Seamless Mobility.

The present essay is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of ‘Seamless Mobility’ to those people who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics and wireless communications. In the interest of clearness, it appeared to me inevitable that I should repeat myself frequently, without paying the slightest attention to the elegance of the presentation. I adhered scrupulously to the precept that matters of elegance ought to be left to the tailor and to the cobbler. I make no pretence of having withheld from the reader difficulties which are inherent to the subject. On the other hand, I have purposely entreated the empirical physical foundations of the theory in a “step-motherly” fashion, so that readers unfamiliar with mobile telephony may not feel like the wanderer who was unable to see the forest for the trees.
-Snehasis Biswas.

Every new generation of technology challenges our worldview and paradigms. For example, a paradigm shift occurs when people moved from listening to radio to watching TV. Another example is when people went from using standalone PCs to accessing the Internet on them. It’s no surprise that mobility is causing yet another paradigm shift. However, it’s important to realize that there is a difference between “being mobile” and “going wireless”. Mobile computing relates to the ability to interact with the device from anywhere, whereas, wireless access defines the communications between computers or devices.

Though all of us are not too interested in the technologies that power our personal mobile devices, it is important to understand what will empower our devices in the future. It’s the only way to make educated guesses at what the future devices will be.

The main focus of advanced network services is in Japan and Korea. While most of the world is yet to see 3G devices, the Far East is buzzing with murmurs of 4G services. What lies in the near future for countries such as the US, the UK, and India is already old news in the east. While many enjoy streaming video services with advanced features and bandwidth of the Mbps variety, we in India are still languishing with WAP-enabled browsing and pathetically slow GPRS speeds. Will this change? Yes, we will get better services, but perhaps will never catch up with the crazy East.

Some technologies that have given us hope of the Utopian dream of ‘Seamless Mobility’.

WiMAX – Though far from being implemented in India. WiMAX does offer a chance of achieving a “connected” India. Since WiMAX is much superior to existing Wi-Fi technologies, and offer better speeds and an enhanced range, there is no doubting that it might be our only hope.

UMA – UMA stands for Unlicensed Mobile Access. No, it’s a phreaking technique, nothing illegal. UMA quite simply uses GSM and GPRS services over an unlicensed frequency spectrum such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. What this means is that using this technology, you could travel into an area without a standard GSM cell, and still stay connected to your network using the local ISP. Yes, you could actually switch over to a Wi-Fi Internet service provider as soon as you go out of range of your mobile service provider.

Some fantasies and possibilities of the mobile communications of the future:-

Real-time Communications – Merging content and communications means enhances business productivity and awesome social interaction. You initiate a Push to Video session with friends to discuss dinner plans that night. While they see a video of your talking, another friend pulls up the restaurant’s Web page and you each circle your favorite dishes – all of which everyone sees in real time.

Sensing and Control – Enough instructions already. Let’s give out “things” the means to talk, discover, monitor report and connect. As your plane lands on the runway, your name from the flight manifest is transmitted by the airline to your car rental company which finds the appropriate car for your specifications. By the time you arrive at the curb, your car is waiting with the trunk open and air conditioning on!

Session Continuity – We need universal accessibility of people, applications and network features so when we move out of one network’s range, our session is transparently linked to the next. You’re conducting a video conference on a multi-mode handset over EVDO, which delivers mobile broadband transmission speeds. When you arrive at your home office, the conference is automatically transferred to your WLAN. You choose if you want to move the video session to your digital TV of PC. Voila, it’s done!

Heterogeneous Networks – We don’t need to be the same. Seamless mobility means all types of content flowing across all types of networks. On the highway, your car communicates with other cars around it and the Department of Transportation to send and receive advance notice of traffic jams. No more excuses for being late to class.

Security – Growth of technology shouldn’t compromise our confidence in security. With seamless mobility, you’ll be able to go to a friend’s house, wave your phone by their set-top box and get access to your own premium movie channels by confidentially authenticating your identity and credit.

Manageability – Our devices and networks of the future will be one step ahead of us, sharing and managing information without us lifting a finger or saying a word. Next time your network router fails your system will automatically “self-heal” and you won’t even be aware that a potential problem occurred.

The futurists said that we’d have flying cars, a casino on the moon and robot boyfriends and girlfriends by now. But they are completely skipped over this whole seamless mobility, world-without-borders thing! Yes, the world is changing. It’s changing faster than you can even have a glimpse of the latest technology. Today’s inventions are outdone by tomorrows. Change is the byword in the field of phreakers. We as security experts of wireless communication can protect our own privacy. Come on, no one wants their private MMS’s streaming on raunchy web sites. (Coz everyone’s not Paris Hilton!!) The changes however are relative. Relative in the sense that you can come to terms with it and even outrun it but it will always catch up. If you didn’t get me, let me explain it this way. When you place your palm on the flame of a candle for one minute, it seems like an hour, but, sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems just like a minute. That’s relativity!

If you can imbibe in the change around you, I’ll say that you are ‘seamlessly mobile’!