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Sam Benzacar of
Anatech Electronics, an RF and microwave filter company, has published his March
2024 newsletter that, along with timely news items, features his short op-ed entitled
"5G Broadcast is Finally Coming," where he reports on the progress recently made
in fulfilling plans finalized in the 2017 in 3GPP Release 14. "In a nutshell, 5G
Broadcast makes it possible to deliver high-bandwidth content to a massive
audience concurrently without compromising network performance." The whole 5G
scheme is to have the capacity to completely replace wired communications with
wireless. That involves two-way data transfers in the Gbps realm. My cable
Internet connection is providing a download speed of 590 Mbps and upload of
25 Mbps (upload speeds are severely throttled for some reason), per
SpeedTest.net. Using a cellphone as a
mobile hotspot, I get around 22 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up. Those numbers are
dependent upon when you happen to measure it, but I know they are typical of
what I see. That represents a wired connection 22x faster than wireless, but
then my Galaxy S7 is not the best platform to measure wireless performance.
Finally, with 5G, people can watch an 8K UHD feature length movie on their
phones while sitting in the stands at a ball game or in a movie theater.
A Word from Sam Benzacar - 5G Broadcast is Finally Coming
 By Sam Benzacar
Even though "5G broadcast" was standardized in 2017 in 3GPP Release 14, nothing
much has come of it, but this appears likely to change soon as it gives carriers
the ability to provide targeted advertising and content to users based on their
preferences and location, an enormous potential new revenue stream. It also makes
it possible to stream multimedia content such as high-definition videos and virtual
reality, even in places where hundreds or thousands of people are using their phones
or other devices at the same time.
In a nutshell, 5G Broadcast makes it possible to deliver high-bandwidth content
to a massive audience concurrently without compromising network performance. Its
transmission model departs from the conventional "unicast" model that streams data
to individual users, instead using a one-to-many model, transmitting content simultaneously
to many devices. As the standard transmission model isn't designed for this, it
would result in spectrum congestion and unacceptable performance. 5G Broadcast can
operate in either spectrum used by over-the-air TV stations, or the frequencies
used by cellular services. The concept has been tried before, but it never took
off, as MediaFLO, LTE Broadcast, and DVB-H were never widely accepted. Verizon,
a big proponent of LTE Broadcast, ended its go90 streaming video service in 2018.
 However, this time may be the charm because, unlike earlier attempts, it doesn't
rely on wireless carriers to be its sole providers. Media companies or broadcasters
can operate their own networks independent of a wireless operator using existing
broadcast towers and UHF broadcast spectrum. Over-the-air TV has been making a comeback
of late thanks to the rollout of ATSC 3.0, which essentially defines OTA TV as we
know it by combining over-the-air signals with broadband.
5G Broadcast relies on Single-Cell Point-to-Multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission,
which optimizes signal distribution to any device that can receive 5G Broadcast.
As it doesn't usually require an active SIM card, it can be used by devices without
a cellular subscription.
5G Broadcast won't be available in the next year or so because device manufacturers
will need to integrate 5G Broadcast capability into their products, and network
operators will have to upgrade their infrastructure. A likely timeframe is sometime
in 2025 or 2026, although first responders may get it sooner.
FCC Ups "Acceptable" Broadband Speeds
 The FCC has increased
its official definition of minimum acceptable broadband data rates to 100 Mb/s upstream
and 20 Mb/s downstream rather than 25 Mb/s and 3 Mb/s, which it defined as acceptable
in 2015. During the usual debates that occur when the FCC makes decisions, this
one was contested. Providers offering fiber to the home (FTTH) that is inherently
symmetrical stated that "an asymmetrical standard implies that entertainment use
is more important than productivity uses that require more upload bandwidth." That,
in turn, was contested by the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA),
which primarily serves rural areas, and Starlink, which said the FCC definition
was fine, not surprising as neither offers symmetrical data rates.
Tiny Transmitter Tracks Hummingbirds In Real-Time
 A diverse group
of scientists and students have developed a way to track hummingbirds, some of the
smallest birds in the world. At the Las Joyas Scientific Station in Mexico's Sierra
de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, they aimed to determine whether a BlūMorpho 2.4-GHz
radio could safely be attached to the back of these birds. The project will result
in a handbook that should help determine the birds' habits and their potential for
becoming endangered, which some already are. The team successfully deployed 11 BlūMorphos
on five species of hummingbirds. The transmitters weigh only 0.06 g and are powered
by a solar panel. When attached to a special lightweight harness, the final weight
was ab out 0.1 g, less than 3% of the weight of the hummingbirds to be tested.
CTIA Says Cable Industry Fighting Fixed Wireless Access
 Wireless industry trade
association CTIA claims the cable industry is lobbying against the allocation of
5G spectrum in an attempt to slow the adoption of fixed wireless access, which is
primarily offered by the three major wireless carriers as a replacement for cable
and fiber. "For more than 40 years, cable benefited from local government policies
that shielded them from competition," noted the CTIA. "But today, they face a competitive
threat in the form of 5G home broadband. They noted that 5G has captured more than
95% of new broadband additions over the past two years, and about 20% of new 5G
FWA subscriptions are new to broadband. "Cable's reaction to a significant loss
in market share is to cut off access to the raw material that would supercharge
competition—dedicated licensed spectrum," the CTIA concluded.
Groups Say Tesla Can Be Hacked
 Researchers have shown
it's possible to conduct a Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) phishing attack on some Tesla
vehicles, unlocking and starting them. The security researchers registered a new
"phone key" that could access a Tesla using a device called Flipper Zero. It also
noted that the same could be done to other devices, from laptops to Raspberry Pi
or Android smartphones. According to the group, a hacker at a Tesla supercharger
could deploy a W-Fi network with the SSID "Tesla Guest." Once connected to the spoofed
network, they are given a fake Tesla login page. Testa disputed the claim, stating
that the test used a version of Testa firmware that has since been replaced.
Anatech Electronics Introduces a New Line of Suspended Stripline and
Waveguide Type RF Filters
Check out Our Filter Products
Cavity Band Pass Filters
LC Band Pass Filters Cavity Bandstop/Notch Filter
About Anatech Electronics
Anatech Electronics, Inc. (AEI) specializes in the design and manufacture of
standard and custom RF and microwave filters and other passive components and subsystems
employed in commercial, industrial, and aerospace and applications. Products are
available from an operating frequency range of 10 kHz to 30 GHz and include cavity,
ceramic, crystal, LC, and surface acoustic wave (SAW), as well as power combiners/dividers,
duplexers and diplexers, directional couplers, terminations, attenuators, circulators,
EMI filters, and lightning arrestors. The company's custom products and capabilities
are available at www.anatechelectronics.com.
Contact:
Anatech Electronics, Inc.
70 Outwater Lane
Garfield, NJ 07026
(973)
772-4242
sales@anatechelectronics.com
Posted March 23, 2024
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