The multimodal transportation environment is primed for a “dramatic shift” due to disruptive technologies, including smart watches, which will accelerate a seamless in-and-out-of-the-car experience, said ABI Research Practice Director Dominique Bonte in a report summary Wednesday. Bonte cited BMW’s iRemote Apple Watch app and ride-booking services such as Uber that are “starting to blur the boundaries between public and private transportation.” Uber is offered as an option in multimodal journey planners by Google and mxDATA, said Bonte. The trends are also leading other car OEMs including Jaguar Land Rover and Ford to offer solutions beyond the “narrow context” of the vehicle to meet the needs of a broad integrated intermodal system, said Bonte. He cited mounting traffic congestion, growing concerns about environmental issues and the focus of public and private companies in the automotive and transportation industries as drivers of multimodal transportation solutions, which include real-time public transport timetable information, multimodal journey planners and smartphone-based pedestrian guidance applications. Real-time parking space availability content providers, relying in some cases on crowd-sourced data, are also playing a critical role in removing the “friction points” between different modes of transportation, said Bonte. He identified Parking Spotter, one of Ford’s 25 smart mobility projects, co-developed with Georgia Tech University, which allows information about open street-side parking spaces identified by roaming vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems sensors to be shared with other drivers via the cloud. Telematics-enabled public transport allows the integration of real-time transit-schedule information into journey planners, he said.
FirstNet likely won’t be big enough to provide coverage in some of the most remote parts of the U.S., FirstNet acting Executive Director TJ Kennedy conceded Wednesday, during a taping of C-SPAN’s The Communicators scheduled for later broadcast. Kennedy also said the network has “good momentum” at this point.
The multimodal transportation environment is primed for a “dramatic shift” due to disruptive technologies, including smart watches, which will accelerate a seamless in-and-out-of-the-car experience, said ABI Research Practice Director Dominique Bonte in a report summary Wednesday. Bonte cited BMW’s iRemote Apple Watch app and ride-booking services such as Uber that are “starting to blur the boundaries between public and private transportation.” Uber is offered as an option in multimodal journey planners by Google and mxDATA, said Bonte. The trends are also leading other car OEMs including Jaguar Land Rover and Ford to offer solutions beyond the “narrow context” of the vehicle to meet the needs of a broad integrated intermodal system, said Bonte. He cited mounting traffic congestion, growing concerns about environmental issues and the focus of public and private companies in the automotive and transportation industries as drivers of multimodal transportation solutions, which include real-time public transport timetable information, multimodal journey planners and smartphone-based pedestrian guidance applications. Real-time parking space availability content providers, relying in some cases on crowd-sourced data, are also playing a critical role in removing the “friction points” between different modes of transportation, said Bonte. He identified Parking Spotter, one of Ford’s 25 smart mobility projects, co-developed with Georgia Tech University, which allows information about open street-side parking spaces identified by roaming vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems sensors to be shared with other drivers via the cloud. Telematics-enabled public transport allows the integration of real-time transit-schedule information into journey planners, he said.
The Enterprise Wireless Alliance asked the FCC to move forward on a proposal to introduce new, full-power, interstitial 12.5 kHz “offset” channels in the 809-817/854-862 MHz band. EWA requested the change in 2009 and the FCC sought comment in a February NPRM. Public safety groups supported the proposal, provided protection is offered to first-responder use of adjacent spectrum. The comments were posted this week in docket 15-32.
FirstNet likely won’t be big enough to provide coverage in some of the most remote parts of the U.S., FirstNet acting Executive Director TJ Kennedy conceded Wednesday, during a taping of C-SPAN’s The Communicators scheduled for later broadcast. Kennedy also said the network has “good momentum” at this point.
PCIA asked for some changes to rules for installing communications antennas on federal lands. The Office of Management and Budget sought comment as it looks at whether to clear an approval form proposed by the General Services Administration. One problem PCIA sees is that the proposed form requires “detailed drawings and specifications of proposed equipment, structures and installation” at the time a company seeks approval of a project. “That information may not be available at the time of the application,” PCIA said. “GSA should make clear that an application may not be rejected for a provider’s omission of those details.” PCIA said the form should instead request as much detail as possible. PCIA also said GSA should require each government agency to supply a contact person for each federal property and make applications easy to track online. GSA also shouldn't require Radio Frequency Identification certification reports to be filed, except for antennas on military property, PCIA said. GSA also should drop a proposed requirement that companies submit a security deposit with their applications. “The requirement for a security deposit is misplaced prior to the lease or easement negotiation stage," PCIA said. “While an application fee is reasonably required with the proposed form, it would be highly unusual and burdensome to require a security deposit prior to negotiation and execution of a lease or easement.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday rejected an appeal by the nation’s largest flight attendants union unhappy with a directive from the Federal Aviation Administration permitting airlines to change their rules so passengers don’t have to put away their iPads or other portable electronic devices during take-off and landing. The challenge was made primarily on procedural grounds, by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. In October 2013, the FAA issued FAA Notice N8900.240, which said airlines could allow passengers to keep reading their tablets throughout the flight. Two months later, the union challenged it, arguing that the FAA "impermissibly and substantially altered and effectively amended” regulations for carry-on baggage on aircraft “without adhering to the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act,” the court said. The APA is not implicated, said the decision, written by Senior Circuit Judge Harry Edwards. “Notice N8900.240 does not alter this regulatory regime,” Edwards wrote. “The Notice merely provides guidance to aviation safety inspectors who enforce FAA regulations. Moreover, Notice N8900.240 creates no rights or obligations, and generates no legal consequences. No airline need alter any policy in response to it. The Notice does not eliminate the discretion of safety inspectors or require that any particular carry-on baggage program be approved or denied. And the Notice does not contradict existing regulations regarding stowage of carry-on baggage.” CTIA saw the decision as good news for consumers. It means “Americans will be able to use their mobile devices during take-off and landing since the FAA found there is no threat of interference to airplane communications or public safety,” said Jot Carpenter, vice president-regulatory affairs.
A Congressional Research Service report sees a risk that FirstNet may pose to the IoT. “FirstNet has taken the position that state autonomy in network design decisions and management will jeopardize FirstNet’s ability to provide a network that meets its coverage and service goals,” CRS said in a report dated Thursday, not released publicly. “In seeking economies of scale and cost savings for its own business model, however, FirstNet may be transferring costs and risks to states. In the long term, these costs may hinder state and local investment in services generally categorized as the Internet of Things.” CRS saw other risks in the current FirstNet model, considering how states “may consider the federal presence excessive and cease to cooperate with FirstNet, jeopardizing the purpose of the network.” Telecom policy specialist Linda Moore wrote the 37-page report. CRS points to criticisms voiced by GAO and the Commerce Department Inspector General regarding FirstNet decisionmaking and NTIA oversight. “If these faults appear to be a trend, Congress may consider the value of greater vigilance over the planning process for the deployment of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network that it created,” CRS said. “For example, a number of economic decisions that claim to justify federal control are not supported by public circulation of the economic modeling.” FirstNet planning “apparently” excluded “an analysis of the costs to be assumed by states as a consequence of its business plan,” CRS added, citing “the continued operation and possible expansion of state and local LMR [land mobile radio] voice networks; the cost of integration of LMR and broadband infrastructure; the costs of forfeiting to FirstNet the potential economies of scale in network construction and operation; and the cost of lost opportunities for competitions and innovation in wireless services at the state and local level.” House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., recently told us he wants to hold another FirstNet oversight hearing soon, considering issues raised in a GAO report (see 1504290005).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday rejected an appeal by the nation’s largest flight attendants union unhappy with a directive from the Federal Aviation Administration permitting airlines to change their rules so passengers don’t have to put away their iPads or other portable electronic devices during take-off and landing. The challenge was made primarily on procedural grounds, by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. In October 2013, the FAA issued FAA Notice N8900.240, which said airlines could allow passengers to keep reading their tablets throughout the flight. Two months later, the union challenged it, arguing that the FAA "impermissibly and substantially altered and effectively amended” regulations for carry-on baggage on aircraft “without adhering to the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act,” the court said. The APA is not implicated, said the decision, written by Senior Circuit Judge Harry Edwards. “Notice N8900.240 does not alter this regulatory regime,” Edwards wrote. “The Notice merely provides guidance to aviation safety inspectors who enforce FAA regulations. Moreover, Notice N8900.240 creates no rights or obligations, and generates no legal consequences. No airline need alter any policy in response to it. The Notice does not eliminate the discretion of safety inspectors or require that any particular carry-on baggage program be approved or denied. And the Notice does not contradict existing regulations regarding stowage of carry-on baggage.” CTIA saw the decision as good news for consumers. It means “Americans will be able to use their mobile devices during take-off and landing since the FAA found there is no threat of interference to airplane communications or public safety,” said Jot Carpenter, vice president-regulatory affairs.
The Enterprise Wireless Alliance and pdvWireless said they filed proposed rules at the FCC on their earlier joint petition for rulemaking seeking a realignment of the Part 90 land mobile radio 900 MHz band. “The realignment would create an allocation to address the broadband needs of critical infrastructure and private enterprise entities, including priority access,” the two said in a Monday news release. The proposed rules ask the FCC to create a single 240-channel license for the 898-901/937-940 MHz band for private enterprise broadband in each metropolitan trading area, they said. Spectrum in the 896-898/935-937 MHz band would continue to be licensed for site-based and geographic narrowband operations and services.