Olivier Hahn EHS WARRIOR - DIED.

A sad day for EHS – Olivier Hahn, a true worrier for people with EHS died. I have received the message from the organization Robin Des Toits in France. After Oliver became EHS, despite his condition, he helped many other EHS
including those who were living in the middle of nowhere and in caverns in France in order to keep them alive, to help them to survive and to give them hope. He saved many people’s life Those who knew him say he was a great man and are very proud to have known him. He was very generous in every way, spent time and money helping people to protect themselves from EMF in their homes. All he did was always for free. He cared for others more than he cared for himself. In spite of his illness he used to make EMF measurements on polluted sites, especially to defend workers and citizens after false measurements were provided by those with interests. He was a soldier...

Olivier Hahn - EHS WARRIOR - DIED.
http://www.next-up.org/France/Olivier_Hahn.php

Olivier Hahn EHS www.next-up.org Next-up est une Organisation Non Gouvernementale (ONG) concourant à la Défense de l Environnement Na...

Brian Thiesen: Technical Facts and Political Adgenda of SmartMeters

Govt puts stringent mobile radiation norms into force - NewsX

September issue of ‘EMR and Health’ now out

September 4, 2012 in -Mailing List, Publications by EMFacts

From Lyn McLean, EMR Australia:

The September issue of ‘EMR and Health’ is now available.
In the current issue you can read about:
* Australia’s new mobile phone research program;
* whether EMF might be linked to obesity;
* how safe are magnetic products for your health;
* the risks of using laptop computers;
* how magnetic fields may be contributing to disease;
* how microwaves are being used to restore art;
* the latest news and research from around the world.

Contact Lyn McLean
Director
EMR Australia PL
www.emraustralia.com.au 
contact@emraustralia.com.au
02 9576 1772

Dancing Aphids - Radar Excitation

New mobile tower radiation norms from today

New mobile tower radiation norms from today

New Delhi, Sat, 01 Sep 2012ANI

New Delhi, Sep 1 (ANI): India will be among the select few countries in the world to have stringent EMF (Electromagnetic Frequency) Radiation Standards, established in the interest of public health, for mobile towers and mobile handsets, beginning today.

Indian standards would now be ten times more stringent than more than 90 percent countries in the world.

The following are the highlights of the Standards:

A. Mobile Towers (EMF Radiation Norms)

1. EMF (Electromagnetic Frequency) exposure limit (Base Station Emissions) has been lowered to 1/10th of the existing ICNIRP exposure level, effective 1st Sept. 2012.

2. Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells have been entrusted with the job of conducting audit on the self certification furnished by the Service Providers. TERM Cell will carry out test audit of 10% of the BTS site on random basis and on all cases where there is a public complaint.

3. Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) has revised the Test Procedure for measurement of EMF for verification of EMF compliance for BTS towers in accordance with new standards.

4. For non-compliance of EMF standards, a penalty of Rs. 5 lakhs is liable to be levied per BTS per Service Provider.

5. The BTS site details i.e. self-certification, registration with TERM Cell, test results etc. is proposed to be provided on DoT web site for General Public information.

B. Mobile Handsets

1. All the new design of mobile handsets shall comply with the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values of 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1 gram of human tissue w.e.f. 1st Sept. 2012.

2. The mobile handsets with existing designs which are compliant with 2.0 W/kg averaged over 10 gram of human tissue, will continue to co-exist up to 31st August 2013. From 1st Sept. 2013, only the mobile handsets with revised SAR value of 1.6 W/kg would be permitted to be manufactured or imported in India.

3. SAR value information display on the mobile handsets like IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) display. The information on SAR values to be made available to the consumer at the point of sale.

4. Mobile handset manufactured and sold in India or imported from other countries shall be checked on random basis for compliance of SAR limit after TEC SAR Laboratory is set up by end of 2012. Test results from international accredited labs will be acceptable in the interim period.

5. The manufacturers in India will provide self-declaration of SAR value of the handset.

6. Suitable amendments in the Indian Telegraph Rule under Indian Telegraph Act 1985 are being enacted in support of ensuring compliance of new SAR values for handsets.

7. Manufacturer's mobile handset booklet will contain safety precautions.

8. All cell phone handsets sold in the market in India will comply with relevant standards and shall be available in hand free mode.

C. SAR Test Laboratory:

1. SAR Test Laboratory is being set up in Telecom Engineering Centre for testing of SAR value of mobile handsets imported/ manufactured in India. New National SAR Standards from Telecom Engineering Centre

2. National SAR standards from Telecom Engineering Centre are being finalized.

D. Measuring Instruments:

1. DoT is procuring EMF radiation measuring instruments for TERM cell units.

2. Outsourcing for EMF radiation measurement for BTS towers is also being considered.

E. Expert Group Study:

1. A scientific study in India-specific context is being undertaken jointly by Dept. of Telecom and Dept. of Science and Technology in collaboration with ICMR, MOEF and Min of Science and Technology to derive norms based on credible scientific evidence taking into account diversity of Indian social context.

F. Guidelines to State Government

1. Department of Telecommunication has released Guidelines covering BTS Towers so that some consistency gets evolved on setting up of BTS towers. Guidelines have been placed on DoT website.

G. Guidelines for Consumers

1. Guidelines for consumers on Mobile handset usage have been issued and hosted on DoT Web site (http://www.gov.dot.in) for general public awareness. Some of them are: keep distance - hold the cell phone away from body to the extent possible, use a headset (wired or Bluetooth) to keep the handset away from your head, do not press the phone handset against your head. Radio Frequency (RF) energy is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source-being very close increases energy absorption much more, limit the length of mobile calls, use text as compared to voice wherever possible, put the cell phone on speaker mode, when your phone is on, don't carry it in chest/breast or pants pocket, when a mobile phone is on, it automatically transmits at high power every one or two minutes to check (poll) the network. . A booklet addressing possible queries from mobile telecom users on radiation-related issues along with other informative inputs is also being placed on DoT website.

H. TEC Test Procedures Document for Service Providers and Term Cell Units

1. TEC has revised the Test Procedure for measurement of EMF elaborating the methodology, calculations, measurements and report formats for verification of EMF compliance for BTS towers in accordance with new standards effective from 1st Sept. 2012. This will be applicable for all Mobile Service Providers and Term Cell Units to verify compliance.

Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and IT has ensured that the new EMF Radiation standards get implemented through close co-ordination with the industry. The guidelines underline the Government's efforts at providing the best possible Telecom services across the country without compromising on public safety and /human health. (ANI)

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/09/01/80-New-mobile-tower-radiation-norms-from-today.html

Unbreakable: Mesh networks are in your smartphone's future

Unbreakable: Mesh networks are in your smartphone's future

Two entrepreneurs think it's time for smartphones to start cooperating with each other by sharing network connections.

by Rafe Needleman

  July 13, 2012 5:00 AM PDT

It's not that we're running out of mobile bandwidth. It's just that it's poorly distributed.

If you're in your home next to a Wi-Fi router, you might have a clean signal and access to a 12-megabit connection. Meanwhile, someone outside your door could have a smartphone that's struggling to hold onto a slow connection to a cellular tower a mile away. But mesh networking might make things better for everyone.

Mesh networks let devices share their connections with other users. If one user has a clean network connection and another nearby user does not, the second user can piggyback on the first's, automatically. If there's a collection of many people, their machines can all cooperate to make connections -- to each other and to the global Internet. In advanced mesh networks, connections and data can hop among devices, creating ad hoc bucket-brigade paths for communication.

The concept of mesh networking is not new. Many military systems rely on mesh networking, since forces in the field cannot rely on communications infrastructures. Utilities also use mesh networks for collecting data from equipment, like smart meters.

On this Reporters' Roundtable, I interview two innovators in mesh networking. They're both trying to bring this liberating (they say) and bandwidth-saving (ditto) technology to the masses.

Reporters' Roundtable Ep. 126: Mesh Networks

Listen Now: Download Today's Podcast 

Micha Benoliel's company, Open Garden, makes a mesh networking utility for Android smartphones and for Windows and Mac laptops (support for iOS is coming). It's a free app that turns your device into a mobile hot spot. No matter how you're connected to the Net (Wi-Fi or cellular), it makes that connection shareable (over Bluetooth) to other Open Garden users. Likewise, if you're running the product but don't have a connection to the Net, and you're near a user who does, this service seamlessly gets you online.

Benoliel says that, for the most part, carriers and ISPs welcome technologies that improve bandwidth for customers and that also lower power requirements (connecting to a nearby hot spot over Bluetooth takes a lot less power than linking to a cell tower). "The only way to improve the wireless networks is to increase the density of microcells or hot spots. I think carriers really understand that," he says. His pitch: "We turn every device into a hot spot... and we improve the network itself."

Sri Srikrishna was the founding CTO of the mesh networking company Tropos (recently acquired by ABB), and is now working on bringing mesh technologies to populations where today's standard wireless networking technologies are insufficient, or are blocked. See his paper, "SocialMesh: Can Networks of Meshed Smartphones Ensure Public Access to Twitter During an Attack?"

Srikrisha says it's time to do two things for people who don't have reliable means to connect to the global net. First of all, we can make better, more frequency-agile radios. Second: Mesh them together.

Hooking users together through mesh networks can also democratize communications and make them, he believes, more robust in the face of repressive regimes that might want to shut down the capability to reach the outside world. With a mesh network, a very small number of users who happen to have a connection can share that with other users who don't. "If you have a large number of these devices, no government will be able to stop it," he says.

Srikrishna and Benoliel both claim that the global growth of smartphones -- all are handheld computers easily capable of supporting mesh networking stacks -- should lead to a global infrastructure shift, in which these handsets become a bigger part of the infrastructure itself, not just clients on it.

"Can you build a network that's indestructible?" asks Srikrishna. He says it's worth doing. "A lot of the problems in the world can be solved if you can have UStream everywhere in the world, without being blocked."

Watch the full, geeky discussion in the video here.

Rafe Needleman

Rafe reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business. Feeling lucky? Send pitches to rafe@cnet.com. And watch Rafe's tech issues podcast, Reporters' Roundtable.

Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-30976_1-57471447-10348864/unbreakable-mesh-networks-are-in-your-smartphones-future/#ixzz26a1N3j87

Man, Smartphones Just Don’t Shut Up

Man, Smartphones Just Don’t Shut Up

There’s a lot of talk about how increasingly data-hungry smartphones are threatening to overwhelm wireless networks. But it’s not just about how much data they consume.

APRIL 26, 2012 AT 9:50 AM PT

A less talked-about issue is the fact that many smartphone apps are constantly pinging the network, like a kid asking his or her parents every few seconds, “Are we there yet?”

Only smartphone apps are even more annoying. Some ping the network as often as 2,400 times an hour. The result is network congestion and signal loss, as well as a far more rapid drain on battery life.

“Wireless signaling is a tricky topic because oftentimes it’s hidden, happening in the background without any user knowledge. But it’s growing bigger by the minute, as more users download more connected applications” said Isabelle Dumont, head of marketing at Seven Networks, which pitches a solution to help reduce the issue.

If current trends continue, the constant pinging of the network could eventually amount to 25 trillion signaling events per hour, Seven says.

The company, which has a product designed to reduce some of the noise, has put together a handy infographic on the issue, a portion of which is included below.

Update: One of the the things we were wondering was just how much difference there is among platforms, since much of Seven’s graphic seems to relate to Android.

“Whether it’s Android, iOS, or Windows Phone, they tend to be always-on, checking for content updates on a frequent basis, even if there is no content update to be delivered,” Seven said. However, there are some important things that make over-pinging a bigger issue on Android.

One, lots of apps operate all the time on Android. Also, Seven notes, “Many more apps on Android monetize through advertising, which by itself can be one cause of additional data and signaling traffic.”

Also, Google’s store allows all apps to be published, regardless of how “noisy” they are.

“By contrast, there appears to be much tighter control on the iOS side,” Seven said. “Any app on Android can operate in the background and take advantage of all services and APIs available on the operating system and the device. iOS comes with a much tighter control over which app can operate in the background and be ‘always-on.’”

As for Windows Phone, Seven said, “These devices are still in the early stage of adoption, and because of the relative low volume of applications available for Windows Phone, the signaling storm related to Windows Phone has mostly been ignored if there is one.”

In addition, as a developer reminded me in an e-mail, Windows Phone today just does a whole lot less in the background and has a different means for getting updates (pushed down vs. polling).

In some cases, such as with Skype, there are some downsides to the way apps can live in the background, but it does make them potentially far less noisy.

How one company is putting ‘Super Wi-Fi’ on the fast track

How one company is putting ‘Super Wi-Fi’ on the fast track

By: Brad Reed | Sep 3rd, 2012 at 06:55PM

Filed Under: Mobile

Wi-Fi has been one of the most useful technologies developed over the past couple of decades and it’s about to get even better now that manufacturers will be allowed to create devices that run on the former television “white space” spectrum that lets signals travel farther and penetrate more deeply into buildings. And to help speed up the adoption of this so-called “Super Wi-Fi,” wireless technology company Spectrum Bridge has announced a certification program for wireless OEMs that want to zip through the Federal Communications Commission’s rigorous certification process that the commission put in place to make sure that “Super Wi-Fi” devices don’t interfere with television broadcasts being run over adjacent spectrum. Spectrum Bridge’s full press release follows below.

Spectrum Bridge Launches TV White Space Certification Program to Help Radio Manufacturers Navigate FCC Approval Process

Subhead would be here

LAKE MARY, FL— Aug 29, 2012— Spectrum Bridge, Inc. today announced a new service to help wireless device manufacturers (OEMs) through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rigorous compliance process for TV White Space (TVWS) radios. These radios, along with TVWS database technologies will enable next generation high-speed wireless networks.

The Partner Certification Program grew out of the company’s success in working with radio manufacturers pursuing certification, its expertise in designing and developing radio technology, and its unique position as a recognized market leader.

FCC requirements for TVWS are much more involved than prior Part 15 rules about how radios are allowed to access spectrum, complicating the certification process. This is because a TVWS radio typically operates over a wide frequency range and must avoid interference with incumbent users of the spectrum, e.g. TV broadcasts or churches and schools that use wireless microphones. OEMs must also comply with TVWS database rules, and can avoid potential delays and cost overages by preparing for certification.

“Spectrum Bridge believes that the better prepared an OEM is to understand the rules, the less time they will spend in the certification process,” said Rod Dir, president and CEO. “This program is designed to provide the shortest path to certification. We have developed a comprehensive process based on our experience with partners and as a result of our own journey through FCC certification.”

The Spectrum Bridge Partner Certification Program provides the following FCC radio certification support services:

- TVWS compliance API: A complete reference design (SDK) to enable rapid development and compliance with FCC rules defining TV Band Device (TVBD) behavior. The reference design includes an embedded agent and a suite of web pages that can be used for device configuration and status.

- Test methods and certification procedures: Provides step-by-step procedures and test methods that can be used for testing and certification.

- FCC Part 15 certification support: Spectrum Bridge will facilitate and oversee testing of TVBDs by the Telecommunication Certification Body and subsequently by the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) to ensure an efficient and timely certification process.

- Pre-certification audit to ensure compliance with 47 CFR Part 15: Spectrum Bridge will identify and help TVBD OEMs resolve potential problems before the certification process even begins.

“The Partner Certification Program was invaluable to my team,” said Jordan Duval, CEO at MELD Technologies. “Working with Spectrum Bridge and leveraging their guidance in this process is bringing our radio technology to market faster.”

The database-driven approach allows TVWS devices to select an available channel.  However, not all available channels will provide the same quality of service for the user. In order to avoid potential interference and select the best channel, the Spectrum Bridge TV White Space solution considers the interference from TV transmissions, in order to provide preferred channel rankings. Custom features can also be offered by enabling these value added services to provide product differentiation for the radio vendor.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work with the knowledgeable and experienced team at Spectrum Bridge,” said Jim Carlson, CEO at Carlson Wireless. “Their assistance and guidance has been a tremendous help through the certification process.”

http://www.bgr.com/2012/09/03/super-wi-fi-certification-program-announced-spectrum-bridge/