Tag: radio

Revolutionizing Radio Networks: SoftBank and NVIDIA’s Triumph in AI-Driven Massive MIMO

A successful demonstration recently utilized an AI-RAN (Artificial Intelligence Radio Access Network) that performed radio signal processing entirely on NVIDIA’s graphics processing unit (GPU). This is a major shift from traditional systems that heavily relied on dedicated hardware, specifically field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), for processing at the Physical Layer (PHY).

Performance Under Real-World Conditions

In the outdoor trial, SoftBank exhibited top-tier performance under real-world circumstances. They used a cutting-edge, virtualized RAN (vRAN) structure that performs this processing by using large-scale CUDA-accelerated parallel computation on NVIDIA’s GPU. This architecture also incorporates AI processing.

Throughout the trial, AITRAS exploited the GPU’s efficient parallel processing skills to carry out extensive matrix computations crucial for Massive MIMO and PHY-layer signal processing. This was achieved entirely in software within the Distributed Unit (DU). Consequently, SoftBank affirmed the stable function of a 16-layer MU-MIMO downlink in outdoor settings. In comparison to the standard four-layer setup, both spectral efficiency and throughput improved by about three times.

Significant Validation

This success serves as a substantial validation of the PHY-layer execution on a GPU. It enables stable Massive MIMO operations within the specified processing time of the RAN. This is an important technical milestone that leads the commercialization of AI-RAN.

In the AITRAS model, the connection between the DU and O-RAN-compliant Radio Unit adheres to O-RAN Split Option 7.2x. While some Massive MIMO implementations transfer parts of the uplink channel estimation and equalization processing from the DU to the O-RU, AITRAS uses a fully software-based approach within the DU. This uses the GPU computing power and aids in creating a Massive MIMO ecosystem using general-purpose O-RUs without needing extra functions.

Uplink Radio Signals and AI Processing

By combining uplink radio signals from various O-RUs into a single DU, equipped with an integrated AI processing unit, AI-based coordinated control for radio signal quality can be effectively executed across multiple O-RUs. This improves radio signal quality through uplink channel interpolation and boosts capacity through advanced beamforming techniques.

The aim with the development of AITRAS is to speed up the practical implementation of AI-RAN, contributing to a more sustainable and flexible next-generation network infrastructure. The plan is to continue field trials and introduce AITRAS into commercial networks by 2026.

Questions & Answers

What is the significance of the recent demonstration by SoftBank?
The demonstration is significant as it showed that radio signal processing can be performed entirely on NVIDIA’s GPU using AI-RAN, shifting away from the traditional reliance on dedicated hardware.

What is the anticipated impact of AI-RAN in real-world conditions?
AI-RAN demonstrated high performance under real-world conditions, improving both spectral efficiency and throughput by about three times. This could significantly enhance communication quality and overall capacity of base stations.

What is the long-term goal for the development of AITRAS?
The goal is to accelerate the practical implementation of AI-RAN, thereby contributing to the creation of a more sustainable and flexible next-generation network infrastructure. SoftBank plans to introduce AITRAS into its commercial network by 2026.

October 31, 2025
Apple Podcast bug means no new episodes for some titles although there is a simple workaround

Remember Apple’s television ads for the iPhone 3G? The ad would tell you, regardless of any problem you need a solution for, “There’s an app for that.” When you think about it, for any subject matter that you have an interest in, there’s a podcast for that. And if you are an iPhone user, you probably use the Apple Podcasts app. But until recently, the app had a serious problem that was preventing users from listening to the latest episodes of certain Podcasts stored in the user’s library.

The bug prevents the latest episodes for affected podcasts from showing up as these episodes will not automatically be downloaded. This means that these podcasts won’t appear in the Up Next queue. If the user knows that a new episode for a podcast he/she follows has dropped, the episode can be discovered by looking for the new episode in the app’s search tab. But many podcast app users rely on getting alerted by the app whenever a new episode is ready and thanks to the bug, this is not happening.

It’s unknown exactly how many podcasts are affected by the bug but complaints on social media seem to indicate that the problem is widespread. And there is the aforementioned workaround. Open the Apple Podcasts app and after tapping the Search tab on the bottom right of the screen type in the name of the podcast you want to hear the latest episode of and tap the blue “search” bar next to the space bar on the virtual QWERTY keyboard. Press the Episodes filter above the search results (which is also below the search bar) and the latest episode will be on the top of the list. Just press the play button on the right of the listing to hear it.

You might not have to do this much longer because some users say that they are now getting new episodes automatically sent to their Apple Podcasts app. If so, that’s good news. If not, try the workaround until your Podcast app is working perfectly again. By the way, if you don’t have the app on your iPhone, click on this link to download it from the App Store.

February 19, 2024

New feature begins rolling out for YouTube Music called “Recommended radios”

YouTube Music is rolling out a feature called “Recommended radios.” Instead of radio stations created from a single song, the new feature creates a station from multiple songs and artists and recommends it to users. You can press the home tab button and scroll about halfway down the page to find the new “Recommend radios” carousel if it has already hit your phone. There are 10 stations shown with the carousel and they update every time you refresh the feed.

Each station mentions up to three songs that provided the inspiration for that particular station. Each station is named after the title of a band or the genre that the station covers. And the name of the decade associated with the music is often included.

With the mobile version of YouTube Music, tapping on one of the stations will bring up the playlist page (as opposed to auto-playing the station when you click on it with the desktop version). A Reddit user who goes by the handle of “Fuyou_lilienthal_yu” said, “This tab was just there when I scrolled down on the app. It seems to be like the Mixes except it gives you a specific theme like “Sangatsu no Phantasia, Deep cuts” and then having a playlist with probably SnP’s entire discography.”

He adds, “Other playlists seem to be stuff like XXX Discovery radio where it’s full of presumably similar songs as the source artist. There doesn’t seem to be a limit to how many songs are allowed on a single radio, the first one in the list was something like “Gen Hoshino Radio” or whatever and it had a seemingly endless scroll of music…All in all it seems cool, more ways for them to help you to listen to music the better.”

The YouTube Music app is available for both iOS and Android, and the new feature started rolling out this past weekend although not everyone has it yet. For example, we have yet to see it on our Pixel 6 Pro running Android 12.

February 1, 2022

FairPrice Finest launches in-store radio network with SPH

Singapore supermarket chain FairPrice Finest has launched an in-store radio network in partnership with SPH Radio.

The new channel, live in all 26 stores, will offer FMCG companies another channel in which to advertise to shoppers in-store, as well as music and content from SPH radio stations.

The station will reach an estimated 2.5 million shoppers every month.

“Partnering with SPH Radio will not only help us improve our shopper experience via aural ambiance but also provide a wider range of touchpoints for our retail partners to engage with our shoppers in an integrated manner,” said Kelvin Tan, head of customer & marketing (retail business), at FairPrice Group.

“As Singaporeans are making more frequent trips for their groceries, this will be a viable platform for our retail partners to reach shoppers in their shopping journey.”

The new channel marks SPH Radio’s first foray into in-store entertainment programming.

July 21, 2020

Apple Music gains new Replay feature

Apple is bringing a new feature to its music streaming service in the hopes to bring Apple Music on par with Spotify and other similar services. The new feature is called Replay and lets Apple Music users check out their favorite music from 2019.

Simply put, Apple Music subscribers will get a playlist of the most played songs from 2019, as well as playlists for every year they’ve been subscribed to the service, retroactively. All songs alongside playlists can be added to the Apple Music Library to allow users to stream them anytime they want.

More importantly, Apple Music Replay can be shared with others or posted to social media. Unlike Spotify’s Wrapped feature that’s basically an annual retrospective. Apple Music Replay will continue to be updated throughout the year.

According to Apple, the playlist and all data insights are updated on Sundays to reflect subscribers’ latest listening activity. Think of Apple Music Replay as a compilation of favorites, which changes throughout the year, not just at the end.

The new feature is now available from the Apple Music app across all platforms, including via the web, so give it a spin until the beginning of the next year when it will become a blank slate waiting to be filled with your favorite music.

November 21, 2019

Radio Rentals to pay $25 million for pricing fraud

Radio Rentals-parent Thorn Group has settled a consumer-led class-action lawsuit lodged against it in 2017, which involved customers paying far in excess of the market value for goods rented.

According to law firm Maurice Blackburn, which represented thousands of people against the business, Radio Rentals’ Rent, Buy, $1 Buy program had seen customers pay up to seven times the retail price.

The class action settled on Monday for a sum of $25 million, though Thorn Group’s insurer will also make a separate contribution toward the settlement. According to Thorn Group, the settlement is not an admission of liability.

While the two parties have agreed on the sum, the settlement must still be approved by the Federal Court.

Maurice Blackburn principal Ben Slade said the program may have affected up to 200,000 people.

“The class action alleges that one of the more insidious aspects of the business is that Radio Rentals continued to draw money on an ongoing basis from its clients’ Centrepay (Centrelink payment) accounts, well beyond the retail value of the goods,” Maurice Blackburn Lawyers principal Ben Slade said upon launching the case.

“Rent, Try, $1 Buy is misleading when you delve into what’s involved. What we have found is that people are paying up to seven times the true retail cost for goods in the belief that the goods will always be theirs, yet the contracts do not give them that right.”

Lead plaintiff Casey Simpson said Radio Rentals had taken advantage of her after she paid more than $3300 for a used mattress and bed worth $430.

“I have four kids and am on a low income – I thought Rent, Try, $1 Buy would be a sensible alternative to get some basic goods in a way we could afford,” Simpson said.

“I never knew I’d had to pay as much as much as they kept charging me, or that I wouldn’t have a right to buy the goods for $1.”

Radio Rentals in South Australia is an independent entity, and is not involved in the lawsuit.

September 16, 2019

Vodafone’s reveal keeps the pressure on Huawei

In this week’s news is yet another story about Huawei and security as European telecommunications operator and regulators continue to scrutinize the gear in advance of 5G deployments. This one is historical though. Apparently Vodafone found security flaws in Huawei gear its Italian unit bought back in 2011 and 2012.

In the technical sense, this is hardly a surprise. Vulnerabilities and patches are an ongoing part of pretty much all software development, and in this case the problem came with the telnet protocol. There was a day when telnet was a thing for everyone, but these days it’s more a diagnostic thing. According to Vodafone, the flaw would not have been accessible via the internet and was quickly patched. All vendors have processes to handle exactly this sort of thing, and all have done so many times. So the fact that it happened eight years ago in this case is news today only because it was Huawei.

But the pressure to block Huawei from 5G deployments continues unabated. The contention is that because China requires all its companies to help its national security apparatus and Huawei (like every major Chinese company) has deep ties to that apparatus. On the one hand, it’s easy to envision spies doing this sort of thing. On the other hand, it’s very hard to imagine such deliberate vulnerabilities remaining undetected for long in a suspicious world.

The most recent development came a few days ago when KPN decided Huawei gear was fine for radios and antennas, but not when it comes to the gear in its core 5G network. They’ve got a deal in place, but with an exit clause in case regulators or lawmakers act to ban Huawei entirely. That seems to have emerged as the consensus response of European telcos to all this pressure, a way to keep Huawei in the mix while still mollifying critics and covering themselves legally.

May 21, 2019

Spotify says Apple Music has unfair advantages

The founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, announced today in a blog post that Spotify has filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission (EC). The executive says that when it comes to Apple Music and the App Store, the company gives itself an unfair advantage, violating EC antitrust regulations. Ek says that Apple does this through the “Apple Tax.” That is the 30% of monthly subscription fees that Apple takes on subscriptions made through its payment system.

Ek says that because Spotify is forced to pay the “Apple Tax,” it has to raise its price in the App Store above that of Apple Music. Right now, both music streaming platforms have the same prices. That would be $9.99 a month for individuals, $14.99 a month for families with up to six members, and $4.99 a month for verified students. However, if you choose to pay your subscription fee through Apple (an in-app payment), Spotify charges $12.99 a month for individuals, $16.99 a month for families and $7.99 a month for verified students.

Apple has released a statement criticizing Spotify for using the App Store to help it grow over the years without making any contributions to that marketplace.” The company refutes some of Spotify’s claims. For example, Apple says that it has allowed Spotify to update the app over 200 times. Apple says it rejected updates when Spotify didn’t follow the App Store rules. Apple also points out that 84% of the apps in the marketplace don’t pay it a dime, and accuses Spotify of wanting all the benefits of a free app without being free.”

Additionally, the executive says that if it bypasses Apple’s payment system, Apple will limit Spotify’s communications with its subscribers. For example, Ek says that in some cases Apple won’t let it send emails to Spotify users who use the service on an Apple device. He states that “Apple also routinely blocks our experience-enhancing upgrades. Over time, this has included locking Spotify and other competitors out of Apple services such as Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch.”

“It’s why, after careful consideration, Spotify has filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission (EC), the regulatory body responsible for keeping competition fair and nondiscriminatory. In recent years, Apple has introduced rules to the App Store that purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience—essentially acting as both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers. After trying unsuccessfully to resolve the issues directly with Apple, we’re now requesting that the EC take action to ensure fair competition.”-Daniel Ek, founder, CEO, Spotify

All Spotify wants, says its founder, is to be treated the same as apps that don’t pay the 30% tax such as Uber or Deliveroo. The executive says that all apps should be able to compete fairly, and Apple Music shouldn’t get an advantage because Apple owns the App Store. He adds that all App Store users should have a choice of payment systems, and not be locked into using Apple’s platform. And Ek says that all app stores should not be allowed to control communications, including marketing and promotions, between services like Spotify and its customers.

If Apple is eventually found to have violated anti-trust regulations in the EU, it can be slapped with a fine and be forced to make some changes to the App Store.

March 21, 2019

SK Telecom launches IoT-based cattle healthcare service

SK Telecom has developed a new IoT-based solution which allows farmers to monitor the health of their cattle in real-time using Semtech’s LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology). Dubbed “LiveCare”, the product is a LoRa-equipped biocapsule which is implanted into a cow’s gastrointestinal tract to monitor a variety of health indicators. The new service will see biocapsules packed with a communication module connected to the operator’s LoRA-based IoT network. The smart biocapsule is then injected into the stomach of a cow, monitoring body temperature and potential hydrogen levels, with data recorded and then sent to a central server as well as cattle farm owners via a smartphone or computer.

Thus, ranchers can monitor the data transmitted from the devices for anomalies in a cow’s body temperature and other vitals to detect the onset of disease, estrus and to forecast delivery of calves.

The LiveCare device is shielded from being tampered with by outside conditions due to its strategic position inside the cow itself. This solution is expected to drastically improve the quality of life for the cow and by extension the cattle as a whole on the dairy farm.

“Our unique solution lets farmers know immediately when a cow’s health is compromised. It takes the guesswork out of farming and lets the rancher focus on preventing cattle disease,” said Taehee Moon, project leader for the small farm project group of SK Telecom. “Healthier cows mean more milk can be produced and dairy farms can focus more on growing their business.”

According to SK Telecom, a trial run on a South Korean farm using the technology showed an increase in annual milk harvest of 1,200 liters per cow, an increase of $1,100 in income per cow for the farmer and an additional $400 in savings for each estrus successfully planned using the LiveCare solution.

SK Telecom plans on extending its services to provide automatic notification to ranchers of contagious disease as well as location tracking in the near future.

October 17, 2018

Ericsson to launch 5G New Radio in 2017

Ericsson has announced plans to commercially launch the first 5G New Radio (NR) equipment in 2017, a key enabling technology for future 5G networks.

The 5G NR radio supports Ericsson’s Massive MIMO and Multi-User MIMO 5G plugins. It uses advanced antennas and a large number of steerable ports to support these new technologies, as well as beamforming, another expected component of 5G networks.

In addition to being 5G ready the 5G NR supports LTE, so it will be deployable in today’s networks. They support Gigabit speeds for LTE and advanced TDD beamforming.

New network builds will be supported by Ericsson’s new Industrialized Network Rollout Services offering, which involves providing configuration, installation, integration, shakedown and handover in a single site visit.

China Mobile Research Institute deputy head Huang Yuhong has welcomed the planned launch. “Massive-MIMO, also known as 3D MIMO, is an important milestone in China Mobile’s technology roadmap from 4G to 5G,” he said.

“We are very happy that Ericsson’s new radio product is coming to market soon to meet our needs and enable us to integrate 5G technologies into our existing networks.”

“Mobile operators, today, are clearly focused on the race to 5G commercialization, while also continuing to invest in their existing LTE networks,” Current Analysis VP of consumer and infrastructure services Peter Jarich added.

“With a new 5G radio and LTE offerings which echo key 5G concepts – small cells, licensed-unlicensed band combinations, Cloud RAN, network densification, spectrum optimization – Ericsson’s new portfolio additions and Ericsson Radio System innovations provide a compelling way forward.”

September 2, 2016

DJI To Open Flagship Store In Hong Kong

DJI, the world leader in unmanned aerial vehicle technology, said Monday it will soon open a flagship store in Hong Kong featuring flight cages, experience zones, an aerial photo gallery, technical support center and DJI’s full range of consumer and professional products.

Located at the center of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping district in Causeway Bay, the three-story, 10,000+ square-feet store will open at the end of September 2016. In keeping with the scintillating Hong Kong skyline, the building will display animated DJI logos and drone silhouettes to add to the Victoria Harbor evening backdrop.

More than just a retail outlet, the Hong Kong flagship store will provide a location where the worldwide community can connect to share their experience of flight and explore the latest UAV products and aerial cameras. The ground floor will have on display DJI’s full range of aerial and handheld products, while the SkyPixel Gallery on the first floor will showcase breathtaking examples of aerial photography from around the world. The second floor will house the technical support center and a dedicated space for workshops, seminars and special events.

“As interest around our aerial technologies continues to grow, the expansion of our flagship business will provide a place for people to see, touch and learn about our products first hand,” said Frank Wang, DJI Founder and CEO. “Discovery is an important part of the learning process and when people understand how easy it is to use the technology, they will find ways to incorporate it into their lives or for their businesses.”

The Hong Kong flagship store is DJI’s third foray into retail after the December 2015 opening of its first flagship store in in Shenzhen, China, followed by the Seoul, Korea flagship in March 2016.

“Hong Kong is an important market for DJI here in Asia and remains a tourist hot spot for people from around the world,” said DJI Hong Kong Regional Manager Sarah Chuang. “The store will provide an opportunity for us to engage consumers from all walks of life, from local photographers to aerial enthusiasts across Asia to travelers visiting Hong Kong looking for the coolest and latest technologies. We want to provide a truly unique DJI experience for anyone who walks into our store.”

On display and for sale will be DJI’s consumer products, such the Phantom series of drones and the Osmo stabilized 4K handheld camera, as well as professional products, including the Inspire 1 and Matrice series, the Zenmuse Z3, X5R, and XT cameras, and the Ronin handheld three-axis camera gimbal line.

The Hong Kong Flagship store is located at TOWER 535, Shop G07, 535 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. More details will be announced closer to the grand opening day in late September.

August 30, 2016

Tag: radio

Performance Under Real-World Conditions

Significant Validation

Uplink Radio Signals and AI Processing

Questions & Answers