5-1

Wireless Internet and m-Business

Introduction

• Wireless technology turns e-business into m-business, or mobile business

• Current applications– Conduct online transactions

– Make purchases

– Trade stocks

– Send e-mail

• Future applications– A wireless office, where computers, phones and other office

equipment are all networked without cables

Wireless Devices

• Wireless development– First-generation wireless technology was the cellular phone

– Second generation wireless technology, which includes digital cellular phones, is in use worldwide

– Third generation, or 3G technology will enable wireless devices to send and receive data as much as seven times faster than a standard 56K modem

• Wireless devices– Personal digital assistants (PDAs)

– Digital cellular phones

– Two-way pagers

Wireless Devices

• Outside the United States, mobile phones are the preferred medium for getting information and making e-business transactions

• Service is not universally available and still relatively expensive

• Limited bandwidth restricts the amount of data that can be sent over the wireless network

• Usually, wireless devices have significantly smaller memory capacity and less powerful processors than desktop computers

m-Business

• m-Business– e-Business using wireless devices with Internet access

– B2C marketplace• Increased conveniences for consumers

• Frequent, small transactions

• Receiving news, sports scores, e-mail, coupons and advertisements

– B2B marketplace• Salespeople can access product databases and place orders

• Address customer needs immediately

• Ordering and billing will be conducted remotely

m-Business

• Blackberry– BlackBerry Exchange Edition

– BlackBerry Internet Edition

m-Business

Blackberry Home Page. (Courtesy of Research in Motion Limited. The Blackberry and RIM families ofrelated marks, images and symbols are the exclusive property of, and trademarks of Research in MotionLimited, used by permission.)

TDMA and TDMA

FDMA

frequency

time

TDMA

frequency

time

4 users

Example:

Wireless Internet Access

• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) – Each transmission is assigned a specific channel, giving the

transmission the benefit of the entire bandwidth within that channel and reducing the possibility that a connection will be broken

– Able to assign each transmission on the network a unique code to ensure security

• Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) – Uses Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) which takes

multiple calls and assigns each call to a different time slot on the same radio frequency

Wireless Internet Access

• 3G technologies – EDGE

– Cdma2000

– W-CDMA

• International Telecommunications Union (ITU)– Establishes guidelines for 3G

Sprint PCS

• Sprint PCS– A nationwide network that offers an array of wireless solutions for

both business and personal applications

• The main technology driving the PCS network is CDMA

• UP.Browser – Sprint’s wireless Web browser

– Users can view Web sites designed for wireless Web browsers

• Wireless Web Connection Kit – Allows customers to use their PCS phones as modems to connect

their laptops to the Internet over the Sprint PCS network

• Wireless Web Updates

GoAmerica

• GoAmerica– Wireless Internet service provider

– Services include Internet access, Web browsing and e-mail capabilities for a variety of wireless devices, including PDAs and two-way pagers

• Go.Web – Wireless Web browser gives users access to e-mail and Web

– Compresses sites to reduce download time

• MyGo.Web – Allows users to access information specific to their needs

Wireless Web Technology

• Three technologies are used to provide Web access to wireless devices– Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

– Web clipping

– Microsoft’s Pocket Internet Explorer

Web Clipping

• Web clipping– Allows users to take relevant pieces of a Web site and

deliver it to a wireless device, eliminating excess content and graphics

– Palm devices use Web clipping

• Proxy server – Lies between client (such as a Web browser) and Web server– Query is received by a proxy server controlled by the

wireless ISP– Proxy server goes to the Web site and “clips” the necessary

data • The proxy server transmits the data back to your wireless

device• If the proxy server does not have the information, it passes the

request to the regular server

Personal Digital Assistants

• Palm VII wireless handheld computer• Query Application Builder (QAB)

– Web designers build Palm Query Applications (PQAs) to be installed on users’ Palm handheld computers

Personal Digital Assistants

Palm Web Clipping Applications Library. (Courtesy of Palm, Inc.)

Personal Digital Assistants

Palm VII Handheld. (Courtesy of Palm, Inc.)

WAP and WML

• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) – Developed by Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, etc.

– A set of communication protocols designed to enable different kinds of wireless devices to communicate and access the Internet

– Designed to standardize development across different wireless technologies worldwide

– Intended primarily for Internet-enabled digital phones, pagers and other handheld devices

– Uses Web sites specifically designed for wireless handheld devices that have small screens and low-bandwidth constraints

WAP and WML

• Wireless Markup Language (WML) – The scripting language used to create Web content to be

delivered to wireless handheld devices, based on XML

– Removes “unnecessary” content from Web pages

– WML tags are used to “mark up” a Web page to specify how the page should be formatted on a wireless device

– WML works with the WAP to deliver the content

– Similar to HTML, but it does not require input devices

• Microbrowsers– Designed with limited bandwidth and limited memory

requirements

– Access the Web via the wireless Internet

WAP and WML

• How wireless Internet works:– A WAP gateway, which acts as a proxy server, receives the

request, translates it and sends it to the appropriate Internet server

– Server responds by sending the requested WML document

– The WAP gateway parses this document's WML (i.e., it analyzes the WML document, checking it for correctness) and sends the proper text to the digital phone

• DeckA WML document

• Card– Consists of one user interaction, providing the WML

browser with a small, self-contained document for browsing

WAP and WML

Rendering a WML document using Nokia’s Browser. (© 2000 Nokia Mobile Phones.)

Software Appliances for Wireless Devices

• No widely accepted standard for wireless development

• Developers are often required to develop multiple applications

• Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer– Reformats complete Web pages as they are downloaded

from the Internet for display on the Pocket PC

– Allows Pocket PC users to access most of the content currently available on the Web and eliminates the need to tailor Web content for delivery to handheld devices

• PacketVideo– Specializes in wireless video technology for mobile devices

Software Appliances for Wireless Devices

Microsoft Pocket PC Devices. (Courtesy of Microsoft Corporation, Casio ComputerCo., Ltd., Compaq Corporation, Hewlett Packard and Symbol Technologies, Inc.)

Software Appliances for Wireless Devices

Microsoft’s Pocket Internet Explorer. (Courtesy of Microsoft Corporationand Compaq Corporation.)

Software Appliances for Wireless Devices

Demo of a video delivered to a wireless device using PacketVideo. (Courtesy of PacketVideo Corporation.)

Wireless Local Area Networks

• Easier to install and maintain without disrupting an office

• Computers can easily be moved without having to install a new network connection in each location

• Radio Frequency WLANs (RF WLANs)– Used to network devices at a distance

• Infrared and laser WLANs – Do not require FCC approval

– Do not have the same interference issues

– Can be used only for short distances

Wireless Local Area Networks

• Infrared technology– More cost efficient than laser technology

– Equipment has a longer lifespan

– Technology is less susceptible to weather

– Reliable and easy to install

– The system is portable

• Transceivers– Send the signal between buildings and are linked to the

network using fiber-optic cable (used with infrared technology)

Bluetooth

• Bluetooth– A wireless technology that provides short-range, high-speed

voice and data communication between digital devices

– Conceived by Ericsson in 1994

– Provides up to 1 Mbps (megabits per second) of data transfer capability between devices as much as 30 feet apart

– Can also be used to create wireless offices

• Bluetooth Special Interest Group– Initially comprising Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba and Nokia

– Developed an open specification for the technology and to encouraged cross-platform capabilities for the different wireless devices

Wireless Communications

• Wireless communications can be unreliable and slow, wireless-device bandwidth is about one fifth of the capabilities of a standard dial-up connection

• General packet radio services (GPRS) – Enables devices to transmit data at speeds of up to 114 kbps

• Universal mobile telecommunications standard (UMTS)– Will offer transfer speeds of up to 2 Mbps for wireless

devices

• Smart phones– Mobile phones that send and receive both voice and data

messages– Used to securely send and receive secure mobile transactions

Location Tracking

• Location tracking– Can be used for navigation, such as GPS (Global Positioning

System) devices installed in cars

– Can be used by shipping companies to track delivery trucks, giving customers more accurate tracking information and expected delivery time

– Can also be used for targeted marketing– Go2systems.com 

• NEAR magazine

Global Positioning System (GPS)

• Developed by the United States Department of Defense for military purposes, now used in commercial devices – Standard Positioning Service (SPS)

– Precise Positioning Service (PPS)

• Uses satellites to track a user’s position (vertical and horizontal), velocity and the time in their location

• Six circular orbits (four satellites per orbit), five ground stations and three antennas

• Triangulation– Three (of four) satellites are used to determine the latitude,

longitude and altitude of the receiver, the fourth satellite is used to check for errors in the triangulation

Future of Wireless Internet

• Decreasing cost and size of wireless phones and mobile devices

• Improving technology• Increasing number of devices made wireless• Increased venture capitalist interest in wireless

technology

Implications for Disabled People

• Navigational capabilities for people with visual disabilities– Communication between traffic signals and wireless device

• Text displays of verbal communication for people with hearing disabilities

• Close-captioned broadcasting to television and radio

• Patients with Alzheimer’s– Exact location, the location of the nearest police station and

contact information for family members

Ultimate Wireless Device

• Combination of all features of a mobile phone, PDA and two-way pager

• Camera for video telephony and photography• Make calls from anywhere in the world • Send and receive e-mail in real-time, without

having to dial into a service provider • Maintain your address book, schedules, to-do lists,

etc.• Built-in GPS System