Device Technology

1. Device Technology Justin Champion Room C208 - Tel: 3273 www.staffs.ac.uk/personal/engineering_and_technology/jjc1

2. PCS – New Technology • Contents • Operators offering value added services • Changing use of mobile devices • Device Technology • Mobile Applications

3. PCS – New Technology • Operators recognised that data services could make them money • 02 worldwide got 17.3% of there income from data transfer (www.mmo2.com/docs/media/financial_performance_preliminary3.html, 2003) • Mostly from SMS usage, but this will change • E-commerce is the most likely reason for a change • Using a phone like a credit card • Possibly e-voting • (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3300425.stm, 2003) • Elections could be help more regularly if it was cheaper and easier to hold them • To increase this the devices will have to become more capable

4. PCS – New Technology • Changes will need to take place in • Displays • Processing • Operating Systems • Ability to receive data at the correct rate

5. PCS – New Technology • Displays • The ultimate aim is to provide the information in a clear manner with the minimum of battery usage • With the increased use of photo quality images a full palette of colours must be capable of being displayed • The resolution must be suitable for close proximity usage • Most devices will be held in the hand when being used • A number of technologies have emerged as potential solutions

6. PCS – New Technology • Displays Continued • Liquid Crystal Displays • Passive Matrix • Active Matrix Thin Film Transistor (TFT) • These displays are capable • Using low power • Displaying at least 64,000 colours • Refreshing at a rate for 15 frames a sec with MPEG • 25 is the standard frame rate • Future general public (In research use now) • ThinCRT • Light Emitting Polymers • Plastics which produce light when an electrical charge is put into them • Phillips should have released a version now! • Cambridge are carrying out research on this • (http://www.cdtltd.co.uk/, 2004)

7. PCS – New Technology • Device Capabilities • Technology is moving away from a device that contains all that it needs to work • Now the user has a base set of functionality anything additional can then be transferred into the device • This allows the customisation of the device with only that which is required. • The first step to this is to create an Operating System (OS) that supports add-ons. • Each device will only have the functionality that it requires and this can change over time • A potential “All in one device” PDA, Phone, Fax machine, games, web surfing, etc. • These are here now and will be demonstrated during this course

8. PCS – New Technology • Operating System • Modular design to allow faster development times • Each layer can only communicate with the layer next to it User J2ME Program C++ Program Java Virtual Machine Operating System Device Hardware

9. PCS – New Technology • Current Device OS’s • Symbian, (PSION) • Open source anyone can develop for them • At this time Symbian is the market leader with new 2.5/3G phones • Supported by Nokia and other major manufacturers • (http://www.canalys.com/pr/r2004011.htm, 2004) • Palm OS (PSION) • Windows Smartphone (Microsoft) • Windows Mobile 2003 (Microsoft) • Controlled developments by Microsoft • Other contenders for future consideration • Linux (Red Hat) • Openwave • Savaje • Future • Although devices are hoping to share a single transmission medium the development for these devices will be more problematic • There will be no single defining OS for devices

10. PCS – New Technology • Current Device OS’s • Developing application can take place in • C++ • Most manufacturers provide the SDK’s to allow this • Issues around the application working on more than one device though • Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) • All of the current OS’s support this language • In theory a program written once can run on all devices • Reality might be slightly different • Microsoft .NET • Only works on the Microsoft based devices • These are limited at the moment • A question could be • How long before someone develops a virus for a 3G phone ?

11. PCS – New Technology • Battery Life • The more the processor does and the better the graphics on the display the more battery power this takes • A fine line needs to be agreed between quality and battery • It is no use having 16 million colours if the battery lasts only a few hours • The increased functionality will mean an increase in processor & memory use • You can no longer put everything that you want to do in hardware, which is more power efficient • Early 3G experiments in Japan gave the devices a 1 hour battery life (http://www.iapplianceweb.com/story/OEG20021026S0017, 2003) • Battery size and weight • The physical size of battery can not change and neither can the weight as the user expects a certain size of device

12. PCS – New Technology • Current Battery Technology • All battery types work in the same way the only change is the metals used to produce the electrons • Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) • Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) • Suffers from a memory effect and is not widely used now • Lithium-ion battery (LiOn) • Future Batteries • Fuel Cell • Predicted for production in industrial mobile devices by early 2004 • Instead of recharging the fuel will be replaced in the device • The fuel could be either Methanol or Hydrogen • This method will work like a rechargeable cigarette lighter

13. PCS – New Technology • Other battery saving techniques • All of the OS’s have built into them that the device will turn off when not used except for the transmission of phone data. • Certain parts of the device are defined as not essential and will be switched off • Processors when not fully required will slow down the clock speed to reduce the power drain • As a part of 3G standards the device have built in power controllers for transmissions • This means that as you are closer to the base station the amount of power used for your transmissions will be reduced • The benefits of this technique are more than battery related as will be discussed in a future week • We have already looked at the improving situation with the display screens which take a lot of power

14. PCS – New Technology • Other battery saving techniques • ARM processors released in October 2003 • Have built into them “Intelligent Energy Manager” • This works out how much processor is required for a instruction and reduces the power to the processors accordingly

15. PCS – New Technology • Ability to receive data at the correct rate • This will be discussed in detail in future weeks

16. PCS – New Technology • Applications • With the increased computing power uses need to be developed • The communications with a device are referred to as Push/Pull • Push • Information is sent unsolicited to the user • This is starting now, with Orange sending out messages • Soon junk (SPAM) text messages will become popular • Pull • Information which you specially request

17. PCS – New Technology • Push Services • The same as email in reality but a little more personalised • A mobile device is aware of its current location • This is a requirement in the US with the Emergency (E-911) law • The emergency services need to know to within 50 metres the location of a device • Location based services • These services have a good use, they can also be used for commercial benefits • Services can be directed to you based on where you are • “Tell me where the nearest Chinese restaurant is?” • The phone then has the capability to show you a map of your current location and the destination • This is the logical upgrade to the Yellow Page services

18. PCS – New Technology • Location Based continued • As you walk past a shop the latest offers can be transferred into your phone. • This would rely on a profile being setup that tells the shop that you are interested in such items • Issues need considering like personal privacy • Do you want anyone to know where you are currently located • What else will be done with this information? • Becomes a issue of the data protection act • Does a phone number stored breach the Data Protection Act ? • They have nothing personal on you if the receiving company does not store personal details against this phone number

19. PCS – New Technology • Pull Services • These you would register for or you physically request at the time. • The previous example of the restaurant is a pull service • Football results service is a popular current service • Future usage • In the future companies are hoping that an increased video use will increase revenues • Football highlights sent directly to your phone

20. PCS – New Technology • Football highlights • This will become a issue when large numbers of people start to watch these video sequences • Consider if England won the world cup how many people would pay to see the actual goal ! • An Israeli company is working on a fix for this • The build up to the goal as in the 15 seconds before would be sent as vectors • You would see the details of the goal as though it is a computer game • Just before the actual goal the action would change to real video footage to show the goal and just after • This will save massive amounts of the data on the networks • New 3G devices all have full capability to render vector based graphics in real time with the minimum of the data transferred

21. PCS – New Technology • Application possibility • Any application available on a PC can be done a mobile device • The number of applications is limitless • As application become more demanding the capabilities of the devices will increase • Considerations always need to be given to • Battery life • Memory capacity • Usability with the current small screens • Input into the device

22. PCS – New Technology • Input new device • Tracks the movement of your fingers • Costs $100, plugs into any USB device • Requires a stable surface to work

23. PCS – New Technology • Summary • Why we need advanced devices • Available Devices • What they support • Operating Systems • Battery Saving Options • Ubiquitous Computing • Uses of the services • Push • Pull