O2 Secure Wireless begins testing new broadband equipment in Florida

The city of Palm Coast, Florida will get first dibs on the cutting-edge wireless broadband equipment that O2 Secure Wireless, Inc. has just installed.

O2 has recently completed a fiber backhaul rollout at its corporate retail location in Palm Coast. The company is now building wireless tower facilities throughout the U.S.

Palm Coast hosts a market potential of around 55,000 households. O2 has secured a Service Network Agreement for the region.

In a recent statement, O2 reported that they will test their new wireless broadband network over the next 60 days. Points of interest include the total area covered by their new towers, the signal strength for indoor and outdoor coverage, and the different antennas and amplifiers involved.

O2 intends to test their equipment in its various configurations. After the equipment meets -or, preferably, exceeds- expectations, O2 will approve the equipment purchase. It will then start building up wireless broadband infrastructure in Palm Coast.

In order to raise capital for its projects in Florida (as well as those in the Dominican Republic,) O2 increased the share structure from 1.5 billion to eight billion shares.

This is O2's latest step in establishing a brand identity. The company participated in many community events in the Palm Coast area. It also recently announced a contract with BigHeadTV, as well as the execution of national resale agreements.

“We are very excited to have reached this landmark in our strategy to build a presence in the Palm Coast territory,” said Val Kazia, president of O2 Secure Wireless. “These tests will allow us to have 'real' coverage data.”

According to Ms. Kazia, O2's original coverage models suggested a minimum of 12 sites. “We refined that down to seven sites,” she said, “but once the evaluation is complete we will be able to determine the precise coverage requirement in order to deliver the best quality product to the consumer.”

Like this article? Then try this one out: LightPointe enhancing wireless backhaul distribution channel in India 

Verizon Wireless connects Georgia cities to nationwide 4G LTE data network

Verizon Wireless customers who reside in Valdosta, Georgia (the state, that is, not the Eastern European country) and its surrounding areas may rejoice. They're about to reap the benefits of a connection to the biggest 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in the U.S.

On August 16, Verizon will be introducing its 4G LTE wireless services to Valdosta and 34 other markets. That brings the total of Verizon's U.S. markets to 371, which translates to coverage of more than 75% of the American population. Verizon will also be expanding its existing networks in 38 other markets.

Verizon subscribers in Valdosta, Cordele, Dublin, Thomasville, and Waycross will be able to access the fastest 4G network in the U.S. through a large selection of 4G LTE devices such as smartphones, mobile hotspots, and tablets.

Additionally, Valdostan residents will be able to draw upon the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network for high-speed, in-home wireless Internet access through the HomeFusion broadband provider. HomeFusion will allow users to connect to the Internet even in areas in areas where connectivity is weak or unavailable.

Verizon Wireless will also offer a variety of smart accessories such as the MotoACTV Bluetooth Smart Health Tracker & Music Player and the FitBit Ultra Wireless Activity Tracker. These accessories will provide various additional services for Verizon's 4G LTE subscribers.

According to Jonathan LeCompte, President of Verizon Wireless' Georgia/Alabama regional division, "Our growing 4G LTE network enables customers in Valdosta to use their 4G LTE devices to stay in touch like never before, uploading, downloading and connecting on line, all with speeds up to 10 times faster than before, he promised. "We will continue expanding and enhancing our 4G LTE network in Georgia and across the country to provide our customers with the best wireless experience possible."

NewSat, BAE Systems sign 2-Year Contract for Wheatstone Project

NewSat, BAE Systems sign 2-Year Contract for Wheatstone Project

Freescale DSP enhances Huawei TD-SCDMA base station performance

Thanks to Freescale Semiconductor and its MSC8156 digital signal processor (DSP) solution, Huawei was able to take the performance of its TD-SCDMA wireless networks to new heights, allowing for the delivery of scalable, low-cost, energy-efficient base stations.

Freescake's MSC8156 DSP combines six fully-programmable enhanced 1 GHz SC3850 DSP cores to provide a high level of performance and integration. Its MAPLE-B accelerator is integrated on-chip and supports hardware acceleration for Turbo and Viterbi channel decoding as well as the DFT/iDFT and FFT/iFFT algorithms. It supports multiple networking protocols through its internal RISC-based QUICC engine subsystem, ensuring data is reliably transported through packet networks and significantly offloading processing from the DSP cores.

In addition to having a large embedded internal memory, the MSC8156 supports a variety of advanced high-speed interface types. It has two RapidIO interfaces, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces for network communications, a PCI Express controller, two DDR controllers for high-speed, industry standard memory interface, and four multi-channel TDM interfaces. Its pin compatibility with all MSC825x and MSC815x DSP devices grant the MSC8156 a high degree of scalability.

“Huawei is committed to offering customer-centric solutions and products,” said Chen Xi, chief technology officer of Huawei’s Wireless Network Business Unit, ” which leverage the performance and programmability of Freescale’s MSC8156 DSP.”

According to Mr. Xi, Freescale's highly efficient DSP cores and accelerators significantly enhanced overall base station efficiency. Huawei gained the ability to boost system flexibility and provide the industry’s highest number of TD-SCDMA carrier waves in a base station.”

Gilat debuts compact Ku-band satellite communications terminal for UAVs

Gilat Satellite Networks will soon debut its new compact Ku-band airborne satellite communications solution for the growing fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) employed by the world's various militaries.

According to the Israeli satellite manufacturer, its UAV satcom solution tips the scale at 22 lbs. It can transmit 1Mbps of IP-based data. The compact terminal includes a rugged spread spectrum satellite modem, a two-way, flat panel tracking antenna, and a compact 40W Ku-band block up-converter (BUC) and power amplifier.

In a statement dated August 7, Gilat describes its "tightly integrated" Ku-band satellite communications terminal to be lightweight, compact, and low-power. These qualities made it ideal for airborne applications such as beyond-line-of-sight operations for some of the smaller UAV platforms in service.

In addition, Gilat's UAV  satellite communications solution can also be customized to suit its end-user's variable specifications and requirements, allowing a single platform to perform different missions as needed.