Connectivity and smart technology will transform our experience of the world in the next decade, according to a new report released today by Vodafone. The report, titled 'Connected Consumer 2030' (CC2030), explores five key trends that will drive the future of connectivity, directly addressing the impact of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and an aging population.

In 2021, the world continued to experience an unprecedented health crisis: the coronavirus pandemic. This has impacted all sectors of society and forced companies, small businesses, governments, and private institutions to refocus—in some cases extensively—on accelerating their digital transformation and rethinking how they achieve innovation.

5G is a suite of enhanced and updated mobile communication technologies, along with new features resulting from the addition of two new high-frequency bands: sub-6 GHz (3.5–7 GHz) and mmWave (>24 GHz). The low-frequency band has a greater propagation range but restricted bandwidth and high latency, while the high-frequency band has the opposite characteristics: a short propagation range but enormous bandwidth and ultra-low latency.

5G technology offers a new framework for innovation and digital transformation for industry; however, its adoption is not as rapid as previously thought, according to the conclusions of the meeting "The future of 5G in industry," framed within the Dialogues 4.0 series promoted by Atlas Tecnológico, held at the headquarters of the PONS Foundation.



Eighty-three percent of service providers, equipment manufacturers, and companies worldwide will have deployed Wi-Fi 6/6E or plan to do so by the end of 2022. This is one of the main findings of the latest cross-sector survey conducted by the Wireless Broadband Alliance, the global industry body dedicated to improving Wi-Fi standards and services.

Avicena Inc. introduces LightBundle^™, a parallel optical interconnect technology with a range of up to 10 meters for chip-to-chip interconnects in distributed computing, processor-to-memory disaggregation, and other advanced computing applications. LightBundle^™ is based on arrays of novel high-speed GaN microemitters, leveraging the microLED display manufacturing ecosystem, and is fully compatible with high-performance silicon integrated circuits.

Mobile Experts has published its latest Expert Insights report, titled Predicted Profiles for 6G Traffic. The report answers the question, "For how long will mobile data growth continue at 40-50% annually?" and offers a glimpse into likely future scenarios for 6G technologies.

Almost 22 years ago (on September 30, 1999), the 802.11b standard, known as Wi-Fi, was launched. Today, it is the primary way to access the internet, supporting 51% of connections globally in 2022 (64% in Spain), compared to wired (29%) and cellular (20%) connectivity.

Nokia announced today that it is conducting a trial of its unique liquid-cooled AirScale baseband solution with Japanese mobile operator KDDI. The trial will demonstrate how KDDI can reduce the power consumption of its baseband cooling system by more than 70% compared to traditional gas-based air-cooling solutions.

HyperLight has developed an integrated electro-optical modulator technology that allows drive voltages below 100 GHz.

Food production is a complex process involving the careful monitoring and management of raw materials, supply chains, market prices, and much more. Access to smart data allows food producers to plan intelligently and optimize their production processes, enabling them to produce the necessary quantities more cheaply and in a more environmentally friendly way.

For telecom operators and service providers looking to deploy future-proof fiber services, the Broadband Forum has published its latest technical report to help ensure that homes and businesses have access to faster and more reliable broadband connectivity by leveraging copper infrastructure.

Global composites manufacturer Exel Composites has patented a telecommunications radome design for use across Europe. The material design will aid in the deployment of fifth-generation (5G) networks and help overcome the signal attenuation and antenna protection challenges faced by telecommunications companies.

Researchers from the University of Southampton and Laval University (Canada) have successfully measured retroreflection in next-generation hollow fibers for the first time, finding it to be approximately 10,000 times lower than that of conventional optical fibers. This discovery highlights another optical property in which hollow fibers outperform standard optical fibers.

Researchers at George Washington University and the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed and demonstrated for the first time a photonic digital-to-analog converter that operates entirely within the optical domain. These novel converters could advance next-generation data processing hardware, with significant implications for data centers, 6G networks, and artificial intelligence, among other applications.

A new study by Nokia and Telefónica has found that 5G networks are up to 90 percent more efficient per unit of traffic than legacy 4G networks. The research, conducted over a three-month period, focused on the energy consumption of the Radio Access Network (RAN) in Telefónica's network.

The next generation of fiber optic cables could be one step closer, as a new study has shown that hollow-core fibers, created in Southampton, could reduce the power loss currently experienced in standard glass fibers.

Nokia has announced the world's first 25 Gbps symmetric fiber PON broadband solution. This unique solution works on Nokia's existing next-generation PON hardware, such as access nodes and line cards, to deliver universal PON capabilities and enable communications service providers (CSPs) to overload their networks and improve fiber network utilization.

Silicon photonics researchers at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the University of Southampton have demonstrated the first all-silicon optical transmitter at 100Gbps and beyond without the use of digital signal processing.

The 5G device market is expanding rapidly; several 5G smartphones are already available, and manufacturers are emphasizing the benefits of low latency and high download speeds. However, 5G still faces many challenges, especially regarding infrastructure.