Mobile & Wireless Computing Introduction

1. Mobile & Wireless Computing Introduction MCM 1163- HW/SW/CC SKIT 7

2. Mobile & Wireless Computing Outline: • Mobile Computing Definition • Today’s Mobile Devices/Applications • Computers Everywhere! • Tomorrow’s Mobile Devices/Applications • Mobile & Wireless Computing BSc • What skills needed for such jobs?

3. Mobile Computing - Evolution Primitive Simple Limited Capacity Cumbersome Unattractive Sophisticated Powerful Complex Refined Elegant

4. What is Mobile Computing? • “…information at any time, any place, and in any form. Whether in the office, at home or virtually any place on earth.” • “…mobile computing is associated with mobility of hardware, data and software in computer applications.” • “…mobile computing is the use of computers in a non-static environment.” • “The combination of mobile computing and wireless communications is prompting the emergence of what is referred to as pervasiveor ubiquitous computing.”

5. Mobile Computing - Today's Devices

6. Mobile ComputingToday’s Applications • Wireless Voice/Data Communications • Global Positioning Systems – Routing services • Location Aware Services – Context-based • Access to Remote Information Systems

7. Mobile Technology Applications • Transport • transmission of news, weather, conditions, music via DAB (digital audio broadcasting) • personal communication using GSM • position and tracking via GPS • local ad-hoc network with vehicles close-by to prevent accidents, guidance system, redundancy • vehicle data (e.g., from buses, high-speed trains) can be transmitted in advance for maintenance • Emergencies • early transmission of patient data to the hospital, current status, first diagnosis • replacement of a fixed infrastructure in case of earthquakes, hurricanes, fire etc.

8. Mobile Technology Applications • Traveling salesperson • direct access to customer files stored in a central location • consistent databases for all agents/clients • mobile office • Entertainment, education • outdoor Internet access • intelligent travel guide with up-to-datelocation dependent information • ad-hoc networks formulti user games • Healthcare • Health Care Support Built 150BC

9. 1970s 1990s The Shrinking Computer Late 1990s Now and Tomorrow ?

10. The Shrinking Computer

11. Computers Everywhere Pervasive Computing “An environment in which people interact with embedded (and mostly invisible) computers (processors) and in which networked devices are aware of their surroundings and other devices and are able to provide services or use services from others effectively.” Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, portrayed a society transformed by pervasive computing. www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/11/04/pervasive.computing

12. Aspects of Pervasive Computing Pervasive computing combines three concepts: • Mobility • ability to move about easily, speedily, and changing rapidly. • Embedding • Placing ‘intelligence’ in devices. • Ubiquity • Intelligent devices everywhere. In the pervasive computing context mobility is where computing is anywhere; ubiquity is where computing is everywhere; and embedding is where computing is disguised and subsumedwithin various devices.

13. Intelligent (Smart) Objects • Real world objects are enriched with information processing capabilities • Embedded processors • in everyday objects • small, cheap, lightweight • Communication capability • wired or wireless • spontaneous networking and interaction • Sensors and actuators

14. Intelligent (Smart) Objects • Can remember pertinent events • They have a memory • Show context-sensitive behavior • They may have sensors • Location/situation/contextawareness • Are responsive/proactive • Communicate with environment • Networked with other smart objects

15. Intelligent (Smart) Objects Bluetooth technology is an important step in getting components that can be blended in a simpler, more understandable way. Another pervasive technology is radio frequency identifiers (RFID). These tags, which can be as small as a grain of sand, are already being used as an alternative to barcodes in some supermarkets.

16. Intelligent (Smart) Objects Example of Smart Object Technology: A carton of milk could be tagged with a chip carrying information about its sell-by date which would tell the supermarket when to take it off the shelves. Once purchased, the same chip could be read by a fridge, which could order a new carton over the Internet before the old one goes off.

17. Intelligent (Smart) Objects

18. and Communicating When Everything is Smart .. Computing BecomesUbiquitous!

19. Embedded Technology The following is a short list of the areas where pervasive and embedded technology has already started to take hold: • Smart Rooms • e.g. the smart home and the smart office • Wearable Computing • e.g. wearable within and without the body • Automotive telemetry and telematics • e.g. remote systems diagnosis • Information Appliances • e.g. self reporting household appliances

20. Wearable Computing

21. Wearable Computing The aim of wearable computing is that it is always available and always on and active. The main, and ongoing, challenges of wearable computing are as follows: • Miniaturisation of pervasive devices • Weight minimisation of pervasive devices • Type/nature of device location on /in the human body • The development of safe, secure, and effective data communication media • Providing different forms of engagement with wearable devices that are hands-free

22. Wearable Computing - Smart Clothing • Conductive textiles and inks • print electrically active patterns directly onto fabrics • Sensors based on fabric • e.g., monitor pulse, blood pressure, body temperature • Invisible collar microphones • Kidswear • game console on the sleeve? • integrated GPS-driven locators? • integrated small cameras (to keep the parents calm)?

23. Wearable Computing - Smart Glasses “By 2009, computers will disappear. Visual information will be written directly onto our retinas by devices in our eyeglasses and contact lenses” - Raymond Kurzweil

24. Wearable Computing– Active Badges Room has multiple embedded sensors that communicate with active badge to configure devices to the specific user

25. Body Area Networks • Very low current allows some kb/s to pass through the human body • Possible applications: • Can recognize driver • Pay when touchingthe door of a bus • Phone configures itselfwhen it is touched

26. Interactive Map • Foldable and rollable You are here! Could even use flexible (foldable) display screens!

27. Automobile Telematics - Weather Response • Sensors on vehicles could provide continuous data on air and road surface temperature, visibility, precipitation, etc. • 17% of all USA highway fatalities occur during adverse weather (Snow, Ice, Fog) • Weather information is critical to travelers • Existing national weather information is inadequate for highway operations • Efforts to enhance this information locally are expensive and of limited value

28. Automobile Telematics Example - Accident Response • Advanced Incident Management and Automatic Crash Notification

29. Mobile & Wireless Computing Business applications don’t appear by magic! They are designed, programmed and deployed Security Policies Systems Integration Interface Considerations Communications, Connectivity and Network Infrastructure Operating Systems Business Applications Usability Issues Data Repositories/ Database Systems Security Mechanisms

30. Mobile & Wireless ComputingThe principal areas of study • Mobile Technology for Business • Internet and the WWW • Mobile Device Programming • Wireless Networks and Infrastructures • Database Modelling and Design • Usability Issues for Mobile Devices • Security for Mobile Systems • Distributed Systems • Distributed Games Design • Web Services and Applications

31. Example – Current Job Advert SYMBIAN SOFTWARE ENGINEER Location: London Salary: £35000 – £45000 Company: Premier Group Recruitment Job type: Permanent Date posted:12/06/2006 Intrigued by GPS, Digital Mapping, Location Based Services (LBS), and Mobile Communications technology? My client specializes in routing, mapping, in-vehicle, and mobile GPS navigation systems and solutions for the consumer and commercial sectors. As a member of their development team you will be exposed to a variety of cutting edge hardware and technology. Our Software Engineers design, write, develop, modify, debug, and implement software for Satellite Navigation Systems. Their Satellite navigation System, currently runs on MS Windows Mobile Smartphones, Linux Smartphones, and Symbian Smartphones. You will participate in application development on corporate, enterprise, and mass-market mobile computers and wireless mobile handsets. Generally, you will be focusing on: Product installation scripts; User Interface programming; large-scale data manipulation; map rendering through graphics. You will participate in all aspects of the development life cycle. Requirements: BSc in Computing (with mobile/wireless content) or equivalent degree. 2-5 years of Symbian software development experience. Self-motivated. Proficient in Java (J2SE) and in a Windows development environment with an excellent understanding of common design patterns. Exposure to J2ME (especially CLDC 1.1 and MIDP 2.0) and network applications development a plus. Knowledge of transportation networks also a plus. Applicant will be required to take a programming test. Successful candidate must live within reasonable driving distance and must have a clear command of the English language.

32. Final Thoughts Mobile Computing may just set us free from this!