A radio system that tells bus drivers about road accidents and traffic jams has been set up in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin province in north-east China.

Berkeley Varitronics Systems has released a handheld mobile phone detector fittingly called the Bloodhound that enables security officers to scan real time for unauthorised mobile phone activity in correctional facilities and detect the precise location of the caller using a direction-finding antenna.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology and partners from industry and academia have designed and tested experimental antennas that are highly efficient and yet a fraction the size of standard systems with comparable properties.

India's first exclusive government radio network will provide quick and secure communications between government agencies such as the police, fire service, hospitals, public works departments and the city corporation during this year of the Commonwealth Games.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the US have announced plans to create a demonstration broadband communications network for the nation’s emergency services agencies using a portion of the radiofrequency spectrum freed up by the recent transition of US broadcast television from analog to digital.

Antennas aren't just for listening to the radio anymore. They're used in everything from mobile phones to GPS devices.

Following both global and state government trends towards interoperable systems, impending budget deficits and ACMA’s plans for the 400 MHz spectrum band, now is the ideal time to reassess Australia’s safety communications infrastructure with the view to making wholesale improvements. Mark Ward, business development manager for Airwave Solutions Australia, explores the possibilities of a common network platform.

This overview of TETRA was one of the 26 or so papers on a range of diverse topics that were presented at RadioComms Connect in Melbourne.

For each of the last three years, I seem to have said the same thing - RadioComms Connect is better, bigger, more crowded; there is more enthusiasm, more positive feedback than the last one; and in 2009 I am saying it all over again.

Traditional land-mobile radio networks have not seen the scale of development and indeed opportunities experienced in other technologies. Radio-over-internet protocol (RoIP) will change that.

The 2009 Industry Gala Dinner, hosted by ARCIA, at the Palladium in Melbourne drew over 370 radio communications professionals from far and wide this year, demonstrating the industry’s strength despite growing concerns of stability during the financial crisis earlier this year.

This overview of TETRA was one of the 26 or so papers on a range of diverse topics that were presented at RadioComms Connect in Melbourne.

Telecom operators often find themselves pulled into a polarised situation that includes cost-control and planning for new bandwidth-hungry applications. Across the industry, operators are re-aligning their network strategies to preserve their operating margins.

Motion detectors have become ubiquitous in homes and workplaces as a form of protection, and as a means of triggering light sources indoors and out. However, these detectors need wires to function, making their installation laborious as well as costly. The good news is that this is all about to change. ABB, in cooperation with one of its partners, has developed a wireless motion detector.

The internet changed the world. We can find information, gain visibility and communicate - basically anytime, anywhere. Not unlike why our predecessors built radio networks in the first place.