Collaboration by the FCC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) "appears to be having an impact" on the safety and decreased number of fatalities of tower climbers, FCC and Department of Labor officials said in a joint blog post Thursday. OSHA is a DOL agency. The FCC hosted a workshop with the DOL on tower climber safety earlier on Thursday, during which government and industry representatives called for a culture change that emphasizes safety and an increased focus on proper training (see 1602110044). Technological innovation in the wireless industry is advancing at an "amazing pace," which will result in towers that always need work and workers to complete it, but the FCC and DOL's work to increase safety is not meant to "hamper innovation," wrote FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman and David Michaels, OSHA assistant secretary. Instead, they said, the partnership is meant to "assist the industry in advancing safer practices so these new technologies can be deployed without the tragic loss of life that we have seen in the past.”

The Wi-Fi Alliance could have its Wi-Fi/LTE-U coexistence test plan nearly done in March, around when the 3rd Generation Partnership Project comes out with licensed assisted access LTE standards, CableLabs said in a blog Friday. The Wi-Fi Alliance released a draft test plan Wednesday (see 1602110041) with the promise it would be the first of several such tests. CableLabs -- a member of Wi-Fi Alliance according to the group's website -- said some test cases remain to be written, including a means of verifying that Wi-Fi users "will be able to choose their preferred network even in the presence of LTE-U." It also said the Wi-Fi Alliance testing "is likely to only be a start" to assuring coexistence. "It is possible that evolution in LTE-U technology will be needed as well," CableLabs said.

FCC field agents helped safeguard massive wireless traffic flows at the Super Bowl, said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc and Acting Field Director Charles Cooper in a blog post Thursday. "Whether in the vicinity of the stadium or streaming the game online, the wireless network traffic is immense," they said. "During this year’s Super Bowl, according to one media report, more than 10 terabytes of data traversed the WiFi network at Levi's Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, the equivalent of streaming 6,000+ hours of HD video." Such usage creates huge spectrum demand, making it critical that FCC rules are followed, they said. EB field agents formed "a defensive line" against harmful or malicious interference to the communications at the game, they said, noting the Public Safety Bureau also works on big special events. Team members worked to resolve numerous interference issues "before, during, and after the game," using various resources, including "next generation monitoring and direction-finding technology," they said.

Two camps continued FCC lobbying last week on equipment rules for 5 GHz devices, ex parte filings in docket 13-49 showed. Broadcom said it's concerned an adjustment proposed by others to tightening out-of-band emissions to weather radar could hurt retail routers. Cambium Networks, Fastback Networks, JAB Wireless, Mimosa Networks, Nokia, Ubiquiti Networks, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and Zebra Technologies, meanwhile, want the commission to act on what they called a modified consensus proposal before a March 2 new-equipment certification deadline. Broadcom proposed an emissions mask for devices with low-gain antennas, which it said "are very unlikely to pose a risk of harmful interference," it said executives and lawyers told Chief Julius Knapp and others in the Office of Engineering and Technology. "In the alternative, Broadcom suggested extending the deadline for certifying U-NII-3 devices under the new rules for a minimum of 24 months, and extending the deadline for marketing U-NII-3 devices certified under Section 15.247 for a minimum of 48 months." Earlier last week, the other companies and WISPA, seeking FCC action on their proposal, said they had no opinion on the merits of what Broadcom wants. But they said that company's proposed changes to the modified consensus proposal "should not be the basis for delaying action on the extensive record developed prior to Broadcom’s submission." If the agency "is unable to address Broadcom’s proposal prior to March 2," it should "consider it alongside any unresolved issues in this proceeding, including the proposal by Fastback Networks to modify the out-of-band emissions limit in the U-NII-1 band," said WISPA and the seven companies. While what Broadcom seeks may have merit, the commission shouldn't wait to act on what WISPA and its allies want, because the company's request came after the so-called consensus proposal, said an official of the association in an interview Friday. "There has been a lot of time spent" on what the group calls the consensus proposal, said WISPA President Alex Phillips, who isn't sure what Broadcom seeks is significant enough to "halt the proceeding." A follow-up proceeding could address Broadcom's concerns, Phillips said: "They need to let this particular process go forward and then make their case in a separate proceeding or reconsideration. It should not delay a decision."

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and International and Wireless bureaus will host a workshop on developments raised in the FCC NPRM on spectrum frontiers, the commission said Thursday in a public notice. The workshop will address the "state of technological developments in the millimeter wave" bands and future 5G networks, the FCC said. The workshop will take place March 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the FCC Meeting Room.

A financial institution can expect 1-2 percent of cardholders to use Apple Pay two or more times, said First Annapolis Consulting, on results of a survey on U.S. mobile payments. The survey of 1,300 households, including 580 iPhone 6 users, indicated awareness of Apple Pay is “quite high” among iPhone 6 owners, at 84 percent, but a “long adoption curve is ahead,” said principal Hugh Gallagher. Twenty percent of iPhone 6 owners said they used Apple Pay at least once, down from 22 percent in a survey last spring. Of Apple Pay adopters, 15 percent use it more than once per month, down from 19 percent in spring, said the report. On average, it said, Apple Pay users have loaded 2.3 cards into the Apple Wallet app: 75 percent credit, debit or prepaid cards and 25 percent retail store or loyalty cards. Physical point of sale terminals remain the primary channel for Apple Pay purchases, with 66 percent of Apple Pay users buying in-store versus 52 percent via app, it said. Among those who have used Apple Pay, 60 percent said they were “very satisfied” with the experience and 94 percent “somewhat satisfied.” While early adoption of Apple Pay isn't as high as expected – and has plateaued since the October 2014 launch – usage is likely to increase as the number of mobile payment solutions grows and merchant acceptance of mobile pay expands, Gallagher said.

​A method for fashioning electronic devices with flexible displays using organic light-emitting diodes and “having fastened bent edges” is described in a new patent assigned to Apple. Patent 9,256,250 was one of 21 assigned to Apple and published Tuesday in the Patent and Trademark Office's Official Gazette. Devices such as smartphones “are often provided with rigid displays made from rigid display structures,” said the patent, which lists three inventors and was applied for in April 2014. But such rigid structures “often include a significant amount of inactive border area around the display for accommodating display circuitry for operating display pixels in an active region of the display,” the patent said. “It is not uncommon for the width of the inactive border to be up to a centimeter wide or more,” making those displays “bulky” and requiring the use of “electronic device housings with wide bezels,” it said. The patent described an alternative method of wrapping the bent edges to “conform to the shape of an internal support structure.” Typical of most patents, the invention doesn’t delve into how the method might be incorporated into commercial devices, such as Apple’s next-generation iPhone. Apple representatives didn’t comment Wednesday.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced a new architecture and supporting set of tools that enable developers to create Internet gateways for Bluetooth products. The Bluetooth Internet gateway architecture and toolkit show developers, manufacturers, OEMs and others how to create a connection between Bluetooth and the cloud without the need for a smartphone or tablet as a go-between, said the group. It called the latest Bluetooth communication capability a way to control sensors "regardless of proximity.” Bluetooth gateways allow any Bluetooth sensor to relay data to the cloud and back again, and the architecture gives users the ability to monitor and control fixed Bluetooth sensors from a remote location, said the industry group. Examples include controlling lights while on vacation or unlocking a door for a pet sitter, it said. Consumers aren’t satisfied with current connected home capabilities, said Steve Hegenderfer, Bluetooth SIG director-developer programs. The Bluetooth Internet gateway architecture allows routers, thermostats, security systems -- the always on, always connected infrastructure in the home -- to speak to and control low-power sensors and relay that information to the cloud for control from “anywhere,” he said. The Bluetooth gateway starter kit can be downloaded at Bluetooth.com.

In what it called the first user interface for voice-activated drawing, Mitsubishi combined voice recognition and drawing functions to enable users to display spoken words on a tablet or smartphone by dragging a finger across the screen. When users press down on the screen and then speak, their spoken words can be displayed wherever the finger is dragged across the screen, said the company Monday night.

Nationwide wireless carriers must certify by March 9 their signal booster consent status, the FCC Wireless Bureau reminded carriers in a public notice listed in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The requirement comes from a Feb. 20, 2013, commission order adopting new rules, including a requirement that consumers have "provider consent (via registration with the relevant provider)" before operating signal boosters, said the PN in docket 10-4. To monitor consumer access, it said, "the Commission required all nationwide wireless service providers to make public certain information regarding their consent for their subscribers" to use signal boosters. The carriers must publicly indicate the status of their consent for each signal booster certified for consumer use by March 9, either by a filing in docket 10-4 or in some other way, the PN said.