Mobile Computing: Internet

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Increasing efficiency of wireless networks: New method could have broad impacts on mobile Internet and wireless industries

Nov. 13, 2012 — Two professors at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a new method that doubles the efficiency of wireless networks and could have a large impact on the mobile Internet and wireless industries.

Efficiency of wireless networks is key because there is a limited amount of spectrum to transmit voice, text and Internet services, such as streaming video and music. And when spectrum does become available it can fetch billions of dollars at auction.

The "spectrum crunch" is quickly being accelerated as customers convert from traditional cell phones to smartphones and tablets. For example, tablets generate 121 times more traffic than a traditional cell phone.

Without making networks more efficient, customers are likely to drop more calls, pay more money for service, endure slower data speed and not see an unlimited data plan again.

The UC Riverside findings were outlined in a paper titled "A method for broadband full-duplex MIMO radio" recently published online in the journal IEEE Signal Processing Letters. It was co-authored by Yingbo Hua and Ping Liang, who are both electrical engineering professors, and three of their graduate students: Yiming Ma, Ali Cagatay Cirik and Qian Gao.

Current radios for wireless communications are half-duplex, meaning signals are transmitted and received in two separate channels. Full duplex radios, which transmit signals at the same time in the same frequency band, can double the efficiency of the spectrum.

However, to make a full duplex radio, one must solve a problem: interference between the transmission and receiving functions. The technology of full duplex radio is not yet ready for the current 3G and 4G networks.

The interference caused by signals from cell towers could be billions times more powerful than the ones towers are trying to pick up from a user's smartphone. As a result, incoming signals would get drowned out.

The UC Riverside researchers have found a new solution called "time-domain transmit beamforming," which digitally creates a time-domain cancellation signal, couples it to the radio frequency frontend to allow the radio to hear much weaker incoming signals while transmitting strong outgoing signals at the same frequency and same time.

This new solution is indispensable for a full-duplex radio in general while it is complementary to other required solutions or components. The new solution not only has a sound theoretical proof, but also leads to a lower cost, faster and more accurate channel estimation for robust and effective cancellation.

"We believe the future applications of full duplex radios are huge, ranging from cell towers, backhaul networks and wireless regional area networks to billions handheld devices for data intensive application such as FaceTime," said Liang, who added that the researchers have had discussions with several major wireless telecommunication equipment companies.

Liang and Hua believe their research has commercial potential in part because most of the core components required are digital and therefore costly new components won't need to be added to existing infrastructure.

Liang and Hua also believe cell towers are one of the most likely places to start implementing full-duplex radios, in large part because they are less constrained by existing standards.

Liang and Hua also see applications in cognitive radio, a type of wireless communication in which a transceiver can detect which communication channels are in use and which are not, and move into vacant channels while avoiding occupied ones. While cellular frequency bands are overloaded, other bands, such as military, amateur radio and TV, are often underutilized.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Riverside. The original article was written by Sean Nealon.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Yingbo Hua, Ping Liang, Yiming Ma, Ali Cagatay Cirik, Qian Gao. A Method for Broadband Full-Duplex MIMO Radio. IEEE Signal Processing Letters, 2012; 19 (12): 793 DOI: 10.1109/LSP.2012.2221710

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

'Internet of Things' will transform our everyday life, experts say

Oct. 17, 2012 — The next ICT revolution will have a profound impact on our lives and the economy. Ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things are experiencing remarkable growth. The effects are becoming more and more apparent wherever you look: in housing, transport, health care, and retail, as well as the security and energy industries. VTT has developed key technologies for ubiquitous computing. These include situation awareness for portable devices, mixed and augmented reality, and interoperability solutions enabling devices made by different vendors to share information.

Information technology and electronics are becoming entwined with our everyday lives in industry, the service sector, transport, logistics, health care, housing, education, and our leisure time, almost without our noticing it..

The changes are already apparent to consumers in the energy sector, for example: remotely readable meters are rapidly becoming more common, enabling developments such as new pricing models that encourage the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The remote control of machines and devices is experiencing substantial growth and spreading to smaller and smaller appliances. Smart buildings use building automation to control their own functions to an ever greater extent, and remote health care applications are increasing apace with the aging of the population.

"VTT is developing uID (universal Identification) technology with our Japanese partner, the University of Tokyo," says VTT Research Professor Heikki Ailisto. "This technology enables the identification and tracking of individual products, components, and food products. With uID, information on origin, manufacture, and history can be attached in the digital world to the most commonplace items over their entire life cycle. A timber plank, for instance, can be tagged with information on which forest the timber was cut from, where it was sawn, how many times it has been painted, and with what paints."

"Three big waves can be identified in telecommunications in the past century or so. First, the telephone connected 500 million places. The mobile phone then connected 5 billion people. The Internet of Things will connect 50 billion devices, machines, and objects. Objects and packages that do not require an actual data connection can also be named and connected to background systems with the help of identifiers," says Ailisto.

Objects converse with each other, mobile phones identify our movements

Ubiquitous computing (ubi) and the Internet of Things (IoT) will revolutionise technology and business. VTT sees an opportunity in this revolution; an opportunity that it wants to grasp together with the industry and other actors. The goal is to create a technological operating environment and to build business on it.

VTT has been developing ubiquitous computing applications and basic technology in the OPENS (Open Smart Spaces) programme. The programme's achievements include the implementation of the interoperability platform Smart M3, which enables various appliances and objects in the home or office to "converse," understand each other, and share information. This interoperability platform, created for devices produced by different manufacturers for a variety of purposes, is based on so-called semantic technology, which defines a common "language" for devices and applications. The interoperability of devices promotes energy saving, comfort, and safety at home and at work. The solution was developed together by VTT, industrial partners, and universities in various national and European projects.

One way to make appliances and services feel "smart" for the user is to make them situationally aware. Situation and location awareness has already been put into practice in mobile communications devices and other appliances. VTT has brought a new dimension to awareness with the solutions it has developed to enable additional recognition of the user's activities -- is the user sitting, walking, or running? -- and his or her method of travel -- is the user travelling by train, bus, car, or bicycle? In this way the user can be offered the most appropriate services for the situation.

One example of interaction technology between man and machine is mixed and augmented reality, an area in which VTT has achieved globally significant results. Such applications include motion sensing input devices and 3D cameras for games and practical applications. Mixed and augmented reality as an interface for mobile phones, for example, is just breaking into the market and entering consumer consciousness.

The worth of business related to IoT technology and applications is rising by 30% each year, and by next year will reach EUR 300 billion. VTT is helping Finnish companies reap their share of this growth. Research in the field is continuing strongly, with a particular focus on the Internet of Things.