Friday fragments - comms news from around the web for 10 October 2014

A round-up of the week's critical communications and public safety radio news for Friday, 10 October 2014.

Axell Wireless founder moves on. Ian Brown, founder and CEO of Axell Wireless, will leave the company at the end of October. “Creating and developing Axell Wireless has been one of the most stimulating and rewarding projects I have ever undertaken … I leave Axell with a competent and capable team and I look forward to seeing the business continue to develop and grow over the coming years."

NPSTC releases console requirements. NPSTC has released a Public Safety Broadband Console Requirements document. “The best practices and requirements provided in this document are intended to describe the features and functionality for console-based dispatch operations which involve broadband services. They are intended to capture the operational requirements of dispatch and console operator functionality with the objective of fully leveraging the features and functionality of the LTE network."

FCC looking at 5G frequencies. In a blog post, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said that he has asked his colleagues to start identifying options for 5G. “High-speed mobile broadband requires high-speed broadband build-out. However, the regulatory burdens associated with deployments can be expensive and time-consuming. We have to fix that. For that reason, I circulated an item today that takes concrete steps to immediately and substantially ease the burdens associated with deploying wireless equipment."

LTE Direct tests underway. Companies such as Facebook and Qualcomm are testing technology that will let LTE smartphones communicate directly at distances up to 500 m, without going through cellular towers.

Mission-critical comms for railways. Alcatel-Lucent has released a white paper on 'Mission-critical communications networks for railway operators', covering railway applications, including data services, voice services, video surveillance, wireless backhaul, corporate and internet access, LTE preparation and the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS network.

Fitting Wi-Fi to a commercial aircraft ... In-flight Wi-Fi is becoming more commonplace around the world. Here's how United Airlines fits satellite Wi-Fi to a commercial airliner:

… but watch out for the Wi-Fi RFI. The US Federal Aviation Authority has responded to reports that Wi-Fi signals are causing problems (flickering, blanking) with cockpit computer screens on Boeing aircraft. The regulator has given airlines five years to replace the screens. Pilots are increasingly using Wi-Fi-enabled tablets and other devices such as smartphones, raising concerns of deadly consequences should they cause interference at the wrong moment. But it's not just Wi-Fi the FAA is concerned about, saying, “This susceptibility has been verified to exist in a range of RF spectrum (mobile satellite communications, cell phones, air surveillance and weather radar, and other systems), and is not limited to Wi-Fi transmissions."

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