Mobil Computing using Mobil Phons - Essay Example

Mobil Computing using Mobil Phons Whil th growth of th PC nd Intrnt hs bn considrbl, th xplosion of mobil phons in two dcds hs bn littl short of stonishing. Bcus of this, mobil tchnology hs oftn contributd to visions of mor prsonlisd concptions of cybrspc, whr usrs will crry dt round with thm nd intrfc with othr ntworks vi smll dvic. Lik tlvisions, mobil phons r gnrlly much sir to us thn computrs: lthough th scrns of such phons r wors vn thn tlvision rsolutions, thy do hv th dvntg of built-in connctivity. Indd, if mobil tchnologis r usd mor xtnsivly to connct to th Intrnt, thy will lmost crtinly trnsform som of our prcptions of cybrspc. t prsnt, cybrspc (prticulrly th Wb) tnds to b concivd of in primrily visul trms, which do not trnsfr spcilly wll to smll mobil dvics dsignd for voic us. Yt txt-to-spch nd voic-rcognition tchnologis hv md hug improvmnts in rcnt yrs, nd it is incrsingly likly tht th wy w will connct to crtin prts of cybrspc in futur yrs will b through n udio intrfc. In prticulr, such intrfcs would mk it sir to us smll dvics for nvigtion-spking instructions rthr thn ttmpting to us smll kybord or trckbll (Townsnd, 2002). Whil mobil tchnologis my b sn s hving xtndd cybrspc pr s ovr th pst dcd in prticulr, crting communiction ntwork tht lis longsid nd prmts th Intrnt, combining th two hs gnrlly bn lss uspicious thn initilly nticiptd. WP (wirlss ppliction protocol) phons t th nd of th 1990s wr ovr-hypd nd undr-powrd: whil 3G srvics could suffr th sm lvl of dvrtising propgnd, thy do offr bttr potntil for conncting to th Intrnt, prticulrly s compnis such s BT hv bgun to instll wirlss 'hot spots' tht would offr high-spd ccss in public plcs to subscribrs (Cho, Chu Yn, 2001). In ddition, s th xprinc with i-mod (n ltrntiv connction to WP) dmonstrtd in Jpn, whn th xpcttions of mor limitd dmnds cn b mt, usrs r mor thn hppy to mploy mobil tchnologis for widr rng of communiction thn just voic mssgs. Sinc Intrnt hs bn xtndd to mobil phons, nw chnnl for th distribution of Intrnt srvic hs com into ply. Lightmn (2002:76) sid tht th bility of th mobil dvic to dlivr prsonlizd, loction-snsitiv contnt nd pplictions to usrs whn nd whr thy wnt thm will opn up th door to srvics tht wr prviously ithr impossibl or imprcticl. Th mobil phon is much mor prsonl dvic thn th PC. It invribly hs on usr; it trvls with tht usr; it inhbits th cr, hom, nd offic. It provids th typ of prsonl nd flxibl ccss to communiction nd Intrnt srvics tht th PC did to computtion nd pplictions. lthough, tody's 2G ntworks only hv limitd bility ginst scurity thrts; lon with th introduction of 3G ntwork nd vision (commonly rfrrd to 4G systms), Intrnt ccssing vi mobil phon ntworks is xpctd to b n ssntil sction of futur wirlss srvic. Whn spking of diffrnt stndrds of Mobil connction, it is ndd to Sy tht thy diffrntit ovr th continnts. Obviously, urop nd North mric hv diffrnt pths to wirlss locl ntworks, with North mric mbrcing 802.11x nd urop tilting towrds HiprLN2. This lvs th rst of th world to choos on of th two or (God forbid) com up with diffrnt stndrd. This mirrors th unfortunt stt of ffirs in cllulr phons, with urop (nd most of th rst of th world xcpt Jpn) using GSM ("Globl Systm for Mobil Communictions") whil North mric hs gon its own wy with nlog (MPS -- "dvncd Mobil Phon Srvic") nd digitl (CDM -- "Cod Division Multipl ccss"; TDM -- "Tim Division Multipl ccss") (Coopr, 2002). ctully, GSM is lso vilbl in th US nd Cnd but covrg is fr from univrsl. Intrst in GSM is bing drivn in prt out of intrst in world-wid comptibility nd in prt du to n dd-on/succssor to GSM clld GPRS ("Gnrl Pckt Rdio Srvic") which provids lwys-on, highr-bndwidth dt trnsmissions/Intrnt ccss. similr dt nhncmnt to CDM is known s "1xRTT" nd is just bginning to rch th mrkt in North mric. Th dt trnsmission srvic of nlog cllulr in North mric (CDPD -- "Cllulr Digitl Pckt Dt"), which nbls Intrnt ccss, hs bn vilbl for som tim nd njoys wid covrg in th US, but suffrs from slow trnsmission rt of 19.2 kbps (kilobits pr scond), suitbl for -mil but pinfully slow for Wb browsing (lndlin modms typiclly oprt t 56 kbps) (Churchill, 2002). It is vilbl for both hnd-hlds nd lptops through PC crds such s Novtl's Mrlin sris. Som mor xpnsiv PC crds, such s Sirr Wirlss' irCrd, us comprssion softwr to nhnc considrbly ccss spd. fstr ltrntiv in th US hs bn th Ricocht ntwork, which oprts t 128 kbps. Unfortuntly for subscribrs, th ntwork's prnt compny, Mtricom, wnt bnkrupt in ugust, 2001. Howvr, ri Ntworks purchsd th Ricocht ntwork nd hs nnouncd plns to rsum srvic in th US. Much of th nws in th mobil phon world for th pst svrl yrs hs cntrd round 3G, th third-gnrtion cllulr ntwork, combining high spd mobil ccss with Intrnt Protocol (IP)-bsd srvics, which proponnts hv hild s th futur of Intrnt ccss, with fst, rlibl, lwys-on connctions. nticiptd dt trnsfr rts rng from 144 kbps to 2 Mbps. It is bsd on rvisd vrsion of CDM clld Widbnd-CDM (with svrl diffrnt implmnttions in th works including CDM2000 nd 3GPP). Tlcommuniction compnis hv spnt billions of dollrs to purchs licnss to oprt 3G ntworks nd sinc thn hv invstd billions mor in dvloping th tchnology nd buying th hrdwr to build th ndd nw infrstructur. So fr, no 3G systms hv sn th light of dy, xcpt in xprimntl trils, nd it sms likly tht in 3G implmnttion North mric nd urop my gin go thir sprt wys. Onc thy rriv on th scn, 3G ntworks promis to dlivr brodbnd ccss through cll phons, llowing for pplictions such s vidoconfrncing nd multimdion-dmnd. Th rrivl of MPG-4, with its drmticlly nhncd comprssion codcs, will hlp considrbly in mking this rlity. This is likly to cclrt th dvlopmnt of so-clld convrgnc dvics, which combin th functions of cll phons, prsonl orgnizrs, hnd-hld computrs, nd vn vido plyrs. Smrtphons from Noki nd ricsson, th forthcoming "Stingr" phon lin from Microsoft, nd th rcntly nnouncd "Tro" Plm dvics from Hndspring r xmpls of this trnd (Cho, Chu Yn, 2001). Whil 3G is still vision witing to b fulfilld, it sms likly tht for most mobil ntwork usrs, wirlss LN solutions will provid th principl mns of Intrnt ccss. Wi-Fi is not likly to show up s n dd-on to cll phons du to xcssiv powr rquirmnts of PC crds. But crds r vilbl for both Plm dvics nd PocktPCs, th two dominnt hnd-hld pltforms. Mor pplictions r bing dvlopd tht nhnc Intrnt us on such dvics. vntGo, for xmpl, uss "stor nd forwrd" modl to sync up Wb-bsd contnt on hndhlds. Mny priodicls in vrity of lngugs r vilbl for (fr) subscription through vntGo. Blckbord, widly usd cours mngmnt systm, hs rcntly rlsd plug-in for Blckbord 5.5 which llows usrs to viw cours sit contnt on Plms nd PocktPCs through vntGo. Th Univrsity of South Dkot hs bn xprimnting with univrsl ownrship of Plm dvics for its frshmn clss, with lrning softwr spcificlly dsignd for hnd-hld us. st Crolin Univrsity hs bn using hnd-hlds nd vntGo in svrl humnitis clsss. St. Olf Collg (Minnsot) hs bn using Plm dvics with vntGo nd KingKnji softwr to hlp studnts with Jpns rding nd writing skills. Prticipnts found th dvics spcilly hlpful in prcticing strok ordr in writing. Givn pric rductions, color scrns, nd mrging high-spd wirlss Intrnt ccss (through Wi-Fi5 or HiprLN2), hnd-hld computrs sm poisd to bcom populr choics for Intrnt ccss. Such dvlopmnt my opn th door for dvlopmnt of nw multimdi lngug lrning pplictions, dsignd to run on mobil dvics ccssing th Intrnt from whrvr thy my b. In North mric, on othr wirlss Intrnt option is stllit connction, offrd by vndors such s Strbnd, DircPC, or rthlink. Stllit ccss is prticulrly ttrctiv in rs not srvd by cbl or DSL srvic, but hrdwr costs r considrbly highr thn for othr brodbnd srvics. Th U.S. Fdrl Communictions Commission (FCC) rcntly wrdd licnss to 11 stllit vndors to provid nw stllit tlcom srvics including high-spd Intrnt. Ths systms will b using stllits in gosttionry orbit brodcsting "spot bms" in th "K-bnd" of 20/30 GHz. Th promis is for fstr, mor ffordbl srvic throughout th US (bginning in 2002/2003). Vndors such s WildBlu r plnning to nbl sy shring of th stllit Intrnt connction with multipl usrs in hom, offic, or school (Krnik, 2002). Th willingnss of compnis to spnd hug mounts for 3G licncs indictd n infltd vlu of th significnc of 3G, yt this still rprsnts stp forwrd in mobil tchnology tht will b t lst s big s th cross-ovr from nlog to GSM systms. Cllulr phon systms r so nmd bcus n r is dividd into clls, ch contining on or mor trnscivrs: ths trnscivrs r not too powrful, nbling prcious frquncy rsourcs to b rusd, with mor powrful trnscivrs bing usd in mor sprsly popultd rs. Th first GSM ntworks oprtd t 9,000MHz, whil ltr 1,800MHz nd 1,900MHz usd diffrnt prts of th rdio spctrum to llow mor dt to b communictd. GSM ws originlly dsignd to b comptibl with ISDN, but ws nvr cpbl of chiving similr connction spds of 64Kbits/sc. Most GSM sts tody r cpbl of rciving nd trnsmitting dt t btwn 9.6Kbits/sc nd 14.4Kbits/sc. It is prtly th slownss of such connctions tht limitd th ovrhypd Wirlss ppliction Protocol (WP), srvic cpbl of browsing spcilly dsignd wb pgs ovr mobil phon. GSM hs provd rmrkbly robust, nd currnt improvmnts to th systm such s th Gnrl Pckt Rdio Srvic (GPRS) nd High Spd Circuit Switchd Dt (HSCSD), oftn rfrrd to s 2.5 gnrtion systms, promis mor rlibl connctions nd fstr spds. Full third-gnrtion (3G) systms offr thorticl mximum dt trnsfr of 2Mbits/sc, lthough this would b possibl only in optimum conditions; spds of 400Kbits/sc r still possibl, howvr, nd work hs lrdy bgun on 4G ntworks tht could provid connctions of 1 00Mbits/sc by th nd of th dcd. Whil dmnd for mobil phons hs brly slowd, howvr, this is not th sm s suggsting tht thr is prticulr hungr for 3G srvics. t prsnt, most mobil usrs sm contnt to rly on phons for voic dt, mking vn 400Kbit connctions (nd UK compnis' 22.4 billion invstmnt) rltivly unimportnt. Mobil phon usg in th Unitd Stts, urop, nd Jpn rmins quit diffrnt. In urop, th mobil phon is ubiquitous, nd usrs r lrdy dmnding mor nd mor fturs, lik txt mssging nd th bility to chrg othr purchss to thir mobil ccounts. In th Unitd Stts, mobil phons r populr, but with mny mor prsonl computrs nd th vilbility of unmtrd locl tlphon ccss, usrs r mor stisfid with th wirlin Intrnt. Jpn is still invnting its own modl for mobil Intrnt usg; howvr, it pprs to b dvloping long lins mor similr to urop thn th Unitd Stts. Givn ths bsic similritis, ctgorizing th dvlopmnt of 3G into two ctgoris is tmpting nd vn usful. In th Unitd Stts, mobil Intrnt us ugmnts th xisting Intrnt nd will probbly not b s populr s in urop until brodbnd ntworks r constructd tht offr mor distinct dvntg ovr th xisting lndlin Intrnt. In th uropn modl, limitd mobil Intrnt pplictions r lrdy populr bcus thy offr somthing not currntly vilbl, inxpnsiv dt trnsmission nd th bility to trnsct businss lctroniclly. Howvr, dividing th futur of th mobil Intrnt into two ctgoris dos not cptur ll of th diffrncs btwn countris nd culturs. In Finlnd, lndlin Intrnt ccss is inxpnsiv nd plntiful, yt inhbitnts r gr to us mobil Intrnt dvics s wll. In Jpn, wirlss Intrnt ccss is sn s wy of lping pst th Intrnt r nd into th g of mobil computing. Ultimtly, diffrnt countris will implmnt mobil Intrnt cpbilitis diffrntly to bst suit thir conomic nds nd culturl dsirs. Th dvlopmnt of Third Gnrtion mobil ntworks will impct th world in othr wys s wll, primrily by offring consumrs n ltrntiv to wirlin communictions. lrdy, digitl Scond Gnrtion ntworks r giving xisting wirlin crrirs run for thir mony. Dspit comptitiv trnds in th tlcommunictions mrkt nd continud fforts by ntionl rgultory bodis to furthr opn thir tlcommunictions mrkts, svnty-thr prcnt of ll countris r still srvd by monopoly locl srvic crrir. Mny of ths monopoly crrirs lso continu to b stt-ownd ntitis.Mobil srvics, howvr, r much mor comptitiv. Sixty-svn prcnt of th globl mobil mrkt is comptitiv; morovr, most mobil crrirs r privt ntitis. Mor importntly, s mobil srvics hv improvd in qulity, thy hv introducd form of comptition to th wirlin monopolis. With 3G, mobil ntworks will offr srvics fully qul, nd in som wys suprior, to wirlin ntworks. This hightnd lvl of comptition should hlp brk up xisting monopolis nd offr consumrs bttr qulity nd lowr prics. This ffct will b flt vn mor strongly in dvloping countris, whr wirlin ntworks my not vn xist nd prsonl computrs r fr too xpnsiv for most inhbitnts. Tody, customrs in dvloping countris compris only twnty-on prcnt of th world's mobil subscribrs, nd ovr hlf of thos subscribrs liv in Chin, Brzil, Kor, nd Turky. Whil mobil srvics continu to b too xpnsiv for most popl living in dvloping countris, ths srvics hv mor potntil to rs th disprity in tlcommunictions ccss thn do wirlin ntworks. Thy cn b dployd lss xpnsivly nd mor quickly thn wirlin ntworks, nd th fct tht mobil srvics r lss rgultd thn wirlin srvics in most dvloping countris mks forign invstmnt in thm mor ttrctiv. lthough 3G ntworks will not b dployd s quickly in ths countris, th continud xpnsion of mobil srvics t lst offrs hop tht th "digitl divid" cn b closd. Ultimtly, th bility of Third Gnrtion ntworks to ld to conomic growth, mor comptitiv mrkts, nd grtr worldwid ccss to informtion srvics will dpnd upon th ctions of rgultors. Th tlcommunictions mrkt rmins hvily rgultd, nd th ctions tkn by ths gncis will impct th dvlopmnt of th nxt gnrtion of srvics. Third Gnrtion systms will not offr much in th wy of innovtion nd comptition if thy mrly rinforc xisting oligopolis or dictt th tchnologis to b usd. Th Unitd Stts nd th Unitd Kingdom hv both usd uctions to wrd licnss for thir nxt gnrtion srvics, whil Finlnd nd Jpn continu to us comprtiv hrings. Non of ths hs workd prfctly, but thy offr chnc for chng. Bibliogrphy: 1. Cho, H. & Chu Yn., (2001). Smlss Support for Mobil Intrnt Protocol Bsd Cllulr nvironmnts. Wirlss Prsonl Communictions [Onlin], vol. 8, issu, 3, pp.133-153. vilbl: Kluwr Journls Onlin Wirlss Prsonl Communictions Dtbs [ccssd 12 Oct. 2004] 2. Krnik, W. (2002). Wirlss Usr Prspctivs in th Unitd Stts, Wirlss Prsonl Communictions [Onlin], vol. 22, issu, 2, pp.153-160. vilbl: Kluwr Journls Onlin Wirlss Prsonl Communictions Dtbs [ccssd 26 Oct. 2004] 3. Lightmn, . (2002) Brv nw unwird world: th digitl big bng nd th infinit intrnt. Nw York: John Wily & Sons, Inc. 4. Ojnpr, T. & Mononn, R. (2002) Scurity nd uthntiction in th Mobil World, Wirlss Prsonl Communictions [Onlin], vol. 22, issu, 2, pp.229-235. vilbl: Kluwr Journls Onlin Wirlss Prsonl Communictions Dtbs [ccssd 27 Oct. 2004] 5. M. Cstlls, (2002). Th Ris of th Ntwork Socity, Blckwll, Oxford, 2002. 6. B. Culfild, Wi-Fi gos to work, Businss 2.0, 2002. vilbl from http://www.businss2.com/rticls/mg/0,1640,40544,FF.html. 7. CC, urop nd th globl informtion socity: rcommndtions to th uropn Council, 1994. vilbl from http://www.mdicif.org/Dig--librry/Cdocs/rports/Bngmnn.htm. 8. CC, urop t th Forfront of th Globl Informtion Socity: Rolling ction Pln, COM(96) 607 Finl, 1996. 9. .F. Churchill, N (2002). Wkfild, Frming mobil collbortions nd mobil tchnologis, in: B. Brown, N. Grn, R. Hrpr (ds.), Mobil World: Socil nd Intrctionl spcts of th Mobil World, Springr, London, 2002. 10. G. Coopr, (2002). Th mutbl mobil: socil thory in th wirlss world, in: B. Brown, N. Grn, R. Hrpr (ds.), Wirlss World: Socil nd Intrctionl spcts of th Mobil g, Springr, London. 11. L. Hddon, Socil xclusion nd informtion nd communictions tchnologis, Nw Mdi nd Socity 2 (4) (2000) 387-406. 12. .M. Townsnd, (2002). Mobil communictions in th twnty-first cntury city, in: B. Brown, N. Grn, R. Hrpr (ds.), Wirlss World: Socil nd Intrctionl spcts of th Mobil g, Springr, London. Read More