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How wireless technologies influence our lives

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

It's long since we've been talking about wireless technologies through our

articles and with the passage of time we've seen how these technologies have

evolved. Today, these technologies have matured to such an extent that they've

ceased to remain just a product or a technology but are influencing our lives in

a big way. Our future no doubt lies in a wireless world and in this article

we'll see how wireless devices influence our official, personal and social

Lives, and the technologies behind all this.

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VoWLAN in enterprises



For today's enterprises, the biggest challenge is to contact the right

person at the right time through the right medium. This is of course is not the

core objective of wireless but a very important application nonetheless. The

most prominent technology that we have see in this arena is VoWLAN. The

technology is not rocket science or something that has just come out of research

labs but is essentially two technologies coupled with each other. 'Vo' stands

for Voice and WLAN for WiFi. This means voice over standard WiFi links.

Of course it's nothing new, but by transmitting voice over WiFi links we see

some intuitive products such as smart phones being devised that can be made to

work on different platforms. These devices allow you to access calls on your GSM/CDMA

cellular number, your landline number and your office EPABX number, from

anywhere in the world. So, you are spared the need to carry all these different

devices along with you. Smartphones very intelligently take care of the handover

amongst different networks and so, depending on your location, such devices can

route your call either over local LAN or WiFi or over the Internet connection

provided by your cellular network. So, for the person trying to contact, you are

always available no matter what medium he's trying to contact you over.

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Fring is a simple, freely

available tool that lets you call any GSM, VoWLAN or Messenger with your

Windows Mobile

WiMAX in enterprises



This is one wireless technology that's causing ripples throughout the world

and has a great potential. Just like most of the other new technologies, this

one's not been implemented in India yet but is in different stages of

implementation worldwide. The WiMAX standard, IEEE 802.16a, is an extension to

Wireless MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) Air Interface standard for MAN

(802.16). It has been created to operate in the high frequency range from 10 to

66 GHz, while 802.16a will operate in lower frequency range of 2 to 11 GHz. An

important feature of 802.16a is the absence of requirement for line of sight

transmission. This is possible because WiMAX directional antenna can transmit

signal to any cell phone tower even outside the line-of-sight range. These

signals can even penetrate tall buildings and trees. The 802.16a standard is

capable of transmitting signals across 50 km and has a maximum data transfer

rate of 70 Mbps for hundreds of users. Reliable transmission is achieved with

forward error correction (FEC) technique for security and it uses Triple-DES

encryption.

Imagine the impact of such a technology for large enterprises and even for

the government. This is the only technology right now that has the potential to

create a city wide hotspot. This means the whole city will have Internet access

wherever you go. Action has already started in the form of a few pilot tests

across India and soon we'll see our city completely Internet'ized.'

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Another great advantage of WiMAX for enterprises is that it covers a huge

area and so can act as a superb wireless medium for connection amongst multiple

branch offices in a single city. Even banks can benefit from it tremendously by

connecting their different channels spread across a city. Of course being a

wireless medium there are bound to be security concerns this is the reason why

it's still looked at with skepticism. Let's hope that with stronger security

mechanisms in place, we'll see more deployments based on WiMAX in future.

RFID in enterprises



We're no strangers to this technology that already has made such a huge

impact. Its applications are enormous for enterprises. And has been further

accentuated by its adoption and development by giants such as Microsoft.

Recently the company launched Biztalk RFID that allows users to incorporate RFID

into various applications and workflows. Microsoft has used a new software layer

approach that allows all kind of RFID devices, be it a current RFID device, a

previous generation device or next-generation sensors and Electronic Product

Code (EPC) readers to be incorporated, in a plug and play manner. From a

developer's point of view, such a unique event processing engine helps in

creating, deploying and managing end to end logical RFID processes that are

independent of device type and device communication protocols. The best part of

BizTalk RFID is that it can be integrated with the current line of business

applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Warehouse

Management Systems (WMS), etc. The best part is that for such an integration no

major modifications are required; it works automatically. You can read more

details on MS BizTalk RFID on pg 136 in our Extraedge section.

Saving tigers from poachers:

Radio telemetry can be used to track a tiger in the wild. Here, a collar

containing a radio transmitter is put around the wild cat's neck. Wildlife

officials armed with a receiver can easily keep track of the tiger's

movements
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Social Impact of Radio Telemetry and GIS



The battle between poachers and tigers has continued since ages. Technology

can help save the tiger in a big way, starting right from investigation to

prosecution. Data available at the Project Tiger Directorate indicates that out

of 173 deaths of tigers during 1999-2004, 83 were caused by poaching. You'll be

surprised to know that poachers use sophisticated communication devices such as

wireless sets, UHB Radio, and even Ham radio for tracking tigers. Tiger reserves

on the contrary are not equipped with adequate means of communication to counter

illegal activities. Radio telemetry can be used to track a lion or a tiger.

Here, a tiger is tranquilized and a collar containing a radio antenna is put

across his neck. A researcher armed with a receiver can easily track a tiger

with the aid of radio telemetry.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is another tool to track the movement

of various animals and birds such as Siberian cranes. The radio collars have a

small GPS attachment that can be programmed to switch on at specific times in

during a day. These GPS devices then search for the nearest satellites and once

a connection has been established, you can easily fix the location of the

animal. The unit switches off by itself and transmits data to handheld devices

which can be transferred on to a GIS. In India, WWF is using GPS to track

elephants in Assam by following elephant herds, or using secondary indicators of

elephant movement such as dung, footprints, etc using GPS. The data is

transferred on to a GIS that gives us information about critical corridors.

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Personal applications of WiFi



We can safely say that WiFi technologies have been successful in the

enterprise domain, but lately we have started observing their adoption in the

personal computing and home-office segment, also. It is because, while WiFi

still struggles to meet the bandwidth requirements of a typical enterprise, it

has to face no such limitations in a modern home. Let's face it square, today a

typical living room doesn't just have a single entertainment device, such as TV

or a music system. We have media centers, gaming devices, digital music players,

and probably a desktop PC. All of them sit in the same living room and need to

be connected to each other and also to the Internet. As we don't have homes with

structure cabling, so WiFi becomes the preferred choice for such setups. The

trend becomes evident when you see a TV with WiFi. This means that if you have a

bunch of video files on a PC, you can now directly stream it to your TV screen,

without even requiring a single piece of wire or any additional device.

Personal applications of Wireless USB



Wireless USB (WUSB) is an innovation of the USB Implementers Forum. It is a

standard, meant for short-range high-bandwidth connections for USB devices. WUSB

has been developed on the WiMedia Alliance's Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) common radio

platform. This platform is capable of sending data at speeds of 480 Mbps for

distances up to 3 meters and at 110 Mbit/s for distances up to 10 meters. It

operates in the range of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. The product for this is still not out

in the market, but we are actually waiting for them to reach us, as soon as

possible. Want to know, why? Imagine, I reach office with a 4 GB Wireless USB

disk. Now, without even a need of taking it out from my pocket, I can boot a

machine wirelessly, with all my personal applications and settings. And that's

not all, the possibilities are endless.

Personal applications of ZigBee



If you interested in low-powered, short-distance, and low-speed (just 250

Kbps) connections, think of the ubiquitous bee-the Motorola invention 'ZigBee'.

ZigBee also uses the 2.4 GHz free-to-use radio band and is suited to tasks where

other transceivers would quickly fizzle out. There will soon be a nest of

ZigBees that will form their own peer-to-peer 'meshes'. It is ideal to be used

with embedded applications that require low data transfer rates and are also

power-constrained. ZigBee promises a completely networked home where all devices

are able to communicate and be controlled by a single unit. Imagine a home with

different entertainment units, various security systems like fire and intrusion

protections, air-conditioners and other appliances that have embedded

applications supporting ZigBee and through a single unit all these devices could

be accessed and controlled. And as this device is going to consume low power, it

will have extended battery usage life. You can think of similar home-office

scenarios, as well.

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A car stereo integrated with

Bluetooth. You can directly stream music files from any Bluetooth mobile

device and enjoy your favorite music while driving

Personal applications of Bluetooth



Yes it's old. But that reaffirms the old adage, which says 'the old is

gold'. With the advent of Bluetooth, we first heard the concept of a PAN

(Personal Area Network). Now, the network has become more sophisticated and we

call it a HAN (Home Area Network). The applications based on Bluetooth standards

are gradually coming in the market, further boosting such networking concepts.

Now we have a car stereo system which comes integrated with Bluetooth, so that

you one can directly stream your music files stored in phones to the car stereo

system. Not only that, the car stereo gets mute when a call comes to the phone.

Using a mobile phone you can

control all electric equipment such as ACs, geysers, TVs, etc wirelessly

using Bluetooth
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But trust me this is not going to end up in the car stereos. We are seeing

software and infrastructures that can integrate all your digital lifestyle

systems over the Bluetooth to update your proximity and presence in an

intelligent system environment. Bluetooth being a small distance communication

channel gives the flexibility to devices kept in a room to sense that someone is

entering the room and the person can also be identified. All this can happen by

the Bluetooth connection of the person's phone. So, if you want to hide yourself

from your manager, you just have to keep your mobile's Bluetooth connectivity

off!

Coming back to the waiting area, once a visitor enters the waiting area of

your office you can greet him, simply by setting some messages, as soon as your

Bluetooth system detects his arrival. Or for that matter as your friend enters

your car, the car starts playing music of her choice. Start her favorite TV

channel, etc. Not only this, when a phone call comes to any mobile in the car,

the celebration goes to mute. Once the call is over, the device again tunes back

to normal.

No, this is not the future or science fiction. This is possible today and

that too at an affordable price. You can try out the SmartHome project from

LinuxMCE at http://linuxmce.com/ for more details about such devices and

applications. You can even buy such readymade products and solutions from a

company called IPTriplePlay. The name of the solution is Pluto. You can see a

nice flash video demo of such a smart home at  http://www.iptp.net/showflash_en.html.

These are only a few names but trust me there are a handful of vendors and

products in the market, and their tribe is growing fast.

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