Wireless & Mobile Applications

Most organisations have their PC's and networks wired together with the big drawback of portability. Even laptops can be bulky or awkward. New hardware devices designed as Smartphones, Pocket PC's* and Tablet PC's coupled with high speed mobile phone and wireless local area networks are going to allow us to sensibly work away from our desks, giving us the freedom to roam round the work place or take to the roads. Consumers will be able to order goods and services from their mobile phones and PDA's (personal digital assistants).

Buzzwords before you start:

• 802.11 - wireless standards for local area networks including 'WiFi'. There are a range of different standards from a to g depending on factors including the operating frequency.
• ACTIVE - see RFID.
• ADSL - asynchronous digital subscriber line or BROADBAND, asynchronous because downloading is faster than uploading.
• BLUETOOTH - short range wireless technology designed to link small electronic devices together as a personal area network (PAN) or to the Internet.
• BROADBAND - see ADSL.
• GPRS - general packet radio service, the up and coming phone service offers constant wireless connection to the mobile internet requiring purpose built web and WAP sites for small screens (see WAP).
• GSM - global system for mobile communications, the digital cellular system used in European mobile phones using radio frequency and working at the same speed as fax machines. The UK uses 900Mhz for analogue and 1800Mhz for digital. North America uses 900Mhz for analogue and 1900Mhz for digital.
• HF - high frequency at 13.56MHz - see RFID.
• HTTP - hypertext transfer protocol, used to access resources on the Internet.
• IP - internet protocol, used to pass packets of data bearing the source (IP) address of the sender and the destination (IP) address of the intended recipient.
• KBS - kilo bits per second.
• LH - low frequency at 134.2KHz - see RFID.
• MBS - mega bits per second.
• PAN - see BLUETOOTH.
• PASSIVE - see RFID.
• PDA - personal digital assistant or handheld computer, possibly doubling up as a mobile phone.
• RFID - radio frequency identification, a technology utilising low (LF), high (HF) or ultra-high (UHF) radio frequency to access tiny chips with transmitters which store read only or read and write data. By example, these chips can be incorporated into products, assets, security cards, tickets, documents or vehicles. Those used for documentation tend to be called SMART LABELS which are termed PASSIVE as they don't need an in built power supply, and those for larger objects are termed TRANSPONDERS which might be of the ACTIVE sort requiring a power supply.
• SIM - subscriber identity module, a tiny plastic card that slots into a mobile phone to give it its identity as well as acting as a store for personal data and phone numbers.
• SMS - short message service typically using a maximum of 160 characters that can be instantly sent and received on a mobile phone.
• TRANSPONDERS - see RFID.
• UHF - ultra high frequency, band for RFID to be decided in UK - see RFID.
• WAP - wireless application protocol. Enables a mobile phone, pager or PDA (see PDA) to access the Internet via a special gateway taking care of security and acting as a protocol convertor to handle conventional Internet resources (see HTTP).

Typical connection speeds:

• Conventional wired LAN (local area network) network 100mbs
• Wireless LAN 11mbs 802.11x 11mbs (@ 50 metres indoors or @ 100 metres outdoors)
• Modem 28-56kbs
• ADSL Internet connection 256kbs upload, 512kbs download
• GSM phones 9.6kbs
• GPRS phones (2.5G) 30-50kbs
• GPRS phones (3G) 2mbs
• Fax 9.6kbs

What you need:

• A wireless local area network (WLAN) and or mobile phone service (GPRS).
• If you’re going to work in different countries, make sure you buy a dual or tri band device.
• A solution by Wavepage with either a web or 'classic' Windows interface. The former are lightweight, offering the portability to broad reach across a range of different devices. Being web based, these don’t rely on installation on the end user's device. The latter offer a more powerful development environment, a better user interface, increased security and are quicker to build. It's probable that in house applications will be built using Windows forms and external applications using web forms. Wavepage can build solutions combining both interfaces so you can get the best of both worlds. For more information on web and Windows forms, see Web Services.
  

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Last Modified: 24 August 2010