NTIA is looking at how to narrow exclusion zones needed to protect federal agency transmissions in the 3.5 GHz band, spectrum the FCC has targeted for sharing and for the use of small cells, NTIA Association Administrator Karl Nebbia said Thursday. Nebbia offered a report at the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee meeting. (See related report above.) NTIA has been working with the FCC and the Department of Defense to look at whether the government can reduce the size of the zones using “new information we have, new analytical techniques,” he said. When the FCC approved a further NPRM on the 3.5 GHz on the band in April (CD April 24 p4), Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly complained that the proposed exclusion zones are too big for the band to reach its potential as a laboratory for spectrum sharing.

ZigBee technology is “specifically designed for large networks and device-to-device communication and has significant advantages” over the “CSR Mesh” product showcased at a Bluetooth Special Interest Group exhibition in London this week (CD July 10 p13), the ZigBee Alliance said Wednesday. “Solutions built on Bluetooth still suffer from the inherent limitations of Bluetooth networks, such limitations as range and the number of active devices on a network,” the alliance said. “The so-called ‘mesh’ of CSR uses flooding where every device simply re-broadcasts,” it said. “This will have significant performance implications in large networks. True mesh networks like ZigBee mean reliable and robust networks with devices routing operations only when required to target devices, saving energy and reducing network traffic.” The CSR product does not “standardize the definitions” of bulbs, fixtures and switches, the alliance said, “which means problems for multi-vendor interoperability.” By comparison, ZigBee “standardizes both network and application layers,” it said. “Everything from joining a network” to operating a device, including turning it on or off, is “defined so devices from different vendors can work together seamlessly,” it said. The Connected Lighting Alliance, comprising almost all the major global lighting vendors, “has endorsed ZigBee Light Link as the preferred standard for residential lighting applications,” it said. “This decision represents the first time an alliance of leading lighting companies has unanimously endorsed a common open standard for wireless lighting solutions.” Moreover, recent announcements by industry leaders, such as GE, Osram, Philips and others, “demonstrate the growing dominance of ZigBee for connected lighting,” it said.

U.K. chip maker CSR is hoping to steal a march on the Zigbee radio control system with a new approach based on Bluetooth, the company told us at a “Future is Smart” exhibition in London Tuesday staged by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which runs the Bluetooth licensing program. “CSR Mesh,” as CSR is calling it, works as a mesh radio network like Zigbee, but without the need for an additional network hub or router, CSR said. This is possible because all modern smartphones and tablets come with enhanced Bluetooth smart capability “out of the box,” it said. CSR Mesh lets one smartphone control a virtually unlimited number of devices, such as lights, heating or security, with plug and play set-up, it said. CSR is now pledging to donate its CSR Mesh technology to SIG on a no-royalty basis, it said. At the London exhibition, Rick Walker, senior product marketing manager for CSR in Cambridge, demonstrated a prototype LED home lighting system similar to the Philips Hue, but using CSR Mesh instead of Zigbee. “CSR Mesh is disruptive,” Walker said. “It puts the smartphone at the center of the Internet of Things. We developed a software protocol that runs over the smart standard to create a mesh network at the standard Bluetooth frequency of 2.4 GHz, controlled by standard Bluetooth hardware.” Now that CSR has shown what can be done, “there are some big nasty competitors out there that will want to develop their own systems and fragment the market,” Walker said. “We want to avoid a situation like the zillion different standards for Wi-Fi, so will donate our technology to SIG and let SIG give free licenses. This is imminent.” CSR first announced the system in February and will release technical details on its website by the end of July, Walker said. “Then, early next year, we will offer everything, except the source code, to SIG to license without royalties.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday sought comment on a request by Spectrum Networks Group (SNG) that it be allowed to use 900 MHz Business/Industrial/Land Transportation (B/ILT) Pool channels for Specialized Mobile Radio operations. The bureau said SNG has filed 111 applications since October for B/ILT channels at various locations. SNG wants to use some of the channels “to provide communications services to business for their private, internal machine-to-machine communications needs, and to provide service only to Part 90 eligible businesses,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1to2xFh). Comments are due July 30, replies Aug. 11, in docket 14-100.

"Working group experts” from the fields of consumer electronics, medicine and chemistry convened in March on fashioning a global certification standard for wearable devices before TUV Rheinland formally launched its certification program on Friday (CD July 8 p10), said Simon Hung, a spokesman for the German-based provider of technical and safety certification services, in an email Wednesday. Manufacturers seeking to have their wearable devices certified under the program will submit their products to a testing “protocol” that will “evaluate the products from an end user’s point of view” regarding safety, functionality and ease of use, Hung said. “TUV Rheinland will launch a tailor-made logo for this service,” he said. The key words, “Smart Wearable Device,” together with TUV Rheinland’s logo, “could be presented on the product’s label and other artwork,” he said. Asked whether any products have yet landed certification, Hung said: “We are working on the first project from a famous IT brand,” and discussions are underway with “many manufacturers and solution/platform providers in this field.”

Sprint announced the availability of LivePro, which it called the first commercially available combination pocket projector and mobile hotspot. The 4.7-inch-square x 1.1-inch thick device will be available exclusively from Sprint on Friday for $449, which qualified customers can spread across 24 months at $18.75 per month through Sprint Easy Pay, the company said. LivePro data plans start at $34.99 per month for 3GB of combined 3G/4G data while on the Sprint network, and the step-up plans include 6GB of 3G/4G data for $49.99 or 12GB of 3G/4G data for $79.99, it said. Projection display size ranges from 10 inches to 10 feet, it said. A speaker is built-in and for “bigger sound,” users can connect speakers via a 3.5mm jack or by Bluetooth, Sprint said. The unit has a 4-inch touchscreen display and uses Android 4.2, Sprint said, and the 5,000mAh lithium ion battery can be used to charge a smartphone, tablet or other devices via USB cable.

CTIA, NTCA and the Competitive Carriers Association jointly asked the FCC to put off the deadline for submitting short-form applications for the AWS-3 auction until after their separate conferences in September. The three groups met with Wireless Bureau staff to raise objections, said an ex parte filing posted by the FCC Tuesday in docket 14-78. CCA and CTIA both meet during the second week in September and NTIA has a meeting Sept. 21-24, they said. The filing notes that anti-collusion rules for the auction kick in the day short-form applications are due. “These conferences provide opportunities for wireless carriers to discuss business opportunities and policy issues in an open forum,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1ohdSz0). “Our respective members take the FCC’s anti-collusion rules very seriously. As the FCC itself has recognized, the anti-collusion rules may place significant limitations upon an auction participant’s ability to pursue certain business opportunities."

The multiyear 800 MHz band reconfiguration “is nearing completion” and the FCC could simplify the process for all players by finding that Sprint has effectively met a requirement of the FCC’s landmark 800 MHz rebanding order and won’t owe the government a windfall payment, Sprint said in a filing at the FCC. The carrier reported on meetings with various agency officials. The landmark 2004 rebanding order required Nextel to pay out the full value of the 10 MHz national spectrum license it got as part of the order through rebanding costs or else pay the balance to the government. Nextel subsequently merged with Sprint. “The participants discussed the current process for reviewing Sprint’s external expenditures to credit them against the anti-windfall payment contingency,” Sprint said. “Sprint noted that the current process has effectively become an unnecessary and unwarranted audit of the records of each state or local government public safety communications operator (or law enforcement agency) after it has completed the Commission-required retuning of its public safety communications system and is operating on its prescribed replacement channels.” The filing was posted by the FCC Monday in docket 02-55.

The FCC Wireless Bureau will let a subsidiary of electric utility Pepco install seven fixed locations in Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey to support Pepco’s smart grid. The bureau issued an order Monday giving PHI a waiver to make use of Automated Maritime Telecommunications System spectrum for inland communications. But since AMTS spectrum is located to broadcast TV spectrum used by channels 10 and 13, the bureau stipulated that the operations must not result in harmful interference to broadcast TV (http://bit.ly/1n8u6hd). PHI plans to control interference “by operating with less power than permitted by the AMTS rules and using directional antennas to ensure that signals remain within the master station contours, and concludes that its proposed operations will cause no interference to television reception,” the bureau said. “While we do not agree in every particular with the methodology of PHI’s engineering study, we conclude that PHI’s unopposed proposed deployment does not appear to have any potential interference issues.”

TUV Rheinland launched what it’s calling the world’s first certification standard for wearable devices. With sales of wearable devices rising, “product safety, performance, interoperability and durability still exhibit room for improvement,” said the German-based provider of technical and safety certification services. Manufacturers that subscribe to the standard will “stand out and gain a competitive edge,” it said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1snXAIr). The certification “will also help consumers choose the safest high-quality wearable devices while promoting industry development,” it said. To gain certification, wearable devices must meet safety, “smart function” and wearability requirements, it said. For example, in terms of safety and wearability, TUV Rheinland said its certification process will assess the durability, environmental adaptability, skin contact, battery characteristics and electromagnetic interference of devices and components “to ensure comfortable fit and ease of use.” As for smart functionality, “the responses of imbedded sensors and the information security, connectivity, assessability and data analysis capabilities of the devices and their processors” will also be tested, it said. TUV representatives didn’t immediately comment on program specifics, such as whether it will include a logo, what it will be called and how product testing would be conducted.