When people think of Long-Term Evolution as delivering fast wireless data they don't generally anticipate the signal keeping up with Web surfers traveling at 250MPH or more, but that's one of the applications that Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is now showing off for the Shanghai Expo in China.
The Australian division of Huawei has posted a news report from Sky News highlighting the operation of LTE on the "Maglev" bullet train, which runs between the center of the Shanghai district of Pudong out to Pudong International Airport on 19 miles of magnetic track that "levitate" the train to achieve speeds in excess of 250 miles per hour. (See LTE Watch: Huawei Rides the Rails.)
Huawei says the most difficult challenge was enabling handover between the LTE base stations when the train gets to top speeds but is claiming an average of 20-Mbit/s downloads for passengers on the move. With such a quick train, the other problem might be getting your laptop to boot up before you've reached the airport. Watch the video below for more:Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), meanwhile, is lowering its LTE blinkers following its plans to buy out Infineon Technologies AG (NYSE/Frankfurt: IFX)'s wireless chip business. eWeek reports that Intel CEO Paul Otellini says the silicon giant "has to be agnostic on radios" and give their customers what they want. (See How Intel Can Avoid Botching Infineon.)
Looks like the San Jose, Calif., local government officials could wreck Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT)'s plans to become the prime mover in public safety LTE. The wonderfully named "Urgent Communications" writes that San Jose and Santa Clara officials are asking to "suspend or postpone" a $50 million grant for a public-safety Bay Area network that is supposed to go to Motorola "until questions about the procurement process are resolved."
There's an LTE Android in the works, according to Telecompaper. "Russian company Russian Technologies" is gearing up to produce one in 2011.
Reuters is reporting that LTE trials in India could start by year's end.
— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile
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