The Department of Homeland Security released the topics for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 20.1 pre-solicitation. The pre-solicitation contains 11 topic descriptions, nine from the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and two from the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office.

During the first week of November, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) marked the 15-year anniversary of cooperation with the United Kingdom for collaborative research and development efforts aimed at both nations’ mutual homeland security challenges.

Ribbon Communications announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire, through a merger, ECI Telecom Group (ECI) for 32.5 million shares of Ribbon common stock and $324 million in cash. ECI stockholders will also receive approximately $31 million from ECI's sale of real estate assets.

Sendai City, Japan, and Nokia successfully conducted a test flight of a Nokia drone on a private Long Term Evolution (LTE) network provided by Nokia Digital Automation Cloud. The test examined the potential use of drones during a tsunami or other disasters to help in prevention and mitigation efforts.

Globalstar announced a partnership with Nokia to develop an innovative solution that allows enterprises to deploy intelligent network applications in a dedicated Long Term Evolution (LTE) spectrum band.

The international ResponDrone Project, which is developing a situational awareness system for emergency situations, will hold a special design thinking workshop, bringing together industrial, technological and end-user partners of the consortium. The workshop will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, 12 – 13 November.

Sierra Wireless reported results for its third quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue for the third quarter was $174 million compared with $203.4 million in the third quarter of 2018.

The lack of standardized training and certification is the top issue hampering public-safety drone operations, according to DRONERESPONDERS. The finding is from a double-validated research initiative based on survey data, as well as live focus group feedback conducted during last week’s U.S. Public Safety UAS Summit in Las Vegas.

A Canadian paramedic service and industry partners are exploring beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and working to test use cases for the technology.

The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), the international treaty-making conference governing the global management of RF spectrum and satellite orbits, opened 28 October in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The conference is held every three to four years.