Mobile Services

Course Overview, Motivations and

Introduction
F. Ricci

Contact Details

‡ Francesco Ricci
„ Room 212 (POS)
„ [email protected]
„ 0471 016971
‡ Availability Hours: Wed 15.00-18.00
„ by prior arrangement via e-mail
‡ Course web site
„ http://www.inf.unibz.it/~ricci/MS/index.html

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Course Structure

‡ Lectures: 24 hours
‡ Labs: 12 hours
‡ Timetable:
„ Lectures: Thu 8.30-10.30 - Room E412
„ Labs: Thu 14.00-15.00 – Room E431
‡ Assessment:
„ Final oral exam 40 % of mark
„ Project in small teams (max 3 students) 60 % of
mark

Objectives
‡ This course presents mobile applications and illustrates
how to build them exploiting various mobile
communication technologies
‡ We shall cover the economic-social motivations for
the development of Mobile Services – you will
understand the open opportunities for developing
such applications
‡ To provide practical knowledge required for
designing and building successful mobile applications
in the Java 2 Micro Edition platform
‡ There will be illustrated a number of examples and
general principles for the design and the development of
user friendly applications
‡ To illustrate some advanced characteristics of mobile
applications, such as location-based adaptation,
personalization, and ubiquitous computing.

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What you will learn
‡ How to build a Java application that runs on your mobile
phone and interacts with other applications (server)
‡ How to use the Java Wireless Toolkit
‡ Understand what is Mobile Commerce
‡ Have a broad spectrum of the various types of
applications that have been designed for wireless devices
and contexts
‡ Learn how your mobile phone can make and receive calls
or send and retrieve data
‡ Understand what is the meaning of a number of strange
acronyms: BTS, CDMA, CLDC, FDMA, GPS, GPRS, GSM,
IMEI, MAC, MIDP, MS, NSS, OTA, RFID, SDMA, TDMA,
UMTS, WAP, WML, XHTMLMP, …
‡ Understand how to build more useful mobile information
systems using personalization techniques
‡ Understand how your position on earth can be determined
‡ …

Syllabus

‡ Mobile Commerce and applications

‡ Wireless standards and technologies
‡ Ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence
‡ Context-aware and location-based services
‡ Personalization and recommendation in the
mobile context
‡ Application architectures for mobile services
‡ Java 2 Platform, Micro edition (J2ME)
‡ MIDlet development with the Wireless Toolkit
‡ Interface design and Usability guidelines for
mobile applications
‡ Mobile Services for the Tourism market

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Books and Material

‡ The two books that will be used are

‡ 1) For J2ME programming:
„ Sing Li and Jonathan Knudsen, Beginning J2ME, (3rd Ed.)
Apress, 2005.
„ We plan to cover the chapters 1-11: Introduction, User
interfaces, persistent storage (record store and files),
http connections, messaging (SMS)
‡ 2) For Wireless Technologies:
„ J. Schiller, Mobile Communications, Addison Wesley,
2003 (2. edition)
„ We plan to cover: wireless transmission, medium access
control and telecommunication systems (GSM, GPRS).
‡ Additional useful articles and tutorials will be also indicated
on the course web site.

Lectures and Labs

‡ In the lectures I will present the various topics

‡ I will try to mix the part of the course devoted to
the programming techniques and wireless
technologies with discussions on:
„ Applications
„ Market Trends
„ Gizmos
‡ In the lab you will practice J2ME programming
„ Solving programming exercises
„ Working on your projects
‡ The lab starts from the 2nd week!

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Exam

‡ The exam consists of two parts

„ Project in small teams (max 3 students) 60% of
mark
„ final oral exam 40% of mark
‡ You must pass both of them
‡ The final grade is obtained as
„ Final grade = 0.6 * Project_Grade + 0.4 *
Oral_Grade
‡ In the project you will design and develop a
useful application (e.g. consulting the bus
schedule from your mobile phone)
‡ The projects will be presented at the final
Lecture.

Introduction to Mobile
Services

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Base Transceiver Station

‡ Base Transceiver Station

(BTS) is the equipment
which facilitates the wireless
communication between
user equipments and the
network
‡ User equipment: mobile
phone, computer or device
with WiFi and WiMAX
connectivity
‡ The network can be that of
any of the wireless
communication technologies
like GSM, CDMA, WLL ,
WAN, WiFi, WiMAX.

FDD/FDMA - example GSM

FDD = Frequency division duplex
Both partners have to know the frequency in advance
The base station allocates the frequencies
f
downlink 960 MHz 124

935.2 MHz 1 200 kHz

20 MHz
915 MHz 124

uplink
1
890.2 MHz
t
full-duplex means that you use one frequency for talking
and a second, separate frequency for listening. Both people
on the call can talk at once.
CB radios are half-duplex devices – only one can talk

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Access methods SDMA/FDMA/TDMA

‡ SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access)

„ segment space into sectors, use directed antennas
„ cell structure
‡ FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)
„ assign a certain frequency to a transmission channel
between a sender and a receiver
„ permanent (e.g., radio broadcast), slow hopping (e.g.,
GSM), fast hopping (FHSS, Frequency Hopping Spread
Spectrum)
‡ TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
„ assign the fixed sending frequency to a transmission
channel between a sender and a receiver for a certain
amount of time.

Access method CDMA

‡ CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

„ The channel is not divided by time or
frequency but …
„ All terminals send on the same frequency
probably at the same time and can use the
whole bandwidth of the transmission channel
„ each sender has a unique random code, the
sender XORs the signal with this random code
„ the receiver can “tune” into this signal if it
knows the pseudo random code, and can
decode the signal.

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 Medium access control

‡ Medium access control comprises all mechanisms

that regulate user access to a medium using
SDM, TDM, FDM or CDM
‡ MAC is a sort of traffic regulation (as traffic lights
in road traffic)
‡ MAC belongs to layer 2 (OSI Model): data link
control layer
‡ The most important methods are TDM
‡ TDM is convenient because the systems stay
tuned on a given frequency and the us the
frequency only for a certain amount of time
(GSM)

GSM Architecture
CELL TRANSMITTER
& RECEIVER INTERFACE TO LAND
TELEPHONE NETWORKS

HIERARCHY
OF CELLS
DATA RATE: 9.6 Kbps

STOLEN, BROKEN
PHONE CELLPHONE LIST LIST OF
ROAMING
ENCRYPTION, VISITORS
AUTHENTICATION
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS
SIM: IN THIS AREA
IDENTIFIES A
SUBSCRIBER

SOURCE: UWC

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GPRS General Packet radio Service

‡ General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a mobile data

service available to users of GSM (2.5 G)
‡ GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of
transferred data
‡ GPRS can be utilized for services such as WAP access, SMS
and MMS, but also for Internet communication services
such as email and web access
‡ GPRS is packet-switched - multiple users share the same
transmission channel, only transmitting when they have
data to send
‡ Data transfer speed ranges between 9 to 171 kbit/s
(depends on slots and codec used).

WAP
‡ For the most part, in Europe at least, the mobile Internet
has used the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)
‡ WAP deliver content services as WML (Wireless Markup
Language)

http://www.provincia.bz.it/mobile

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Mobile Information Device Profile

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Smart labels (HF tags)

RFID

‡ RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology

enables identification from distance
‡ Unlike earlier bar-code technology it does not
require line of sight (LOS)
‡ RFID tags support a larger set of unique IDs than
bar codes
‡ RFID can incorporate additional data (e.g.,
manufacturer, product type)
‡ An RFID reader can detect many different tags
located in the same general area
‡ RFID tags can be manufactured now at low prices
– can compete with traditional technologies.

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Bluetooth

‡ Bluetooth is an industrial specification for

wireless personal area networks (PANs)
‡ Bluetooth provides a way to connect and
exchange information between devices such as
mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital
cameras (…) via a secure, globally unlicensed
short-range radio frequency
‡ Designed for low power consumption, with a
short range (power class dependent: 1 meter, 10
meters, 100 meters) based around low-cost
transceiver microchips in each device

Mobile Internet

‡ The mobile Internet is made up of a group of related

infrastructure, protocol and device technologies, allowing
the end-user to access various types of data services from
their mobile devices
‡ Services:
„ Web-style information content,
„ email services,
„ games
‡ Accessed using a range of devices from
„ limited, first-generation WAP (Wireless Application
Protocol) phones
„ today’s sophisticated PDAs and so-called smart phones
„ but also computers with wireless connection.

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Going mobile - a paradigm shift

‡ Every new generation of technology challenges our world

view and paradigms
‡ A paradigm shift occurred when people transitions from
listening to the radio to watching television programs
‡ Another example is when people went from using
standalone personal computers to accessing the Internet
‡ Mobility is causing yet another paradigm shift
„ mobile consumer and business applications are
flourishing
„ Mobile and wireless technology is being used in:
„ sale force automation, field force automation,
warehouse and stock management, asset management,
fleet management, customer relationship, mobile
wireless office, …

Mobile communication
‡ Two aspects of mobility:
„ user mobility: users communicate (wireless) “anytime,
anywhere, with anyone”
„ device portability: devices can be connected anytime,
anywhere to the network
‡ Wireless vs. mobile Examples
8 8 stationary computer
8 9 notebook in a hotel (tel. access)
9 8 wireless LANs in buildings (or WiMax)
9 9 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
‡ The demand for mobile communication creates the need for
integration of wireless networks into existing fixed
networks:
„ local area networks: standardization of IEEE 802.11,
ETSI (HIPERLAN)
„ Internet: Mobile IP extension of the internet protocol IP
„ wide area networks: e.g., internetworking of GSM and
ISDN

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Applications I
‡ Vehicles
„ transmission of news, road condition, weather,
music via DAB
„ personal communication using GSM
„ position via GPS
„ local ad-hoc network with vehicles close-by to
prevent accidents, guidance system, redundancy
„ vehicle data (e.g., from busses, high-speed trains)
can be transmitted in advance for maintenance
‡ Emergencies
„ early transmission of patient data to the hospital,
current status, first diagnosis
„ replacement of a fixed infrastructure in case of
earthquakes, hurricanes, fire etc.
„ crisis, war, ...

Typical application: road traffic

UMTS, WLAN, c
DAB, DVB, GSM, ho
ad
cdma2000, TETRA, ...

Personal Travel Assistant,

PDA, Laptop,
GSM, UMTS, WLAN,
Bluetooth, ...

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 Semantic Peer-to-Peer
GPS:
Position
Attention!
Communication Risk of aquaplaning
of Bike
100 meters ahead!!!
GPS:
Position of Car

Semantic Peer-to-Peer
Connection

Aquaplaning
Sensor

© W. Wahlster

Always Best Connected

UMTS, GSM LAN

DSL/ WLAN GSM/GPRS 53 kbit/s 115 kbit/s 100 Mbit/s,
3 Mbit/s Bluetooth 500 kbit/s WLAN
54 Mbit/s

UMTS
2 Mbit/s

GSM/EDGE 384 kbit/s,

DSL/WLAN 3 Mbit/s
UMTS, GSM
GSM 115 kbit/s,
384 kbit/s
WLAN 11 Mbit/s

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Applications II
‡ Traveling salesmen
„ direct access to customer files stored in a central
location
„ consistent databases for all agents
„ mobile office
‡ Replacement of fixed networks
„ remote sensors, e.g., weather, earth activities
„ flexibility for trade shows
„ LANs in historic buildings
‡ Entertainment, education, ...
„ outdoor Internet access
„ intelligent travel guide with up-to-date History
location dependent information Info

„ ad-hoc networks for

multi user games

Location dependent services

‡ Location aware services
„ what services, e.g., printer, fax, phone, server etc. exist
in the local environment
‡ Follow-on services
„ automatic call-forwarding, transmission of the actual
workspace to the current location
‡ Information services
„ „push“: e.g., current special offers in the supermarket
„ „pull“: e.g., where is the Black Forrest Cherry Cake?
‡ Support services
„ caches, intermediate results, state information etc.
„follow“ the mobile device through the fixed network
‡ Privacy
„ who should gain knowledge about the location

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Wireless services

‡ SMS: short message service (up to 160 characters)

between mobile phones on a cellular telephone network
‡ EMS: Enhanced Messaging Services, can also send tiny
pictures, simple animations, sounds, and formatted text
‡ MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service, delivers rich media,
including video and audio
‡ Micropayments: electronic payments for small-purchase
amounts. Not very used, now replaced by charging an SMS
requesting the service
‡ Location-Based services: use a localization mechanisms
(e.g. GPS) to support localization of products and services
‡ Voice-Support Services: exploit voice recognition and
synthesization in m-commerce applications, enabling the
user to interact with a computerized system.

Questions

‡ Make a list of mobile applications that come to your mind

and group them into different categories (see slide 25 for a
list of categories – to be extended)
‡ What is the goal of MAC (medium access control) and what
are the main approaches we have discussed?
‡ Imagine an application scenario for mobile services in a
train (list applications, their functions and the type of
devices that are needed)
‡ What is an ad-hoc network?
‡ Is WAP a failure? Why? Is there still a potential? Compare it
with J2ME.
‡ Is there any fully wireless technology? Make an example. Is
GSM fully wireless or not? Explain what communications are
wireless and what are not.

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