Dish Network has a history of trying "to take taxpayers for a ride," and "a thorough inquiry" is needed into its progress deploying its planned narrowband IoT network, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and Digital Liberty Executive Director Katie McAuliffe wrote Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale last week (see here). They said Dish is hoarding spectrum intended for 5G, missing construction deadlines and plans to only use a small percentage of that spectrum for IoT and machine-to-machine communication. Dish didn't comment Monday.

The IEEE Standards Association approved Panasonic’s broadband over powerline (BPL) communication technology for the IoT as the IEEE 1901a standard, said the company Monday. Panasonic proposed the technology, said to meet various demands for IoT-related services, in June, and it’s based on its HD-PLC Wavelet orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing technology. IEEE 1901a controls bands according to usage, allowing scalable communications with features to extend communications distances and to select speeds for the diverse communications needs of IoT-related services, said the company. The standard mode communication band can be doubled or quadrupled, allowing a theoretical 500 Mbps communication speed in double mode or a maximum of 1 Gbps in quadruple mode over coaxial cable or dedicated line, it said. The standard mode communication band can be compressed by a factor of two or four to concentrate energy in narrow bands, extending the communication distance up to twice the distance in standard mode with a lower communication speed, it said. The IoT BPL standard was designed for communications in homes but also supports large-scale networks covering social infrastructure such as buildings and factories, Panasonic said.

Qualcomm met FCC staffers about “5G New Radio” technology in unlicensed and shared spectrum. “5G NR deployed in unlicensed and shared spectrum, which is being standardized in [3rd Generation Partnership Project], can support demanding, compelling Industrial IoT and other applications that require ultra-low latency, ultra-reliable connectivity through using time synchronization and Coordinated Multi-Point sharing techniques,” Qualcomm said. “Many factories, hospitals, and other venues rely upon wired technology for these applications and using 5G NR instead will deliver tremendous gains in efficiency, productivity, and other benefits to the public.” Qualcomm officials met Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, and others from OET and the Wireless Bureau, said a filing, posted Monday in docket 18-295.

The CableLabs-developed Micronets premises network management system isn't a panacea for possible security threats to IoT devices and networks, but can blunt the effects through real-time threat detection and network segmentation, NCTA blogged Wednesday. CableLabs said Micronets uses device fingerprinting and dynamic identity techniques to organize network-connected devices into "micronet" trust domains and manage their interconnectivity. CableLabs said Micronets is designed for relative ease of use, with "easy onboarding of new devices with minimal know-how" while also allowing users to simply identify connected devices. It said using different micronets allows isolating security threats, like a particular hacked device, from damaging the entire network so attackers can't get easy access to devices in other trust domains. NCTA said the rise of botnet attacks, particularly distributed denial of service attacks, points to the need for systems like Micronets, which could have prevented the Mirai botnet attack in October 2016. CableLabs said beyond Micronets, it's working on better compromised-device detection, DDoS monitoring and IP-address spoofing prevention, and taking part in Open Connectivity Foundation efforts toward an IoT specification standard.

Fabless semiconductor company InnoPhase announced the Talaria Two platform, a single-chip wireless IoT platform it says can create a new class of IoT products that "can cut the power cord and be battery-based with a DTIM3 specification at least half that of leading lowpower Wi-Fi solutions." Talaria Two comprises a multiprotocol transceiver, MAC/PHY, digital power amplifier and embedded ARM processor for lightweight IoT applications, said the company. Talaria Two uses the company’s PolaRFusion radio architecture, which processes radio signals using polar coordinates rather than traditional IQ coordinates. It’s said to significantly reduce the power required to transmit, process, and receive wireless information by moving most of the radio signal processing from power-hungry analog circuits, found in today’s IQ-architecture wireless solutions, into power- and size-efficient digital logic. Initial customer products showed battery life improvements of more than 50 percent vs. competitive solutions, it said, allowing “weeks, months or even years longer between battery charging or replacement.” The chip can actively manage 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0 for edge-of-network applications, said the company. Teknique chose Talaria Two for a battery-powered camera targeted to consumer monitoring and commercial security markets for its ability to maintain Wi-Fi connectivity at "extremely low 2 power levels and eliminating the need for a wireless hub," said CEO Ben Bodley.

The Telecommunications Industry Association and the IoT Community signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on initiatives for smart buildings, manufacturing, connected vehicles, intelligent transportation, healthcare and more, they said Thursday. Harnessing the power of the IoT is “essential for the successful development of smart buildings and eventually smart cities,” said Harry Smeenk, TIA senior vice president-technology programs. The groups will develop and share training content on IoT initiatives and will collaborate to educate industries on IoT’s role in buildings, they said.

The 3.5 GHz band citizens broadband radio service band potentially will give businesses a bigger role in shaping how wireless is used, said wireless adviser firm Senza Fili. The band could be the future of sharing, the report said. “Even heavily trafficked licensed cellular and unlicensed bands are not used at capacity throughout the footprint and throughout the day, especially as we move from high-density urban locations toward rural areas,” it said. “Even new technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6 cannot keep up with the increase in traffic, from both human users and IoT applications, without access to new spectrum or better spectrum reuse. And this is where spectrum sharing and densification play a major role.” A Google panelist sought such sharing earlier this week (see 1901150043).

The Zigbee Alliance and Thread Group announced Dotdot over Thread certification, after completion of the Dotdot 1.0 specification. The integration of Dotdot over Thread “moves the industry forward by providing interoperability across different home networks through the Dotdot application framework,” said Parks Associates analyst Tom Kerber in a statement. Smart devices today “can struggle to deliver a seamless experience” when they speak different languages using different application layers, said the organizations. Dotdot over Thread is an open, common application layer that connects products from many different vendors and powers smart home products including Comcast Xfinity Home Security, Amazon's Echo Plus and the Echo Show, they said. Dotdot takes the universal device language and enables it to work over Thread’s low-power IP network -- extending it to applications that benefit from IP. With Dotdot, smart home vendors can “ensure the reliable user experiences needed to drive growth," while IP networking allows vendors to "maintain a direct connection to their device and an ongoing relationship with their customers,” they said. To accelerate time to market, the Zigbee Alliance leveraged the existing Thread commissioning mobile application and extended it to include application-level configuration of devices on a Thread network, which, along with an automated test harness, will help member companies speed Dotdot over Thread product development and facilitate preparation for the certification process.

Global IoT spending is expected to rise 15.4 percent this year to $745 billion, reported IDC Thursday. IDC forecasts that worldwide IoT spending will surpass the $1 trillion mark in 2022. “Adoption of IoT is happening across industries, in governments, and in consumers' daily lives,” it said. “We are increasingly observing how data generated by connected devices is helping businesses run more efficiently, gain insight into business processes, and make real-time decisions. For consumers, access to data is changing how they are informed about the status of households, vehicles, and family members as well as their own health and fitness." Consumer IoT spending is expected to reach $108 billion in 2019, making it the second largest IoT industry segment behind manufacturing, said IDC: “The leading consumer use cases will be related to the smart home, personal wellness, and connected vehicle infotainment."

Huawei finished in the top spot among 2018 IoT platform vendors on IHS Markit’s “scorecard,” with Cisco placing second and Microsoft third, said the research firm. IHS based its scoring on several factors, including Huawei’s “market-leading number of devices under management,” its “strategic commitment” to the IoT market, and “the technical innovation the company has achieved with respect to its platform,” it said.