How wireless technologies influence our lives

From short range wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and RFID to metropolitan area technologies such as WiMax and VoWLAN, there's not a single moment in life when we are not touched by these. What's more they're even protecting wild life. Let's explore the enchanting world of wireless

Friday, November 02, 2007

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.

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.

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.'

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

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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