Computer Communication Systems - Projects - 2000

Mobile Computer Communication

• The "VLSI" price curve - due to increasing using of VLSI fabrication techniques as well as moving to digital electronics
• Consumer communications equipment: CB radios, cordless telephone, cellular telephones, ...
• User expectations due to the above items, and
• Economic and political changes with respect to wireless communication.

Traditionally users have had to treat specturm as an extremely valuable resource and mobile communications devices were expensive devices which were only used by very special customers. This has all changed:

• Microcells and picocells combined with high speed backbone technology has changed the economics - so that specturm is often not the limiting factor;
• Volume manufacturing of consumer communication devices has changed the pricing and avaialbility of mobile communication devices; and
• The base of users has broadened to closer to the "average person", (with more than 50% of the population of Sweden having cellular phones).

While the base technology is rapidly developing most wide area service is still only 10s of kilobits per second and local area service is only 100s to 1000s of kilobits per second. In conjuction with researchers in Radio Systems, Electronic System Construction, etc. we are attempting to find the architecture and protocols necessary to support future mobile computing and communication systems.

• Personal Computing and Communication (PCC) project.
• Secondary advisor and co-track leader for PCC Track 2: Wireless Infrastructure (4GW)
  • WP3 - Wireless Network planning & economy
• Advisor or secondar advisor in Track 3: Services and User Behavior with specific responsibility for students working on
  • WP1 Functionality and design of mobile terminal artefacts
• Location Aware Computing - as part of this work we are working on a new Smart Badge which looks like (PDF). Note that the badge is just slighty larger than a PC Card (aka PCMCIA) - as it has a slot for a PC CARD and needs some additional space so that other sensors and the IrDA interface can be visible. This device is to be used in the Mobile Personal Communications module of the Telecommunications "finger" course (during Spring 1998, period 4) and in a graduate courses in mobile computing and communication 2G5541 Location/Context Aware Personal Communication.
• There are additional projects which the lab is involved in which are funded outside of KTH (directly by industry) - see the individual students and their projects.