Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
Fibre, fibre and more fibre
JUANITA CLARK, FTTX COUNCIL AFRICA CEO
By 2020, mass adoption of 5G is predicted to take place and locally, operators are conducting trials. In October 2017, Vodacom announced a trial in collaboration with Nokia. And more recently, MTN announced that it has partnered with Ericsson to implement a live 5G network trial, demonstrating the capabilities of the 5G technology.
It is clear that the race for the broadband market is intensifying on many fronts, which bodes well for consumers, as quality-of-service and choice promotes competitiveness in the market. However, what is even more apparent is that, whichever way you turn, fibre will continue to play an integral role in the growing broadband market.
‘ This is excellent news for operators and investors,’ says Juanita Clark, CEO of FTTX Council Africa, a lobby group for fibre-optic developments in sub-saharan Africa.
Andre Hoffman, Global Chair for the Council’s Technical Advisory Committee agrees.
‘Add to this the fact that copper line ADSL is on the decline,’ he says. ‘In its annual results, Telkom announced that their fixed-broadband subscribers dropped below 1 million for the first time in September 2017. This can be attributed to increased LTE coverage, and increased fibre-to-the-home penetration.’
According to Clark: ‘Demand for fibre in general is on the increase and operators will continue to deploy infrastructure aggressively, whether it is for FTTH, FTTB, LTE or 5G, or other wireless backhaul.
‘MNOS are particularly competitive when it comes to being the first to deploy a nextgeneration network, and this will place tremendous pressure on fibre-network deployments, especially in the metros where demand for 5G is high.’
Hoffman confirms this. ‘It’s accepted that the true promise of 5G will not be reached without its symbiotic partner – deep fibre. Millions of 5G microcells will require low latency, multi-gigabit capable backhaul and front-haul connections. The only solution to accomplishing this is deep-fibre penetration.’
Enormous investments in fibre networks are occurring as a result. ‘We’re simply scratching the tip of the iceberg,’ says Clark. ‘A few years ago, it was speculated that the window of opportunity for investment in fibre in Africa was narrowing, and that the market was close to saturation. However, with the arrival of new technologies that are heavily dependent on fibre, we are confident that investment in fibre infrastructure will dramatically increase. It remains a sure bet in the broadband market.’
50 000 passenger trips and have logged over 3 million autonomous kilometres. Uber’s use of Nvidia’s technology reflects the reality that the computational requirements of self-driving vehicles are enormous. Selfdriving cars and trucks must perceive the world through high-resolution, 360-degree surround cameras and lidars; localise the vehicle within centimetre accuracy; detect and track other vehicles and people; and plan a safe, comfortable path to the destination.
All this processing must be done with multiple levels of redundancy to ensure the highest level of safety. The computing demands of driverless vehicles are easily 50 to 100 times more intensive than today’s most advanced cars.
“Developing safe, reliable autonomous vehicles requires sophisticated AI software and a high-performance GPU computing engine in the vehicle,” said Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced Technologies Group. “Nvidia is a key technology provider to Uber as we bring scalable self-driving cars and trucks to market.”
Uber began using Nvidia GPU computing technology in its first test fleet of Volvo XC90 SUVS and currently uses highperformance Nvidia processors to run deep neural networks in both its self-driving ride-hailing cars and self-driving freight trucks. The development pace of the Uber fleet has accelerated dramatically, with the last million autonomous kilometres being driven in just 100 days.
Volkswagen was also on the Nvidia stage to reveal that the company’s Drive IX Platform – which powers autonomy – will be at the heart of the ID Buzz prototype. This will include, but not be limited to, facial recognition for security and driver monitoring, autonomous drive as well as remote vehicle summoning.
All Nvidia’s new automobile-focused technologies will be powered by Nvidia’s Xavier processor, the very same technology that will underpin its server-based offerings. Xavier is integrated into the Pegasus computing platform, which is about the size of a licence plate and will allow for level 5 autonomy.
ENHANCED IN-CAR EXPERIENCES
Mercedes-benz has quietly been chipping away at the future of the automobile and showed a part of its hand in Las Vegas. MBUX is the carmaker’s latest infotainment user interface and improves dramatically on the antiquated Comand system. Key features include a user customisable interface, overthe-air updates and wide touchscreens on the dashboard. The big automotive trend in 2018 is proprietary voice assistants and MBUX isn’t left behind, with the hotword “Hey
Mercedes” summoning the car to action.
We like that these touch-enabled LCD panels don’t come at the expense of physical buttons with the steering wheel still being chock full of switches and buttons. “New technologies must focus on the people using them and make their life simpler. That’s why we combine intuitive and natural operation with intelligent and learning software in MBUX,” says Ola Källenius, member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-benz Cars Development.
Intelligent systems such as MBUX are also the basis of all four strategical CASE fields. CASE: these letters will shape the future of mobility. They stand for the fields of networking (Connected), autonomous driving (Autonomous), flexible use (Shared and Services) and electric drive systems (Electric). The four CASE fields are an integral part of the corporate strategy.
“With MBUX we have come another step closer to turning the vehicle into a mobile assistant,” emphasises Sajjad Khan, vice president of Digital Vehicle and Mobility at Daimler.
“The system’s ability to learn is spectacular, and unique to date in the car industry. We are using artificial intelligence to give the user individual suggestions based on their habits. The algorithm we use for this is optimised for on-board use in the vehicle and exploits the opportunities afforded by the latest chip generation.”
“With the new MBUX generation, we are transporting our user interface design into the digital world,” says Gorden Wagener, chief design officer Daimler AG. “We are thus transferring intelligent technology into an emotional overall experience.”
MBUX has three control input options with users switching between the touchscreens, touchpad and control buttons at will. Expect to see this new user interface on the next generation A-class and on the upcoming G-class.
POP-UP CONVENIENCE
The most eye-catching release on the CES show floor was by far Toyota’s vision for the future of mobility. This e-palette concept is a fully autonomous, battery electric vehicle that is essentially an empty shell for companies to mould into convenient customer solutions. Mobile hotel rooms that appear at the touch of a button. Intelligent shuttles. New-age delivery vans, self-driving food trucks. Anything you can imagine.
The new e-palette Alliance will leverage Toyota’s proprietary Mobility Services Platform (MSPF) to develop a suite of connected mobility solutions and a flexible, purpose-built vehicle. The new alliance will create a broad-based ecosystem of hardware and software support designed to help a range of companies utilise advanced mobility technology to better serve customers. Launch partners include Amazon, Didi, Mazda, Pizza Hut and Uber, who will collaborate on vehicle planning, application concepts and vehicle verification activities.
In the near term, the Alliance will focus on the development of the new e-palette Concept Vehicle, also unveiled at CES. The concept reflects one of Toyota’s visions for Automated Mobility as a Service (AutonoMaas) applications. It is a fully automated, next generation battery electric vehicle (BEV) designed to be scalable and customisable for a range of Mobility as a Service (Maas) businesses. What’s more, the e-palette Concept demonstrates Toyota’s continued commitment to partnership and flexibility.