Amazon joined the Thread Group board, said the IoT industry alliance Wednesday. Adding Amazon shows the company's commitment to the IP-based connectivity protocol Matter over Thread and Wi-Fi, Thread said. Amazon's eero has millions of Thread border routers in homes around the world, the group said. Other companies on the Thread Group board include Apple, Google, Lutron, NXP, Qualcomm, Osram, Samsung SmartThings, Siemens, Silicon Labs, Somfy and Yale.

Halo Collar plans to premiere a connected dog collar at Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles Tuesday that lets owners communicate with their pet over a cellular connection. The company partnered with mobile virtual network operator Kore Wireless for the collar, which has a sub-$5 monthly service fee to use the CAT-M1 LTE network, it said Monday. Halo pitches the collar as an alternative to a conventional electric fence, saying it enables owners to train their dogs to recognize boundaries. The collar provides “smart training” and an activity tracker, and it automatically downloads daily satellite updates to improve GPS accuracy, said the company. Owners can create up to 20 wireless fences.

Spire Global is partnering on Myriota's planned satellite-based IoT network, using Spire's low earth orbit nanosatellites, Spire said Wednesday: That will let Myriota more rapidly expand its constellation coverage beyond its existing footprint that includes North America.

More than 7 billion antennas for IoT devices will ship globally by 2025, nearly three times the current volume, reported ABI Research Wednesday. “With new product launches and evolution of existing devices requiring multiple radios, smaller form factors, and greater device breadth, OEMs are increasingly challenged both at the design phase and when getting their products to market,” it said. “If the antenna is not designed and integrated properly at the beginning of the process, an OEM is very likely to encounter higher costs, delays, and even product failure at the certification stage,” said analyst Tancred Taylor.

Data that will be collected through the emerging IoT will be transformative for many businesses, Bryan Tantzen, senior director in Cisco’s IoT Business Unit, said Monday at Fierce’s virtual Industrial IoT Summit. The transformation is just getting started and many companies are still using clipboards to record numbers rather than putting in sensors and doing automatic data collection, Tantzen said. “The promise of this new data is vast,” he said: “We think we can eliminate 80% of unplanned downtime. We can dramatically improve overall equipment effectiveness. We can even speed new product introduction.” In the post-COVID-19 era, businesses will focus on sustainability “so you can keep the lights on as a utility and make the grid more resilient,” Tantzen said. In factories, “when a robot goes down you no longer have to wait and fly in an expert,” he said. “You can virtualize that expertise and get remote … maintenance that can reduce downtime,” he said. The time is now to address security risks from the IoT and the automation, he said. “We’re seeing threats everywhere, not only malware,” he said. Most of the IoT is “a hard shell with a soft middle” and doesn’t have adequate security, he said: “That will not work going forward.” Looking at what the industrial IoT can do for a business shouldn’t start with use cases, said Saip Yilmaz, Black & Decker director-industry innovation. “Focus on your strategy, how you will compete in the market,” he said. “Thinking about the future state of your strategy really helps to set your goals,” he said. “Don’t become another data rich, information poor company,” he said. Understand the use case and then decide what technology would work best, advised Kervin Blanke, head of U.S. operations for Kinexon, an IoT company. There’s not “one sensor that’s going to do it all; it’s more complex than that,” Blanke said. Companies need a single platform that can tie all of their sensors together, he said. Lots of companies are investing in use of the IoT for predictive maintenance, said Markus Larsson, member of the senior leadership team at California’s Palo Alto Research Center. “The performance of what has been rolled out, broadly speaking, just hasn’t been good enough,” he said.

Broadcom, Cisco and Facebook announced the launch of the Open Automated Frequency Coordination Software Group, as part of the Telecom Infra Project, to spur the commercialization of 6 GHz Wi-Fi devices. The group hopes to “develop a common reference open source software for an AFC system,” said a Tuesday news release: “The AFC will be used by unlicensed devices in the newly available 6 GHz band to operate outdoor and increased range indoor while ensuring incumbent services are protected.” Many applications and use cases “we’re just beginning to dream up with the introduction of Wi-Fi 6 and the 6 GHz spectrum will rely on standard power, greater range and reliability,” said Rakesh Thaker, Cisco vice president-wireless engineering: “This software group will play an important role in ensuring those applications can become reality, while also protecting important incumbent services.”

Personal IoT devices for tracking children, the elderly and pets will soon “enter the mainstream,” reaching an installed base of 68 million units in 2026 from 16 million this year, reported ABI Research Thursday. Safety is the most significant demand driver for consumer tracking devices, said analyst Harriet Sumnall. She estimates the market for IoT devices to track the elderly will expand at a 42% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2026, when North America will have the largest installed base at 15 million. Devices for tracking children reside in smartwatches like the Verizon GizmoWatch and tracking tags like the Apple AirTag. The segment is projected to have a 30.4% CAGR through 2026.

There were numerous changes between draft supply chain rules and final rules OK’d by commissioners 4-0 Thursday (see 2106170063). The FCC added several questions to a section on certification rules, including for telecom certification bodies (TCB) that do most of the work. “Are there additional compliance measures beyond” an attestation “that we should consider?” it now says: “Should the applicant have an ongoing duty during the pendency of the application to monitor the list of covered equipment and provide notice to the TCB or the Commission if, subsequent to the initial filing of the application or at the time a grant of certification, the equipment or a component part had become newly listed as ‘covered’ equipment in an updated Covered List?” The NPRM now asks whether existing rules or procedures should “be enhanced with respect to applicants that intentionally attempt to circumvent our rules or TCBs that repeatedly fail to meet their responsibilities to comply with our proposed prohibition” and on “revisions that could better ensure that applicants comply with our proposed requirements.” The draft was changed to ask for comment on “any other types of action or activity (e.g., outreach and education) that would be helpful to ensure that all parties potentially affected by these changes understand the changes and will comply the prohibition associated with ‘covered’ equipment.” Other sections also were modified to ask about the need for additional education. In a change requested by Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, the NPRM asks “should we also require that the compliance statement include the name of a U.S. agent for service of process (if different from the responsible party)?” As indicated Thursday, the NOI now includes new language on the roles played by stores and standards groups. “Even with broad adoption of industry best practices and standards, some equipment sold in the United States may lack appropriate security protections,” it says: “What is the role of retailers in voluntarily limiting the sale of such equipment? How can retailers educate consumers about the importance of security protections for their devices?” The NPRM asks for comment on “the status of international standards setting that could be relevant to supply chain security.” As mentioned by Commissioner Nathan Simington, the NOI asks: “Are there other technologies or cybersecurity methods that mitigate security risks (e.g., RF fingerprinting256 or some other method)? What, if anything, should the Commission be doing to encourage” such.

Silicon Labs partnered with Wirepas to release a combined IoT hardware and software solution for large-scale mesh networks, it said Wednesday. Wirepas Massive, which connects and localizes sensors, tags and luminaires, is available on Silicon Labs’ EFR32BG21 and EFR32BG22 modules and SoCs for use cases including asset tracking, connected lighting and smart energy. The low-power technology is applicable to pallet and goods tracking throughout the supply chain, it said.

Dog identification tag maker Qalo launched a line of Bluetooth-enabled trackable dog ID tags. The tags attach to a dog’s collar, and users monitor their location by app. The Tile plays a tune to help find the pet, or it can be set to silent using the proximity meter in the app, said the company Wednesday. The Tile Network goes live June 14, powered by Tile app users and network extenders such as Xfinity and Amazon Sidewalk. Sidewalk is scheduled to go live June 8. The $49 Qalo TraQ tags have a two-year battery life, said the company.