Tag: TECHNOLOGY

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-Top News Technology UAE News

Etisalat announces 6G plans

While Etisalat has not spelt out any timeline, a report earlier this year by ABI Research forecasts 2028-29 as the early commercial deployment years for 6G….reports Joy Chakravarty

While the world seems to be consumed by the potential of 5G, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) leading telecom operator Etisalat revealed that it has already started working towards the transition to 6G, a mobile network that is expected to be 100 times faster than 5G.

Haitham Abdulazzak, Etisalat’s Chief Technology Officer, revealed that the UAE is “conducting research and developing international standards that are the main building blocks for the 6G ecosystem”.

He was speaking at the ongoing 2021 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, as part of a panel discussing ‘Setting the Roadmap to 6G’.

“Etisalat is upgrading tools and capabilities of its R&D centre to enhance the contribution towards 6G global standardisation within the international fora and alliances,” Abdulazzak said.

Pic credits @etisalat

“Advancement and development of new mobile technologies has become much more rapid than ever. Introduction of new features, capabilities and use of millimetre frequencies seen in 5G is a result of this advancement, which is expected to be complemented with terahertz (THz) spectrum in 6G.

“Etisalat is one of the ambitious players making steps towards the sixth generation of the network.

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“As part of our vision and future technology planning, 6G is going beyond earth networks into space to enable a new era of services and usage scenarios with terabyte data traffic resulting in extraordinary human to machine interaction,” he added.

While Etisalat has not spelt out any timeline, a report earlier this year by ABI Research forecasts 2028-29 as the early commercial deployment years for 6G.

The report also said that the Star Trek-like holographic communication and X Reality (XR, which is a combination of AR, VR, and Mixed Reality) are some of the applications that are very much possible with the speeds that 6G could provide.

5G is designed to provide a peak data rate of 20 Gigabytes per second (Gbps), and an average user experience rate of 120 Megabytes per second (Mbps). These numbers will be closer to 1,000 Gbps and 1 Gbps, respectively, in 6G.

The Global System of Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) has forecast 5G subscriptions, which started rolling out in 2019 in select countries, to reach 1.7 billion.

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UK News

PM sets out plan to make Britain a ‘science superpower’

Downing Street says Johnson is tasking the whole of government, working with the new council, to take the success of the UK’s approach to vaccines and apply it to other priorities, reports Asian Lite News

Sir Patrick Vallance is to run a new science and technology office aimed at maximising the UK’s strengths in both sectors, Downing Street has announced.

The Office for Science and Technology Strategy will be based in the Cabinet Office and tasked with driving Whitehall priorities in those areas.

Sir Patrick is taking up the role of national technology adviser alongside his current position as the government’s chief scientific adviser.

“The new Office for Science and Technology Strategy will put science and technology right at the heart of policy-making and strengthen the way we work across government. I look forward to working with the National Science and Technology Council to help identify cutting-edge research and technologies that will deliver strategic advantage for the UK,” Sir Patrick said in a statement.

UK

It forms part of a plan by No 10 to “reinforce the position of the UK as a science superpower”.

A new National Science and Technology Council will also be established and chaired by Boris Johnson.

The prime minister will instruct the council to provide strategic direction on the use of science and technology as tools to tackle society’s challenges and level up across the country.

Downing Street says Johnson is tasking the whole of government, working with the new council and office, to take the success of the UK’s approach to vaccines and apply it to other priorities.

Officials say the first task of the Office for Science and Technology Strategy will be to review the technology bets the UK should back and prioritise for strategic advantage.

The PM said: “From discovery to delivery, our vaccination programme has proven what the UK can achieve at scale and at speed.

“With the right direction, pace and backing, we can breathe life into many more scientific and technological breakthroughs that transform the lives of people across the UK and the world.”

He added: “That’s why I’m establishing a new ministerial council and office at the centre of government, so we can realise the limitless possibilities that research and technology has to offer and cement the UK’s place as a global science superpower.”

Patrick Vallance (Wikipedia)

The development comes even as Britain reported another 9,284 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,630,040, according to official figures released on Sunday.

The country also recorded another six coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,976. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

British scientists on Sunday warned of “pretty miserable winter” ahead for the country due to likely emergence of new respiratory viruses, with further lockdowns a possibility.

Calum Semple, member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a British government advisory body, said that children and elderly people will be especially vulnerable to endemic viruses at the end of the year.

Scientists have warned that a third wave of coronavirus infections is “definitely under way” in England due to the fast spread of the Delta variant first identified in India, even though hospital admissions will hopefully not be on the same scale as in January.

The recent data published by Public Health England showed the AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective against hospitalisation from the Delta variant after two doses, and the Pfizer vaccine, 96 per cent effective.

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-Top News Social Media

UN experts voice concern over new IT rules

India has the potential to develop a legislation that can place it at the forefront of efforts to protect digital rights. However, the substantially broadened scope of the Rules is likely to do just the opposite…reports Asian Lite News.

Experts at United Nations Office of the Human Rights Commissioner have said in a report that it is concerned that India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, in their current form, do not conform with international human rights norms.

The observations were made in Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.

The report is authored by Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and Joseph Cannataci, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.



“As noted in previous communications sent to your Excellency’s Government, we are concerned that these new rules come at a time of a global pandemic and of large-scale farmer protests in the country, where the enjoyment of the freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to receive information, and the right to privacy, is particularly important for the realisation of several other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights,” the report said.

“We would like to recall that restrictions to freedom of expression must never be invoked as a justification for the muzzling of any advocacy of multiparty democracy, democratic tenets and human rights,” the report said.

The report said as a global leader in technology innovation, India has the potential to develop a legislation that can place it at the forefront of efforts to protect digital rights. However, the substantially broadened scope of the Rules is likely to do just the opposite.

“We would therefore encourage the Government to take all necessary steps to carry out a detailed review of the Rules and to consult with all relevant stakeholders, including civil society dealing with human rights, freedom of expression, privacy rights and digital rights”, the report said.

“We understand the new Rules were issued under the Information Technology Act of 2000 and therefore, were not subject to parliamentary review or opened for consultation with stakeholders. We believe such consultations with relevant stakeholders are essential in order to ensure the final text is compatible with India’s international legal obligations, in particular with Articles 17 and 19 of the ICCPR,” it added.

This observation along with India’s comment will also subsequently be made available in the usual report to be presented to the Human Rights Council, it added.

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Categories
-Top News Defence India News

Big push to innovations in India’s defence, aerospace sector

Big push to innovations in defence, aerospace sector

The aim is to facilitate rapid development of new, indigenised and innovative technologies, reports Asian Lite News

In a bid to boost self-reliance and indigenisation in the country’s defence & aerospace sector, the central government has approved a budgetary support of Rs 498.8 crore for the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) – Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO).

Cleared by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 9, this will provide financial support over the next five years to nearly 300 start-ups, Medium Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs), individual innovators and 20 partner incubators under the DIO framework.

The scheme aims to facilitate rapid development of new, indigenised and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector to meet their needs in shorter timelines, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.

“It will support increased awareness in the Indian innovation ecosystem about defence needs and, conversely, in the Indian Defence establishment about the potential of the Indian innovation eco-system to deliver innovative solutions to meet their needs,” the defence ministry said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with the troops who participated in the para dropping and other military exercises at Stankna near Leh. (Photo IANS)

The creation of the iDEX framework and establishment of the DIO by the Department of Defence Production (DDP) is aimed at creating an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging Industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes & academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D development which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.

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Explaining the working of the scheme, the ministry said the DIO, with its team, will enable the creation of channels for innovators to engage and interact with the Indian Defence production industry. The long-term effect to be realised by the group is the establishment of a culture, where enlisting the effort of innovators by the Indian military is commonplace and frequent.

It also seeks to create a culture of engagement with innovative start-ups to encourage co-creation for defence and aerospace; empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sector and boost innovation among the start-ups and encourage them to be a part of the ecosystem.

The DDP will release funds to DIO for setting up and managing the iDEX network in the form of Partner Incubators (PIs); communicating with innovators/start-ups/technology centres of MSMEs through the PIs including the PIs of Department of Science and Technology regarding defence and aerospace needs; organising various challenges/hackathons to shortlist potential technologies and entities and evaluating technologies and products developed by innovators/start-ups in terms of their utility and impact on the defence and aerospace setup.

According to the ministry, the other activities include enabling and funding pilots using innovation funds dedicated to the purpose; interfacing with the Armed Forces top brass about key innovative technologies and encouraging their adoption into the defence establishment with suitable assistance; facilitating scale-up, indigenisation and integration in manufacturing facilities for successfully piloted technologies and organising outreach activities all across the country. (INN)

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