless application.</p>
<p>To carry an information content on to one of these frequencies, the frequency bands need sufficient <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/38401/bandwidth">bandwidth</a> – the amount of information that can be transmitted – to meet future requirements. At the lower end of the spectrum, there are insufficient bandwidths to meet speeds exceeding gigabits per second.</p>
<p>At the higher end of the spectrum, <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/ionising-radiation">ionising radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays</a> cannot be used because of safety issues. </p>
<p>Despite current 4G wireless standard promising more shared capacity (1Gb/s), <a href="http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/index.html#mobile-forecast">the projected demand and traffic volume</a> already pushes the existing infrastructure to its ultimate limit. The future promise of 5G communication only adds to the problem.</p>
<p>A major rethink of the current wireless technologies is needed to meet these challenging requirements. </p>
<h2>Let there be light!</h2>
<p>The wireless transmission of optical signals has emerged as a viable option. It offers advantages not possible with current wireless technologies.</p>
<p>Optical wireless promises greater speed, higher throughput, and potentially lower energy consumption. Leveraging on existing optical wired infrastructures (namely optical fibre cables and networks), optical wireless connectivity can provide a seamless high capacity to end-users.</p>
<p>An example would be using optical wireless connectivity inside buildings to complement fibre-to-the-home deployments.</p>
<p>Optical wireless networks would be immune to electromagnetic interference and so could be deployed in radio frequency (RF) sensitive environments. You’ve probably seen those warning signs asking you not to use your mobile phone in hospitals, aircraft and other areas where equipment is sensitive to interference.</p>
<p>Optical wireless communications can be divided into visible light and infrared systems. </p>
<h2>And let there be sight</h2>
<p>A common issue with both is that devices need to be in the line of sight, as any physical obstruction can result in the loss of transmission. You may have experienced this issue when attempting to change a channel on TV if someone or something gets in the way of your remote.</p>
<p>Visible light communication (VLC) relies on LEDs that are also used for lighting. For example, by flashing LED lights located in the ceiling of a room at a rate much higher than can be discerned by the human eye, information can be conveyed to detectors around the room.</p>
<p>The major limitation of VLC is the limited bandwidth of commercially available white LED (~100 of MHz) that limits the transmission speeds. </p>
<p>Infrared communication systems have ample bandwidth with the potential of transmission tens of Gb/s per user. Despite the major advantage over VLC, the need for line-of-sight has seen this technology under-developed. Until now.</p>
<p>To overcome this we have <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224218404_High-Speed_Optical_Wireless_Communication_System_for_Indoor_Applications">demonstrated</a> an infrared-based optical wireless communication link that can support a user on the move. By using a pair of access points with some spatial separation, any blockage of beams can be easily overcome as users hop from beam to beam freely.</p>
<p>Optical wireless systems can be built to make sure there is a <a href="https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-25-18-22046">secure wireless transmission</a>. Using <a href="https://www.osapublishing.org/abstract.cfm?uri=OFC-2018-M2K.8">efficient wireless protocols</a> it’s possible to transmit data without any delay and to allow users to move within a building while enjoying high speed wireless coverage. </p>
<h2>Optical wireless in action</h2>
<p>We will in future be using a range of devices, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices, that all require superfast wireless connections.</p>
<p>For example, these new user interfaces are poised to make a big difference to the way museums and galleries will operate in the future. Currently, most of these platforms are linked via wired connections. But wireless interfaces will make them more easy to be used in applications.</p>
<p>The uptake of optical wireless as a viable communications technology can also drive further possibilities of using low-cost optical wireless transceivers to substitute expensive optical fibre rollout in rural and regional broadband contexts.</p>
<p>The integrated transceivers for infrared optical wireless communications are still under development and more effort is needed to speed up such integration efforts. But the <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/2347-million-new-research-discoveries">researcher teams here</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11415360/Researchers-develop-100Gbps-light-based-wireless-network.html">abroad</a> are trying to make advances in the way such systems can be used in realistic scenarios.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Nokia Australia, Google, nbn Co, Transurban, PARC(USA) and Digital Falcon. In addition, he leads an interdisciplinary research institute - Melbourne Networked Society Institute which has received funding from the Victorian State Government as well as Federal Government and a number of industry partners.
This research activity has been funded by the Australia Research Councils' Discovery Project DP170100268 - Optical Wireless Frontiers, in collaboration with Professor Kamal Alameh from the Edith Cowan University and Dr Ke Wang from the RMIT University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Lim receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elaine Wong receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>We live in a world of wireless communication, but there are limits to what existing technologies can offer. The search is on for any new method of wireless connectivity.Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas, Director - Networked Society Institute and Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of MelbourneChristina Lim, Professor, The University of MelbourneElaine Wong, Associate Dean, Diversity and Inclusion, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646532016-10-27T01:40:21Z2016-10-27T01:40:21ZDeep underground, smartphones can save miners’ lives<p>American mining production <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPG21SQ">increased earlier this decade</a>, as industry sought to reduce its reliance on other countries for key minerals such as coal for energy and rare-earth metals for use in consumer electronics. But mining is dangerous – <a href="https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/statistics/mine-safety-and-health-glance">working underground carries risks</a> of explosions, fires, flooding and dangerous concentrations of poisonous gases.</p>
<p>Mine accidents have <a href="http://www.wvminesafety.org/fatal97.htm">killed tens of thousands</a> of mine workers worldwide in just the past decade. Most of these accidents occurred in structurally diverse underground mines with extensive labyrinths of interconnected tunnels. As mining progresses, workers move machinery around, which creates a continually changing environment. This makes search and rescue efforts even more complicated than they might otherwise be.</p>
<p>To address these dangers, <a href="http://arlweb.msha.gov/MinerAct/MinerActSingleSource.asp">U.S. federal regulations</a> require mine operators to monitor levels of methane, carbon monoxide, smoke and oxygen – and to warn miners of possible danger due to air poisoning, flood, fire or explosions. In addition, mining companies must have accident-response plans that include systems with two key capabilities: enabling two-way communications between miners trapped underground and rescuers on the surface, and tracking individual miners so responders can know where they need to dig.</p>
<p>So far, efforts to design systems that are both reliable and resilient when disaster strikes have run into significant roadblocks. My research group’s work is aimed at enhancing commercially available smartphones and wireless network equipment with software and hardware innovations to create a system that is straightforward and relatively simple to operate.</p>
<h2>Existing connections</h2>
<p>The past decade has seen several efforts to develop monitoring and emergency communication systems, which generally can be classified into three types: through-the-wire, through-the-Earth and through-the-air. Each has different flaws that make them less than ideal options.</p>
<p>Wired systems use coaxial cables or optical fibers to connect monitoring and communications equipment throughout the mine and on the surface. But these are costly and vulnerable to damage from fires and tunnel collapses. Imagine, for example, if a wall collapse cut off a room from its connecting tunnels: Chances are the cable in those tunnels would be damaged too.</p>
<p>Systems that send signals through the Earth use large loop antennas to send low-frequency radio waves through dirt and rock. The signals can’t carry much information beyond simple texts or sensor readings, and the equipment is expensive and bulky. </p>
<p>Airwave setups use wireless links, like cordless phones or Wi-Fi signals, to span distances of 1,000 to 2,500 feet. But these have limitations too. They depend on wired base stations distributed throughout mines, which are very like the wired-only systems and have similar cost and connectivity problems. </p>
<h2>Tracking underground</h2>
<p>Because they have to track individual miners’ movements underground, all of these systems also require every worker to carry expensive custom sensing units. The costs involved have meant that so far, most mines today use equipment that provides the bare minimum amount of safety required. This includes manually tracking miners’ locations using two-way pagers or video surveillance.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s easy to get lost in here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sudeep Pasricha/Colorado State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If newer methods for tracking, sensing and communication could be developed, we could detect precursors to mishaps (such as noxious or combustible gas level concentrations in certain parts of a mine), and better aid rescue efforts in the aftermath of an accident. In my research, we’re trying to use regular consumer smartphones and smart wireless devices to solve these problems. This sort of system takes advantage of the facts that most people have phones with them all the time, and that modern smartphones have a wide range of sensors already built in.</p>
<p>Some prior work of mine found a way to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CODESISSS.2015.7331366">use smartphones to navigate indoor spaces</a>. We started by measuring the strength of the Wi-Fi signals the phone was receiving to approximate the distance the phone was from known transmitter locations. We factored in measurements from the phone’s inertial sensors to determine speed and direction of movement. And we applied a mathematical technique called <a href="http://www.cs.unc.edu/%7Ewelch/kalman/">Kalman filtering</a> to determine other useful information from additional sensors – such as number of steps taken.</p>
<p>When all these data were processed by machine learning techniques, we could determine a user’s location within one to three meters, despite noisy or erroneous readings from Wi-Fi radios and inertial sensors. That was much better than prior methods for indoor location-sensing based on inertial sensor readings and fingerprinting. But these studies were done above ground.</p>
<p>Doing the same thing underground is much more difficult. Not only are Wi-Fi signals unavailable underground, but other wireless signals, such as those from cellphone towers, are also not present. Even what signals are there, from communications equipment in the mine, bounce off uneven surfaces, are absorbed by earthen walls and must pass equipment and other obstacles in tunnels of varying dimensions. These complexities make determining a specific location even harder for an electronic device.</p>
<p>Moreover, sensors and smartphones used in mines must be particularly energy-efficient because recharging stations are scarce. And they must not use much power, to avoid igniting subsurface gases.</p>
<h2>A new approach</h2>
<p>Our research involves designing a wireless network made up of many low-cost stationary <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.09.091">Zigbee or Bluetooth sensors</a> deployed strategically around the mine, creating a web or mesh network that can connect with smartphones carried by the miners. We’ll design the exact location of the fixed sensors based on an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2004.828457">analysis of how radio signals travel</a> in complex, changing and noisy <a href="http://inside.mines.edu/Mining-Edgar-Mine">underground mines</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A proposed system layout for underground mine monitoring, tracking and communication.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sudeep Pasricha/Colorado State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We’re also working to design new software algorithms and filtering techniques that can work on smartphones. When connected to the wireless mesh network, they will be able to accurately and efficiently calculate location in mines, despite the highly unpredictable nature of wireless signals.</p>
<p>Our hope is that we’ll figure out how to build a combination cyber and physical system for monitoring, communication and tracking in underground mines under normal conditions. Such a setup would also be helpful in emergency response and rescue operations. This could not only improve the safety of <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CEU1021200001">hundreds of thousands of American miners</a>, but also offer new opportunities for communications and improving human safety in a variety of extreme environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sudeep Pasricha receives funding from the National Science Foundation on themes related to what is described in this article.</span></em></p>Mine communications are complex, slow and unreliable. The solution to keeping miners safe, and rescuing them when disaster strikes, might just be in their hands already.Sudeep Pasricha, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science , Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/620972016-07-06T07:18:07Z2016-07-06T07:18:07ZThe lessons to be learned now the ABC’s pulled its ‘inaccurate’ Wi-Fried program<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129502/original/image-20160706-817-10gk48v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The ABC breached its impartiality standards in a Catalyst program on the safety of wireless devices such as mobile phones.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Sidarta</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ABC has this week <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-05/wi-fried/7569664">announced</a> that an episode of its <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/">Catalyst</a> television program “breached the ABC’s impartiality standards” when it raised concerns about the safety of wireless devices such as mobile phones.</p>
<p>The episode, titled Wi-Fried? and broadcast on February 16 this year, claimed that the radiofrequency (RF) emissions from Wi-Fi was causing health effects ranging from DNA damage to cancer.</p>
<p>Such statements are not mainstream scientific positions, but rather are views that leading health authorities have considered when <a href="http://www.arpansa.gov.au/radiationprotection/FactSheets/index.cfm">concluding</a> that there is no evidence that low-level RF, such as that from Wi-Fi, mobile phones or base stations, impairs health. </p>
<p>I was one of many people who raised concerns about the claims in the Catalyst program, writing as part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-wi-fi-and-mobile-phones-really-cause-cancer-experts-respond-54881">an expert panel for The Conversation</a>. But there were many other <a href="http://www.amta.org.au/newsletters/EME-Update-March-2016?Article=49982">critics of the program</a> including the ABC’s own <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4411611.htm">Media Watch program</a>.</p>
<h2>ABC investigation</h2>
<p>The conduct of the Catalyst team in producing and airing this misinformation was investigated by the ABC’s independent Audience and Consumer Affairs unit. It found that Catalyst breached the relevant editorial standards for accuracy. Specifically, it breached <a href="https://edpols.abc.net.au/guidance/accuracy/">both of the following</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>2.1 Make reasonable efforts to ensure that material facts are accurate and presented in context; and</p>
<p>2.2 Do not present factual content in a way that will materially mislead the audience. In some cases, this may require appropriate labels or other explanatory information.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It the <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/FINAL-REPORT-Catalyst-WiFried-Investigation.pdf">ABC’s full 31 page report</a>, the unit concluded that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] the findings for accuracy all unduly favour the unorthodox perspective that wireless devices and Wi-Fi pose significant health risks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The episode has now been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4407325.htm">removed from the ABC website</a> and the journalist Dr Maryanne Demasi <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2016/s4495341.htm">reported by the ABC</a> to be suspended pending a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-06/catalyst-under-review-again/7572816">review of the program</a>.</p>
<p>It is indeed comforting to see the thorough scrutiny of the “journalism”, and that tangible consequences ensued, but it also raises a number of important issues that I believe are worthy of reflection.</p>
<h2>Science journalism should challenge</h2>
<p>Perhaps most important is the role of any journalist in science reporting. Here it is important to acknowledge that it is normal for science to get things wrong from time to time. I thoroughly believe that a journalist plays an important role in showing errors in the standard view.</p>
<p>For example, if the standard view was incorrect – that Wi-Fi was indeed dangerous and there was good evidence in support of this – then I would be grateful to have a journalist point this out.</p>
<p>But as we see from the numerous internet perspectives on everything from Wi-Fi and health to alien abductions, in order to inform the audience there is also a strong need for the journalist to provide appropriate balance.</p>
<p>For example, without appropriate consideration of expert opinion, the airing of emotive views (of those who believe they’ve been abducted) may make the claim appear more real.</p>
<p>This was a great failure in the Wi-Fried episode, as unsubstantiated claims were put forward without adequate attention to the scientific consensus (nor evidence as to why the consensus was wrong).</p>
<p>So unless the aim of science journalism was similar to advertising and merely to encourage a particular perspective, it requires great care and objectivity to achieve its objective. If the audience has a more accurate understanding of an issue after the piece, then I think it has achieved an important objective.</p>
<h2>The consequences of getting it wrong</h2>
<p>As we’ve seen though, science journalism doesn’t always get it right. This is not surprising given that ratings rather than knowledge conveyance is increasingly becoming the metric of journalistic success. But what are the consequences of getting it wrong, and has the ABC done enough to improve its journalism?</p>
<p>In this case Catalyst has clearly shot itself in the foot, reaching beyond good journalism and into sensationalism, and having its reputation damaged in the process.</p>
<p>This is a good outcome as it pressures the ABC to work on improving its internal review mechanisms to re-establish its strong journalism reputation. But I fear that less scrupulous media organisations rely less heavily on such reputations and are less likely to be influenced by such embarrassments.</p>
<p>Further, even given the determination of the Audience and Consumer Affairs unit within the ABC, it is questionable whether the damage can be rectified.</p>
<p>The resource that went into the unit’s enquiry was admirable and very unlikely to be repeated in the vast majority of similar cases. And even if it was it is unlikely that the resultant Catalyst retraction would have the reach and persuasiveness to counter the original misinformation.</p>
<p>We can only hope that this example will serve to encourage other journalists to strive to inform rather than sensationalise, and remind editors of their responsibility to truth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodney Croft receives funding from National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia. He is affiliated with University of Wollongong, International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection, the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence the "Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research", and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence "Population Health Research on Electromagnetic Energy".</span></em></p>The ABC failed its own accuracy test when it broadcast claims of health risks associated with wireless devices such as mobile phones.Rodney Croft, Professor of Health Psychology, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/581502016-04-28T03:30:26Z2016-04-28T03:30:26ZHow high-speed wireless compares to cable in boosting our internet speeds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120254/original/image-20160426-1355-1wfgw2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wireless internet may have its uses but cable is still the way to go.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Surkov Vladimir </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s national broadband network continues its roll out with <a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco2/documents/nbn-rollout-metrics/nbn-rollout-metrics-140416.pdf">more than 900,000 premises now connected</a>, according to NBN Co’s latest <a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/about-nbn-co/corporate-plan/weekly-progress-report.html">weekly progress report</a>.</p>
<p>But Google recently announced the development of <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/google-is-working-on-beaming-high-speed-wireless-internet-into-your-home">high-speed wireless internet connections</a>, which raises the question of which technology is the best for any future broadband network.</p>
<h2>Political influence</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/expert-panel-the-state-of-the-national-broadband-network-56073">technology options</a> for deploying broadband in Australia have reflected political thinking and been heavily influenced by changes in federal government. Broadband technology also keeps improving and the continuing debate about choice of technology is hindering effective investment. </p>
<p>The current option for the NBN is a multi-technology mix (<a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/the-nbn-project/what-is-the-nbn-multi-technology-mix.html">MTM</a>). This approach emerged after a <a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco2/documents/nbn-co-strategic-review-report.pdf">strategic review</a> of the project undertaken by the Abbott-Turnbull Government.</p>
<p>MTM has the NBN network comprising optical fibre to the home, hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) cable network, hybrid fibre-copper cable and wireless options (fixed wireless and satellite wireless access).</p>
<p>But Google’s wireless plan adds fuel to the ongoing debate about whether cable connections will soon be obsolete? </p>
<h2>The original fibre plan</h2>
<p>The NBN’s original choice of fibre to the premises (<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/43551/fttp">FTTP</a>) remains not only the most future proof against rapid changes in technological evolution but also offers the highest speeds of connectivity and lowest delay (latency).</p>
<p>Low latency is very important for the smooth operation of any interactive application. In fact, telecommunications networks rely on optical fibre and the closer that the fibre can get to end user, the better the performance.</p>
<p>Hence, the debate has centred around how best to connect users to fibre over the last few kilometres. </p>
<p>NBN Co is interested in the <a href="http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/597662/telstra-scores-1-6b-nbn-hfc-contract/">HFC cable sourced from Telstra</a> and Optus as it has an installed fibre network base within 10km of the subscribers who are connected by a copper-based coaxial cable. This has greater capacity than the standard twisted copper pair phone lines.</p>
<p>If NBN Co can bring fibre close to a network termination point and then utilise the existing copper based telephone lines, there are new technologies that can push the speeds of connection in the short term to that comparable to fibre.</p>
<p>But their upgradability is low and the last few kilometres of copper as well as the terminal equipment will need to be replaced with optical fibre or other improved technologies in the future. </p>
<h2>Wireless still needs cable</h2>
<p>Even the broadband wireless options being considered by Google rely on a wireless access point located close to the users. That is almost guaranteed to be connected by the optical fibre.</p>
<p>In order to provide wireless access with broadband, the access point needs to have a directional beam towards the user or have a smaller radius of coverage with fewer users. This would imply a significantly large number of wireless access points interconnected by an optical fibre network to provide a coverage to everyone. </p>
<p>There are plans to provide wireless broadband using satellites (NBN’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/ten-cool-facts-about-nbns-forthcoming-sky-muster-satellite-service-20160202-gmjpow.html">Sky Muster</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/internet-in-space-nbns-plan-to-bring-broadband-to-rural-australia-46618">others</a>) and other floating platforms (Google’s <a href="https://www.google.com/loon/">Loon Project</a>). </p>
<p>But these cannot offer high bandwidth, as it will be shared by a larger number of users. They would also be significantly limited by the excessive delay caused by getting the signal to space and back again.</p>
<p>There is no one ideal solution, but it depends on the population density. Satellites and other space-based platforms provide universal coverage over the Earth’s surface with reasonable bandwidth in a shared manner. But the delay would be a problem when it comes to highly interactive applications involving audio, video or real-time interactions. </p>
<p>It is ideally suited for hard-to-reach places as well as for providing universal coverage of basic broadband to sparsely located populations.</p>
<p>Alternative wireless technologies, such as those being considered by Google, provide rapid deployment at a lower cost. But they also have a compromise in terms of upgradability.</p>
<p>Similarly, all other hybrid options such as fibre to the node (<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/43550/fttn">FTTN</a>), fibre to the building (<a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-releases/nbn-co-launches-fibre-to-the-building-technology.html">FTTB</a>), fibre to the distribution point (<a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/the-nbn-project/fttdp-could-provide-a-vital-new-tool-for-building-the-nbn-network.html">FTTdP</a>) and HFC provide low-cost activation options while deferring the upgrade costs to a future date.</p>
<p>These are options that network operators have when they are making decisions about investing their capital to expand the network, and shorten the time to bring services to market. </p>
<h2>Looming election</h2>
<p>Will the looming election cause a further change in the NBN policy? </p>
<p>Rethinks based on political ideology has <a href="http://www.afr.com/technology/web/nbn/fresh-nbn-leaks-showing-fttn-delays-raise-broadband-policy-questions-20160331-gnv0uz">already caused significant delays</a> and uncertainty regarding the project.</p>
<p>What’s needed is bipartisan commitment to accelerating NBN deployment along with modernising the infrastructure in the core network that will have to support increased access to broadband.</p>
<p>Internet Australia, the body representing internet users, is calling for bipartisan support for any NBN strategy. But it notes that Australia has <a href="https://delimiter.com.au/2016/03/24/australia-huge-slip-global-broadband-rankings/">dropped from 30th to 60th</a> in global rankings for average internet speeds.</p>
<p>So it wants bipartisan support to drop the current MTM strategy in favour to adopting <a href="https://www.internet.org.au/docs/media/451-18-april-2016-news-release-internet-australia-issues-a-revised-nbn-policy-calls-for-a-strategic-rethink-and-an-end-to-copper/file">at least fibre to the distribution point</a>, although it says fibre to the premises would be the “ultimate goal”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas currently receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Nokia and leads the Melbourne Networked Society Institute which received funding from the State Government of Victoria as well as industry partners such as Google.</span></em></p>Does Google’s plan for a high-speed wireless internet connection mean the current cable roll-out for the NBN will soon be obsolete?Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas, Director - Melbourne Networked Society Institute, Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Co-Founder/Academic Director - Melbourne Accelerator Program, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/554772016-03-03T11:18:58Z2016-03-03T11:18:58ZWill the next U.S. president close the digital divide for Americans without broadband access?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113596/original/image-20160302-25872-1jz27di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If they build it, will you come?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/5500692848">Doc Searls</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of the 2016 presidential candidates’ policy platforms recognize the strategic <a href="http://broadband.about.com/od/speedissues/a/Do-Increased-Boadband-Speeds-Boost-Economic-Benefits.htm">importance of high-speed Internet</a> (HSI), or broadband, in <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/08/26/does-high-speed-broadband-increase-economic-growth/#5d61df8d18e2">transforming the economy</a> and <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22231347%7EpagePK:34370%7EpiPK:34424%7EtheSitePK:4607,00.html">spurring innovation</a>.</p>
<p>The candidates appear motivated by a shared belief that high-speed Internet and HSI-enabled digital innovations – such as Uber, AirBnB, Amazon, Facebook, Google and so on – are driving economic growth and transforming society. The question then becomes what should be done to further unleash HSI’s potential economic and societal benefits. </p>
<p>The candidates approach Internet issues from different perspectives, dividing along party lines. Suggestions by Republicans <a href="https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/jobs-and-opportunity/">Cruz</a> and <a href="https://marcorubio.com/issues-2/marco-rubio-internet-policy-web-position/">Rubio</a> about minimizing Internet-related taxes and enhancing cybersecurity are indeed important. But these policy platforms are more relevant to the so-called Internet Haves than to the Internet Have-nots who aren’t online.</p>
<p>Only Democrats Clinton’s and Sanders’ stated policies aim to address the fundamental issue of the <a href="http://www.internetworldstats.com/links10.htm">digital divide</a> – the gap between those with digital technologies and access to high-speed Internet <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-divide-technology-internet-access-mary-beth-hertz">versus those without</a>. </p>
<p>However, is what Clinton and Sanders endorse enough to get all Americans hooked up to blazing fast broadband and all it enables?</p>
<h2>Current state of Internet access in the US</h2>
<p>According to the Pew Research Center, the home broadband adoption rate in the U.S. <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/21/home-broadband-2015/">dropped from 70 percent to 67 percent from 2012 to 2015</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113430/original/image-20160301-31020-1w4ws4g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/21/home-broadband-2015/pi-2015-10-21_broadband2015-02/">Pew Research Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cost is a big factor for those who aren’t connected. At the same time, the majority of Americans indicated that having home broadband access (rather than mobile Internet) is critical for many important life activities, including job hunting, access to health information or government services and so on.</p>
<p>Some families do rely on mobile phones as an alternative to HSI, mostly because of its greater affordability. But mobile service providers impose a data cap. And smartphones have limited capabilities compared to regular desktops or laptops, so mobile access isn’t a perfect substitute.</p>
<p>Those who do not have home broadband or who rely on mobile Internet as their sole HSI access are usually <a href="http://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0256">socioeconomically disadvantaged</a> (e.g., lower income, education), racial or ethnic minorities, and/or rural residents.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/21/home-broadband-2015/pi-2015-10-21_broadband2015-16/"><img width="638" height="705" src="http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/12/PI-2015-10-21_broadband2015-16.png" class="attachment-large" alt="Percentage of adults who have home broadband."></a></p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2012.689271">Research suggests lack of HSI limits</a> education opportunities, career development and social mobility.</p>
<h2>Platform plans</h2>
<p>Both Democrats aim to address the digital divide by offering broadband access to those who currently lack it. </p>
<p><a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/improving-the-rural-economy/">Sanders’ platform asserts</a> that HSI is “no longer a luxury” and he casts the digital divide as a rural infrastructure issue. By missing out on high-speed broadband access, rural residents aren’t able to use it for “21st century commerce, education, telemedicine and public safety.” Sanders’ Rebuild America Act</p>
<blockquote>
<p>would invest US$25 billion over five years to expand high-speed broadband networks in underserved and unserved areas, and would boost speeds and capacity all across the country, particularly in rural areas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sanders’ website doesn’t mention how he’d hope to finance this expansion.</p>
<p>Clinton’s platform, too, stresses that HSI is “a necessity for equal opportunity and social mobility in a 21st-century economy.” </p>
<p>Part of her infrastructure plan calls for connecting “all Americans to the digital economy.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She will finish the job of connecting America’s households to the Internet with a commitment that by 2020, 100 percent of households in America will have access to affordable broadband. She will also invest new resources in bringing free Wi-Fi to public buildings and public transportation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Clinton says she will “harness both public and private capital” to make it all happen.</p>
<p>These free or affordable broadband access plans seem reasonable. But a critical question remains: will the digital divide be resolved simply by offering high-speed Internet access at low or even no cost to the have-nots? </p>
<p>My research suggests the answer is “maybe not.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113427/original/image-20160301-31030-1yz5zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beyond access, new Internet users need support and training.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70268842@N00/176800957">Colleen Taugher</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More to it than just hooking up</h2>
<p>The results of <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0894439309335169">numerous initiatives</a> that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2575.2006.00207.x">aimed to address the digital divide</a> collectively suggest the digital divide is a multifaceted problem.</p>
<p>Take, for instance, the case of the LaGrange Free High-Speed Internet Initiative in Georgia. Even when the city made free high-speed Internet access available to everyone, only about <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/25148830">40 percent of the 10,000 eligible households signed up</a>. One cannot help but ask: it’s already free, why don’t you adopt it? </p>
<p>It turns out that for digital have-nots, the challenges go well beyond just the financial and material barriers. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0256">The disadvantaged may also need</a> motivation, knowledge, skills and even confidence in order to use digital technologies. They also need social support that provides the needed assistance and encouragement so as to hop on the Internet. And they may not have opportunities for meaningful use of the high-speed Internet.</p>
<p>To help the disadvantaged cross the divide <a href="http://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0256">requires an orchestrated effort</a> coordinating the various necessary resources – financial, technical, educational and social supports. </p>
<p>But once someone is online, it can be life-changing. Here’s how one physician described a patient from LaGrange:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She was financially strapped, didn’t have any income. She was using this and actually for her, it brought her out of depression. Because she was very depressed, and she was able to make human contact with people all around the world. And she had friends she would correspond with in India and other countries.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even when the digital divide is bridged for some have-nots, we still find inequality in the way people use the Internet. This difference in usage behaviors between the socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged is called <a href="http://www.webuse.org/webuse.org/pdf/DiMaggioEtAl-DigitalInequality2004.pdf">digital inequality</a> or the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2673277">second-level digital divide</a>.</p>
<p>In particular, my colleagues and I found that the advantaged are <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2012.689271">much more productive in using broadband</a> to attain educational, economic, health, financial, social and political benefits.</p>
<p>In other words, access to high-speed Internet may wind up reproducing and enhancing existing advantages.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113599/original/image-20160302-25881-1tkvxok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s still a lot more to be done after you lay some cable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vattenfall/7466349584">Vattenfall</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The process is ongoing</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=28832">Municipal governments launch initiatives</a> to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2009.01.002">offer public broadband service</a> with an eye toward multiple benefits: developing a digital labor force, attracting new investment, bridging the digital divide, and harnessing opportunities for digital innovations.</p>
<p>But other stakeholders aren’t as excited. For instance, <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-03-fiber-cover_x.htm">incumbent service providers typically criticize</a> these free initiatives as compromising their interests by offering competing service. </p>
<p>Some lawmakers (e.g., <a href="https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/jobs-and-opportunity/">Cruz</a> and <a href="https://marcorubio.com/issues-2/marco-rubio-internet-policy-web-position/">Rubio</a>) oppose such initiatives on the grounds government shouldn’t intervene with market mechanisms.</p>
<p>Even if a Clinton or Sanders administration is able to structure a deal that potentially serves the interests of different stakeholders – government, incumbent service providers, the digitally advantaged and disadvantaged – these initiatives typically encounter <a href="https://www.heartland.org/sites/default/files/municipal_broadband_policy_paper.pdf">financial constraints that endanger their continuation</a>. Any future economic downturn could also challenge the economic sustainability of such deals.</p>
<p>Successfully bridging the digital divide is complicated. Besides providing the financial resources and technological means, an effective plan would need to motivate and encourage the have-nots, develop their digital competencies, and provide technical and social support. </p>
<p>After connecting the disadvantaged to HSI, policymakers should be aware of the second digital divide – rooted in ongoing socioeconomic inequalities – and provide continuous training and community support. </p>
<p>Finally, a successful plan would likely structure deals that serve different stakeholders’ interests and are designed to sustain the initiatives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J.J. Po-An Hsieh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Democrats’ policy platforms address the fundamental issue of Internet haves and have-nots in the U.S. But research suggests just hooking people up to broadband won’t solve the problem.J.J. Po-An Hsieh, Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/489452015-10-22T03:36:43Z2015-10-22T03:36:43Z3D-inspired hi-tech buoy takes African marine monitoring to new levels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98989/original/image-20151020-32231-6xiaw9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new real-time measuring buoy can change the way the maritime industry operates. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A hi-tech <a href="http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/bulletin/2015/08/11/ocean-innovation-pays-off/">buoy</a> that provides real-time data can play a key role in helping South Africa manage its coastal waters. It could also be deployed beyond the country’s waters.</p>
<p>Devised and tested virtually using 3D computer simulation technology, the buoy will feature locally sourced components as opposed to the current fully imported flotation systems. </p>
<p>The coastal observer is a compact modular data-collecting <a href="http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/bulletin/2015/08/11/ocean-innovation-pays-off/">buoy</a> purpose-made for a range of commercial and scientific applications at sea. </p>
<p>Its development charts remarkable progress since buoys first surfaced hundreds of years ago. While some types of floating markers may have existed before the 13th century, the first recorded <a href="http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/h_buoys.asp">buoy</a> was mentioned in La Compasso de Navigare in <a href="http://global.britannica.com/topic/Lo-compasso-da-navigare">1296</a>. Located in the Guadalquivir River, it aided mariners approaching Seville, Spain.</p>
<p>The buoy developed in South Africa enables users to get real-time data through wireless telemetry from a range of sensors mounted to, and powered by, the platform. It provides knowledge that would enable better understanding of the coastal environment. For example, it could provide an alert when the <a href="http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/envfacts/redtides/">red tide</a> is ready to crash on the west coast. During the red tide, water becomes toxic to certain marine animals. </p>
<p>South African has also had a problem on the coast with illegal <a href="http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/southern-africa/2014/10/24/marine-fisheries-poaching/">fishing</a>, costing the industry an estimated R4 billion annually. The device can also monitor illegal activity on the coast. </p>
<h2>Bucking the trend</h2>
<p>Throughout the oceanographics engineering industry – made up of government departments, ports and harbours – more than 90% of equipment is sourced abroad. </p>
<p>Very little oceanographic equipment is made locally. All flotation systems are imported.</p>
<p>This project will buck the trend and ensure that local companies in the maritime industry can draw on tailor-made products that reduce costs. This solution allows them to have more options to collect more data at sea.</p>
<h2>Breaking new ground</h2>
<p>Bouys are deployed all along the South African <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/about/geography/geography.htm#.ViT3wnqqqko">coastline</a>. They are used by industry and government for oceanographic and atmospheric data sampling. The data collected is crucial for severe weather prediction, disaster management, oceanographic research and coastal management.</p>
<p>Currently, when servicing the device, technicians have to remove the entire buoy from the ocean. This means that crucial data cannot be collected during service periods.</p>
<p>To counter this problem, the functionality of the buoy was enhanced to simplify the operational procedures. This makes it easier for information to filter from the sea to a data centre.</p>
<h2>Evolution of a prototype</h2>
<p>The original system was big and its operational procedures required a highly skilled team. Improvements were identified and a new compact modular system was created.</p>
<p>A list of possible improvements to the new design were devised through various deployment, maintenance and recovery procedures. Out of this a compact modular system was created. </p>
<p>The modular design allows for eased maintenance and repairs as modules are of manageable size and simply be replaced with service modules when required.</p>
<p>The system was developed for a local buoy network that required a new optimised system to allow for expansion of the network to cover more of the South African coastline. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98990/original/image-20151020-32241-6o25q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big Brother is watching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The platform allows its user to collect data from coastal waters and transfer it to a land-based server. </p>
<p>The system can now be tailored for uses ranging from oceanographic data collection, meteorological data collection, surveillance system.</p>
<p>The control system features a redundant design. Other parts can take over should any component fail. This allows for minimal system downtime and data loss.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>We have successfully completed our proof of concept by testing a prototype in <a href="http://www.capetown.travel/attractions/entry/false-bay">False Bay</a> in the Western Cape. </p>
<p>The system performed very well and allowed us to identify possible design optimisations that can improve operational procedures. </p>
<p>The design has been improved with a final prototype for testing currently in the manufacturing phase.</p>
<p>Plans are underway to produce the buoy commercially in South Africa in 2016 before taking it to the rest of the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dirk Muller is project leader for the Coastal Observer Project at CPUT and part of the team that devised the new real-time measuring buoy and intends applying for a provisional patent on this technology. The project is funded by CPUT.
</span></em></p>Enhanced data collection capabilities will ensure that information collected from the coastline will be seamless.Dirk Muller, Researcher and Mechanical Engineer, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.