New Technology JC/JCW/MC/NAS Version 5 Mar 2009Slide 1 Format of lecture The impact of 3G networks Introduction Current state Technology Applications Players

New Technology

Version 5 Mar 2009 Slide 1JC/JCW/MC/NAS

Format of lecture

The impact of 3G networksIntroductionCurrent state

TechnologyApplicationsPlayers

Summary

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Market Place

Two kinds of networking for majority of mobile devicesWide Area Network (WAN)

These are mobile phone technologiesGPRSUMTS

Personal Area Network (PAN)BluetoothInfraredProprietary technology

Local Area Network (LAN)Wi-Fi in some newer devices (thus Skype capable)

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Personal Area Networks (PAN)

These are networks which are designed to operate within a small distance

Usually within 10 metres of each other

The speed varies from 100 Kbps to 2 Mbps

These speeds are Kilobits per second NOT Kilobytes

This is more than enough to transfer in-game information like bot position changes

This is more of a consideration is you were intending to move multimedia data in real-time

Remember to treat quoted speeds with caution, they rarely achieve these speeds in reality

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Market Place

PANs operate in a license-free frequency band

Commonly referred to as the “Industrial Scientific and Medical” (ISM) band

Defined by the International Telecommunication union (ITU)

Any technology can use this frequency without gaining permission first

This frequency is available nearly globally and is free for non-commercial use

For common use for PANs the frequency is 2.4Ghz

There are other frequency bands available

Some of the problem is that all technologies use the same frequency giving interference

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WAN Phone Technology

This is available on a national basis

Allows for communications via the Internet to other devices

Communications sent via the Internet can be unreliable

Communications are expensive (depending on company)

Latency in these communications is difficult to predict

Security when connecting to the public internet is a concern

IPV6 may deal with this, as IP security (IPSEC) is mandatory with this

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Current Phone Technology

GSM phonesThe type that most people currently ownConnection speeds of 9.6 KbpsAlthough can be connected to the internet mostly these

devices are notDevices are intended for ‘voice’ communications with

limited data capabilities

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)New Generation devicesXDA II, N-Gage, Sony Erricson p910i , etc

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Current Phone Technology

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)New Generation devices

XDA II uses GPRS

Attached to the Internet to allow global communications

Maximum throughput 171 Kbps (in theory)Reality depends on a lot of factors but is usually about 30 Kbps

(http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/gurtov/papers/icc01.pdf, 2002)

3G Technology (UMTS)This is the latest technology phone technology

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3G Technology (UMTS)

This is the latest technology phone technology

Attached to the internet currently has the same issues as GPRS In the future each device should have it’s own IPv6 address and benefit from

this

Not widely available at the momentDoes not give complete coverage of the country

Maximum throughput which is advertised is 2MbpsReality at the moment is that maximum throughput offered is 384 Kbps

Actually use shows with the Vodafone 3G card throughput of 264 Kbps

(reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/networking/0,39023965,39152563,00.htm, 2004)

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3G

WCDMA or CDMA2000 instead of TDMAMulti-rate transmission – different speed for

different type of data -Better QoS3G is targeting the following data rate based

on micro-cells, macro-cells and pico-cellsMicro-cells - 144 kbits/sMacro-cells - 384 kbits/s Pico-cells -2048 kbits/s

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PANs

Most common technology for PANs at the moment is Bluetooth

Alternative is Infrared, but this is being used less frequentlyDue to communication problems

Inflexibility in the way that people play

Player would have to be a certain distance apart and the devices can not be moved

Standard states 1 Metre apart, but this can change

Sunlight will interfere with the communications as the sun naturally gives off Infrared

Only 2 devices can easily communicate (leads to a security difference)

Many older PDAs use this technology

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PANs - IR

Devices must be within the LOS to communicate

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Bluetooth

What is Bluetooth?

A radio based communication using the ISM bandMaximum distance of 10 Metres

Throughput of 721 Kbps

Operates at 2.4 GHz, which is available license free globally

Intended as a replacement for cables

Low Power Usage

Cheap to build and install

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Bluetooth

Allows Unicast and Multicast communications

Ability to be resistant to interference

Allows 7 simultaneous connections to a device1 master and 7 slavesMaster tells the slaves when they can transmitMaster also uses its clock to synchronise the communicating

slavesAll of the devices will form a Piconet

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Bluetooth - Unicast & Multicast

Unicast each piece of information is sent to each individual so 3 people 3 packets sent

Multicast each piece of information is sent to all devices who register an interest so 3 people 1 packet sent

Very useful for multiplayer games

Person 1

Person 2 Person 3 Person 4

Person 1

Person 2 Person 3 Person 4

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Bluetooth

Less susceptible to interference due to the frequency hopping nature of transmissions

The device will transmit on a frequency for a short time and then change to a new frequency

These changes take place at the rate of 1600 hops a second

Fre

quen

cy

Time

PacketPacket

Packet

Packet

Packet

Packet

Packet

Packet

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Bluetooth

Bluetooth – Interference Due to the frequency changing regularly any interference

only affects a small part of the data This small part is then sent again

This feature of Bluetooth Will effect other technologies in the vicinity that are not using

frequency hopping

Time

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Bluetooth

Bluetooth States Master

The node which initialise the communications The master node has complete control over the other nodes within the

PicoNet

Slave A node which is part of the Piconet and receives instructions from the

Master

Parked Device which agrees to change to a low power state. Master will reactivate this node when required

Standby Can receive signals from the master, but is not part of the Piconet

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Bluetooth

Bluetooth Communicating A slave device can only communicate when informed by a

master The master will send a unique signal each slave This then allows the slave to communicate A slave can not communicate with another slave

It must be forwarded by the master

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Bluetooth in the Future

Bluetooth although a good technology has never really reached its potential

The American market is an area where Bluetooth has not succeeded

The original developer of Bluetooth Erricson has dropped the technology

They cited “that it doesn’t believe it is commercially viable to develop the technology further ” (www.twuf.org/sponsor_news.asp#61, 2004)

Other technologies are emerging building on what Bluetooth offered

Near Field Communications (NFC) - www.nfc-forum.org – 424 Kbps

ZigBee - www.zigbee.org – 250 Kbps

802.15.3a - www.ieee802.org/15/pub/TG3.html - 480 Mbps !!!!!!!

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New Devices - Example The Nintendo DS device uses IEEE 802.11

wireless standard based on Ethernet frames

In the past 802.11 was not used due to the power requirements

These have now been resolved, but they are still greater than other technologies

Transfer rate of either 1 or 2 Mbps

Allowing 16 players at any time to play with a maximum of 10m between players

With the use of a hub attached will allow players to communicate across the Internet

If developers support this function only 1 game cartridge is required per group of networked players

The game before beginning will be transferred to all members of that game

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Comparison

(www.zigbee.org/about/faqs/index.asp, 2004)

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Future communications

Fourth generation GSM (4G)Data rate 10Mbps or moreEntirely packet switched networksPicocellVoice and data in packet

Documents

New Technology JC/JCW/MC/NAS Version 5 Mar 2009Slide 1 Format of lecture The impact of 3G networks Introduction Current state Technology Applications Players