Why Billionaires Salivate Over the U.S. Wireless Market

As reported by Bloomberg News: T-Mobile US Inc. is becoming billionaire bait even though it’s the smallest national competitor in a market where the vast majority of the population already has a mobile phone.

What’s luring France’s Xavier Niel and Japan’s Masayoshi Son to bid on T-Mobile is a chance to get into the $195 billion U.S. industry before a new surge in demand for data services such as Internet accessand video streaming. It’s the same rationale Verizon Communications Inc. used to justify its $130 billion deal to acquire full control of Verizon Wireless earlier this year. Data sales are already climbing 18 percent this year, according to analyst Chetan Sharma.

The bet is that wireless data will move beyond phones and tablets to a number of other devices, from cars to smartwatches to thermostats -- all requiring a way to connect to the Internet for updates and monitoring. If that vision comes true, there could be a gold mine in owning one of the few networks capable of handling that demand in the gadget-hungry U.S., where people have proved willing to pay steadily for wireless service even as spending drops elsewhere.

“Subscribers are adding more devices to their plan. And that’s going to drive more data usage, and data usage will drive more growth,” said Colby Synesael, an analyst at Cowen & Co. “The market is attractive, and I think that might spur people into action.”

Risks are plentiful in the U.S. market, too. Regulators are proving resistant to the idea of mergers. Price competition is growing fiercer. Investing in a large country with wide, sparsely populated areas is expensive. And demand could fail to materialize for the services the carriers expect to provide. For every company investing more in the market, there’s one seeking to exit -- T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG and former Verizon Wireless partner Vodafone Group Plc.

Discretionary Income
Still, there are few places like the U.S. for a wager on wireless data growth. Investment in faster 4G download speeds has outpaced Europe. Developing markets like China and Latin America don’t have the same discretionary income for mass adoption of new gadgets and the services that go with them.

“The United States has one of the strongest economies in the world, a good competitive framework for wireless, and still has lower penetration rates compared with other parts of the world,” Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said last year, explaining the rationale for its wireless deal. “We are just getting started in machine-to-machine, and connected devices.”

With its deal, New York-based Verizon got full control of the largest U.S. mobile-phone provider. Son, the chairman of Tokyo-based SoftBank Corp. (9984), took on a riskier asset, acquiring struggling Sprint Corp. in a $21.6 billion transaction last year. Now he’s said to be seeking to put together a bid for Bellevue, Washington-based T-Mobile as well.

Iliad’s Bid
That plan could be foiled by Niel, whose French wireless provider, Iliad SA, approached T-Mobile’s board with a $33-a-share bid for control of the company. Deutsche Telekom, which owns two-thirds of T-Mobile, considered the offer less competitive than the proposal of about $40 a share that Son is said to be preparing, according to people familiar with the matter.

Then there’s another billionaire: Dish Network Corp. (DISH) Chairman Charlie Ergen, who has said he could go after T-Mobile if Sprint fails to buy it.

U.S. regulators may prefer a buyer like Iliad or Dish that would preserve a market with four national carriers, since Son would seek to combine T-Mobile and Sprint into a single company. Son has argued that a merger would help him gain the capital he needs to invest in the faster wireless Internet speeds that consumers crave.

Important Infrastructure
“The mobile Internet is the most important infrastructure for the 21st century,” Son told Charlie Rose in an interview earlier this year. “I would like to provide U.S. citizens the world’s No. 1 network.”

With his SoftBank already among Japan’s largest wireless carriers, Son is straddling two of the regions that are expected to dominate the mobile Internet. Cisco Systems Inc. forecasts that global data traffic over wireless networks will climb at a 61 percent annual clip to 15.9 trillion megabytes in 2018 -- the equivalent of about 4 trillion high-definition movies. North America and Asia will represent two-thirds of that traffic.

And while Asia will have the biggest share of traffic because of its larger population, North America will have a bigger share of advanced gadgets that require ever-faster download and upload speeds -- which let wireless carriers charge more. In North America, 93 percent of mobile devices and connections will be “smart” -- with advanced computing and multimedia capabilities -- by 2018, compared with 47 percent in Asia, Cisco said.

‘Jaw-Dropping’ Divergence
Americans have kept on paying a steady rate for wireless services as speeds get faster and new features like video are added to their plans. U.S. carriers got an average of $48.17 a month in revenue per user in the fourth quarter, compared with $32.51 in France, according to researcher Informa Plc.

Wireless revenue per capita rose 17 percent in the U.S. from the beginning of 2009 through the middle of 2013, compared with a 4 percent decline for the rest of the developed world, according to MoffettNathanson LLC.

“We have witnessed a jaw-dropping 21 percent divergence between the U.S. and the rest of the world in just four short years,” analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a January report. “The U.S. wireless market has steadily grown, first on the back of wireless voice and now, more recently, on the back of wireless data.”

Then there are the devices that don’t even require humans to connect to the network -- vehicle tracking systems and cars reporting maintenance problems to the dealership, medical monitoring devices, home-security and climate-control systems. Those industries are increasingly connecting their devices to wireless networks to create the “Internet of Things,” a market that will grow 17.5 percent a year worldwide from 2013 to 2020, according to researcher IDC. Developed markets like the U.S. will make up about 90 percent of these types of connections, IDC said.

‘1,200 Percent’

That means the old way of measuring the maturity of a market, known as penetration, is increasingly irrelevant. When mobile phones were still a new technology, a market penetration of 50 percent meant that half of the population still didn't have a phone, leaving plenty of room for growth. Now, with tablets also connected to the network, many countries have more connected devices than they do people, leading to penetration rates above 100 percent. The U.S. rate was 104 percent at the end of last year, according to CTIA, the wireless industry group.

Investors in U.S. wireless networks are betting that penetration can expand to many times the population.

“In 2008 when we rolled out the open network, we talked about penetration rates of 400 percent and 500 percent -- I have to admit we were wrong,” Verizon’s McAdam said in March. “It probably ought to be 1,000 percent or 1,200 percent when you look at the Internet of Things.”

The World's Most Hackable Cars

As reported by Dark Reading: If you drive a 2014 Jeep Cherokee, a 2014 Infiniti Q50, or a 2015 Escalade, your car not only has state-of-the-art network-connected functions and automated features, but it's also the most likely to get hacked.

That's what renowned researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek concluded in their newest study of vulnerabilities in modern automobiles, which they will present Wednesday at Black Hat USA in Las Vegas. The researchers focused on the potential for remote attacks, where a nefarious hacker could access the car's network from afar -- breaking into its wireless-enabled radio, for instance, and issuing commands to the car's steering or other automated driving feature.

The researchers studied in-depth the automated and networked functionality in modern vehicle models, analyzing how an attacker could potentially access a car's Bluetooth, telematics, or on-board phone app, for example, and using that access to then control the car's physical features, such as automated parking, steering, and braking. Some attacks would require the attacker to be within a few meters of the targeted car, but telematics-borne attacks could occur from much farther away, the researchers say.

Not surprisingly, the vehicles with fewer computerized and networked functions were less likely to get attacked by a hacker. "The most hackable cars had the most [computerized] features and were all on the same network and could all talk to each other," says Miller, who is a security engineer at Twitter. "The least hackable ones had [fewer] features, and [the features] were segmented, so the radio couldn't talk to the brakes," for example.

The 2014 Infiniti Q50 would be the easiest of all to hack because its telematics, Bluetooth, and radio functions all run on the same network as the car's engine and braking systems, for instance, making it easier for an attacker to gain control of the car's computerized physical operations.

Different vehicles had different network configurations: Some had Bluetooth on a separate network than the steering and acceleration systems.

The researchers say the 2014 Dodge Viper, the 2014 Audi A8, and the 2014 Honda Accord are the least hackable vehicles. They ranked the Audi A8 as the least hackable overall because its network-accessible potential attack surfaces are separated from the car's physical components such as steering, notes Miller. "Each feature of the car is separated on a different network and connected by a gateway," he says. "The wirelessly connected computers are on a separate network than the steering, which makes us believe that this car is harder to hack to gain control over" its features.

By contrast, the 2014 Jeep Cherokee runs the "cyber physical" features and remote access functions on the same network, Valasek notes. "We can't say for sure we can hack the Jeep and not the Audi, but… the radio can always talk to the brakes," and in the Jeep Cherokee, those two are on the same network, he says.

Worries over the cyber security of cars is gaining traction ever since Miller and Valasek's 2013 DEF CON car-hacking research, where the pair demonstrated how they were able to hack and take control of the electronic smart steering, braking, acceleration, engine, and other functions of a 2010 Toyota Prius and 2010 Ford Escape. That research focused on what a bad guy could do if he could get inside the car's internal network, and the researchers physically test-drove the hacks they discovered.

While the pair didn't get much response from Ford and Toyota after providing the carmakers with detailed documentation of their findings, the automobile industry meanwhile appears to be waking up to the potential cyber risks to cars: The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers last month announced plans to address growing concerns over security weaknesses and vulnerabilities in new and evolving vehicle automation and networking features. The industry is now forming a voluntary mechanism for sharing intelligence on security threats and vulnerabilities in car electronics and in-vehicle data networks -- likely via an Auto-ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center).

IPS "under the hood"

Meantime, there are ways to potentially lock down these advanced features in today's modern vehicles. Miller and Valasek have built a prototype device that detects and stops a cyber attack. They describe it as a sort of intrusion prevention system (IPS) inside a car that would detect that an attacker that had broken into the car's networked radio, and stop him from sending the braking system a message to lock up, for example.

"It's a device you could plug into the car to stop any of the attacks we've done and that others have done," says Valasek, who is director of security intelligence for IOActive.

The researchers in their Black Hat presentation will show video clips of the prototype and how it can stop an attacker. The device basically plugs into a vehicle's diagnostic port.

"It's mostly about an algorithm that detects attacks and prevents them," Miller says. "You could put it under the hood."

Miller and Valasek say their work studying security weaknesses in vehicles is an attempt to get ahead of the threat: The risk of your car getting hacked today is relatively low. And it doesn't mean you shouldn't buy a car loaded with technology, they say. "This is really an opportunistic attack," Valasek says. "It takes a lot of time, effort, dedication, and money to figure out how to perform one of these attacks and to succeed doing it. Joe Consumer doesn't have to worry, but if you're a high-profile person with a lot of technology in your vehicle, it's something to consider."

They say they are conducting this research now ahead of the game and before it gets easier for attackers to exploit these car network and automation features -- a window that they think could close in the next five years.

The researchers -- who at Black Hat will provide more details of their findings and release their paper on them -- have provided carmakers the report. They're hoping the car companies will take the threat seriously and offer ways to lock down weaknesses and vulnerabilities as well as technology to detect and deflect an attack.

Hacking the Mercedes S Class Active Lane Assist with a Soda Can

As reported by Road and Track: This is, without a doubt, a really stupid thing to actually try. So don't. It is also, without a doubt, awesome to see it in action. It proves what we knew all along: Active Lane Assist is basically a hands-off autonomous cruise system if you disable the safety timeout. So watch, be amazed, but don't be stupid enough to try it yourself:

Normally, ALA requires you to put a hand on the wheel after a certain amount of time, otherwise the system disengages. And it only works when lane markings are clear and conditions are clear enough for the sensors to see the road. But apparently ALA can't distinguish between a human hand and a bottle of soda duct-taped to the wheel, which is both awesome and troubling.

Seriously, don't be stupid and try this. But if you've driven a Mercedes-Benz with Active Lane Assist, you already have an inkling that it was capable of this. Seeing it in action shows how close we are to a hands-free commute—not in some far-off Google Car future, but right now. Incredible.

The Seventh Next Gen GPS Satellite Is Now In Orbit

An Atlas V rocket successfully carried an Air Force GPS satellite into orbit. (Credit: ULA)

As reported by Forbes: On August 1, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket successfully launched an Air Force GPS-IIF satellite in the orbit. This is the seventh GPS-IIF satellite launched into orbit of a planned constellation of 12 satellites. This satellite is the third launched in 2014, with one more launch planned for later this year.

The GPS-IIF satellites, which are built by Boeing , are intended to replace the GPS-IIA satellites, which were launched in the 1990s. Operating in medium-Earth orbit, these next-generation GPS satellites include improved atomic clocks for more accurate readings. They also add a third civil signal to the GPS system, the L5, which is geared towards providing information for aircraft travel. L5 began broadcasting in April of 2014.

This successful launch marks the second launch in just four days for United Launch Alliance, which placed three Air Force satellites into orbit earlier in the week. That’s the third time this year that ULA has launched two missions in just one week.

The Atlas V rocket successfully launched at 11:23pm EDT on August 1, and carried the GPS satellite to an orbit 11,000 miles above the Earth’s surface. Over the next several weeks, the Air Force will work to verify that the satellite is fully operational before placing it into service in the GPS system.

The ULA’s next launch is on August 13, where it will put Digitalglobe’s Worldview-3 satellite into orbit.

You can watch a video of the successful launch below:

Processing to Launch a GPS Satellite

As reported by Pocket GPS World: We all know and use GPS technology in some form every day of our lives, but have you stopped to think how this technology came into being, and how it is maintained? The theory of navigation goes back a long way and and is very closely linked to accurate timing. The more accurate the time the more accurate your location can be determined. 

Back in 1730 John Harrison created a marine clock to compete for the £20,000 Longitude Prize, a competition to find the most accurate timepiece to enable mariners to navigate across the seas. Accurate time combined with a sextant and a chart enabled the early navigators to determine with reasonable precision where on the planet they were.

Jump forward nearly 300 years and the same principles of precise timing and triangulation are still being used, this time using GPS Satellites, atomic clocks and computer algorithms. This, of course, is all transparent to us, we just see a moving dot on a map showing us where we are.

How does this all work? Rather than explain this again we have an excellent article describing How does the Global Positioning System work?. This article explains how a GPS satellite is prepared for launch into orbit.

The GPS IIF Satellite
The life of a GPS satellite starts at a planning committee meeting in the United States Department of Defense. There a requirement is identified for a new feature or the replacement of ageing systems. This is then processed through a number of departments for planning, budget, and functionality design prior to a primary contractor being selected to produce the spacecraft. In the case of the GPS Block IIF satellites the contractor was Boeing.

Boeing manufacturing plant at El Segundo Credit: Boeing
Boeing have had a lot of experience in GPS satellite manufacture having build over 40 of the 66 GPS spacecraft. Normal satellite construction takes place on an individual basis as there is seldom a requirement to build more then one or two of the same satellite. With the Block IIF spacecraft Boeing had a contract to build 12 so decided to introduce a production line based on the tried and trusted principles of their aircraft production lines. The concept was to increase quality and reduce time to build for each satellite. The video below gives an insight into the Boeing process:

Video credit: Boeing

Using this process Boeing have now built all the 12 spacecraft that have been contracted and are storing the remaining satellites until they are ready to be integrated into the launch vehicle.

The Boeing production plant is a El Segundo in California and the rocket launching the satellite is on the other side of the USA in Cape Canaveral Florida. The GPS Satellite is transported on a USAF C-17 air-lifter. The Cape Canaveral AFS has a landing strip called the ‘Skid Strip’ within the station large enough to handle the heaviest of transports. 

On arrival at Cape Canaveral the GPS IIF is transported to Area 59, the Navstar Processing Facility, for fueling and testing. Although the satellite has been fully checked out in California final tests are made to ensure that the transporting of the spacecraft has not altered any of the sensitive components and systems. This will include the checking of the control systems and the actually user navigational signals themselves. Once the GPS IIF has been cleared then the on-board batteries are installed and the propellant is loaded. The propellant allows the GPS satellite to be maneuvered when it is in orbit and separated from the rocket.

The Navstar Processing Facility CCAFS Credit: Boeing
The final task in the Navstar Processing Facility is the installation of the Payload Adapter. This enables the Satellite to be attached to the top of the rocket securely but also contains the pyrotechnics to separate the satellite from the second stage before flying freely. All operations up to this point are common and apply to the GPS satellite irrespective of the rocket that will launch it into orbit. The Payload Adapter is where things start to get specific to the rocket.

Encapsulating the GPS in the payload fairing Credit: ULA
The Launch VehicleThe GPS IIF satellites can be launched on either a Delta IV or an Atlas V rocket. Both rockets are built by United Launch Alliance (ULA) and are launched from separate launch complexes at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. As GPS IIF-7 is to be launched on an Atlas V rocket we will continue looking at the processing for that booster.

The Atlas V complex is SLC-41 and it the most northernmost active launch pad at Cape Canaveral. This launch complex holds all the infrastructure to ready and launch the rocket, including fuels, communications and power. Just outside the Launch Complex is the Vertical Integration Facility where the various parts of the rocket are assembled.

The Atlas V rocket is a two stage rocket that can have additional solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to give more thrust at launch. For the GPS IIF satellites the SRBs are not required as the payload is sufficiently light enabling the main core booster to lift the rocket without assistance. 

The main parts of the Atlas V rocket are:

The main or common core booster. This is the first stage of the rocket and will be ignited just before liftoff. This is 3.8 metres in diameter and 32.5 metres high. The booster is mainly structurally stable fuel tank constructed from isogrid aluminium barrels. This stage has twin tanks for the RP-1 (a highly refined form of Kerosene) and LOX (super cold liquid oxygen) propellants. The engine on the first stage is an Russian made RD-180 with twin combustion chambers. Also contained within the structure of the first stage is a high pressure helium tank. The helium is used to pressurise the propellant tanks just before launch.

The Centaur second stage is connected to the common core booster by an interstage adapter. This adapter contains the pyrotechnics which are used to separate the components during the launch. The Centaur is 3.1 meters in diameter and 12.7 meters high. This is powered by a single Pratt and Whitney RD-10A engine fueled by LOX and LH2 (super cold liquid hydrogen). This is commonly referred to as cryogenic fuel. As these tanks contain very cold liquid fuels the tanks are very heavily insulated to prevent the liquids boiling both during the countdown and due to the friction heat generated by the launch. On the top of the Centaur is the Centaur Forward Adapter which provides the avionics for the rocket along with other systems providing telemetry and control. This provides the avionics for both stages of the rocket.

Sitting on top of the Centaur Forwards Adapter is the Payload Adapter this connects the GPS II satellite to the rocket. The Payload Adapter can vary dependent on the spacecraft being attached.

Finally the GPS IIF satellite is surrounded by the Payload Fairing. The payload fairing is constructed in two sections designed to be explosively jettisoned during the launch when the atmospheric pressures are no longer a threat to the GPS payload. In the Atlas V 401 configuration the payload fairing is 4 meters in diameter. 

The components for the rocket are manufactured at a number of sites across America and in Russia. 

The main first stage (called the core booster) is manufactured in Decatur, Alabama and is transported to Cape Canaveral by ship called the Mariner. The Mariner sails down the Mississippi River, round the Florida Keys and into the Cape Canaveral AFS via Port Canaveral. 

The Atlas V unloading from Mariner at CCAFS Credit: AmericaSpace / Jeffrey Soulliere
The same is true for the Centaur second stage. It is likely that the Mariner will make separate trips for each stage, although it can carry two main core boosters. On arriving both stages are processed at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations center which also houses the Launch Control Center and the Mission Director’s Center.

The Pratt & Whitney RL-10A second stage engine is manufactured in West Palm Beach in Florida, whilst the RD-180 main core booster engine is made in Khimki, Russia.

The Payload Faring, and various adapter plates are fabricated in Harlingen Texas and will be shipped to the Cape via truck, each section of the payload fairing having its own vehicle.

Preparing for Launch
With all the components delivered to Cape Canaveral the final assembly of the rocket can take place. In the case of the Atlas V this is done in the VIF (Vertical Integration Facility) about 400 meters from the launch complex.

The common core booster is the first to arrive at the VIF this is transported on a specially designed transport from the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center to the VIF where it is hauled into the upright position on top of a Mobile Launch Platform (MLP). The MLP provides hard wired services to the rocket during construction and throughout the launch countdown. It is designed to move the assembled rocket out to the launch pad via a pair of engines which also tow mobile support services, more of which later.

Raising the Atlas V common core booster Credit: NASA
Next to arrive at the VIF is the inter-stage adapter. This allows the Centaur upper stage to be connected the the common core booster and also to separate the two stages in flight.

The Centaur upper stage is now delivered. This arrives on a lorry in the horizontal position. It is lifted off the lorry and then elevated into the vertical position. Now it is winched up and carefully lined up with the top of the common core booster where it is attached to the inter-stage adapter. The avionics linkages are now connected and tested.

Lifting the Atlas V Centaur upper stage Credit: ULA
The final item to arrive is the GPS IIF satellite. It will already have been powered, fueled and encapsulated within the payload fairing. This is transported from the Navstar Processing Facility in the upright position so just needs to be lifted to the top of the stack and the payload adapter plate will be connected to the top of the Centaur Forward Adapter.

Mating the GPS Payload to the Atlas V Credit: ULA
Ready for Launch
With the payload connected to the top of the Atlas V rocket the GPS satellite is nearly ready for launch. The next process in the chain is to move the rocket to the launch pad and start the final preparations for launch. I will cover this in the next article: Launching the GPS IIF satellite.