01-12-2012, 02:08 PM
GPRS and 3G Wireless Applications
[attachment=42069]
Introduction
The mobile Internet— the marriage between today’s Internet and the increasing urge for mobility— is about to take off.
Independent sources all estimate incomprehensible markets for these new services and applications. With the mobile
Internet, there is a screaming need for applications (in other words, things to do with the new technologies). In other
words, we dearly need the software developer and Internet communities in order to use their expertise for developing
software and content. These developers know about programming and Web design but do not know much about the
wireless technologies of today and of the future. This book provides a broad guide to the networks, devices, and other
items that surround the applications (such as positioning, security, and how to deploy applications in the field).
This book is primarily intended for those who know about software development and who want to do it for wireless
networks and devices, but this book should also appeal to anyone who is interested in these new and exciting topics.
Although some chapters assume knowledge about development, you can read most of them as a technician’s guide to
wireless technologies.
The telecommunications industry has traditionally been a walled garden where no one but the insiders knows much about
the technology.
Overview of This Book and the Technology
When you are trying to make things work with a new technology, you need to combine many forces. Infrastructure and
handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, and so on and the wireless operators Vodaphone/Airtouch,
Sonera, and AT&T have set the groundwork for the mobile Internet. They are all committed to deploying General Packet
Radio Services (GPRS) and third-generation (3G) networks. Now, these players feel confident that their parts of this new
market (technologies such as WAP, Bluetooth, GPRS, and 3G) will be in place and that it will all work. This situation
raises a need to mobilize other players to contribute: the applications (mail, games, chat, Java applets, and so on) and
content developers (Web, the Wireless Access Protocol or WAP, and so on). These players are dying to move into this
space, and there is a need to gain the knowledge about these wireless technologies and how it affects their products.
Today, we see too many developers ignoring these properties, failing to make the applications tolerant to scenarios of
going through tunnels and being in areas of weak signal strengths. Every developer who creates applications (WAP or
others) for GPRS and 3G wireless systems needs a handbook that clearly illustrates how you can overcome difficulties
and leverage the new possibilities of the mobile Internet.
Keeping Things Objective
My focus when talking to developers is first and foremost to explain what the standard in question says and how they
should interpret it. When starting this book, I had the clear objective to keep this view as far-reaching as possible, but
sometimes this challenge proved difficult.
The information in this book is very hard to collect for an outsider, and reading the standards will only get you so far.
Things such as how implementation issues are commonly solved and what the consumer experience will be regarding
technologies that are not on the market are almost impossible for the common man to find out. Because most of my
experiences have come from working for Ericsson, it is inevitable that I have researched some topics by using Ericsson
material (with loss of objectivity as a result). I also have to grab the opportunity to thank the senior management of
Ericsson for letting me share things that are normally not spread outside a limited audience. I am certain that the
developer community will find this information helpful.
In those cases where a standard is not finalized, such as positioning, I try to emphasize that we are describing a
proprietary solution. I chose to include this information because these things are so important to developers, and the
upcoming standard will resemble the existing software development kits (SDKs). My general philosophy is that every
developer should adhere to the standard if there is one, such as with WAP. When there is no standard ready and
migrating from a proprietary solution provides a first-mover advantage, it might be wise to get things going as quickly as
possible. Once the standard is available, it is vital for the entire developer community to strive toward using common
methods. When designing the application, the developer will find this goal fairly easy because he or she can isolate the
API communication and change it easily.
Who Should Read This Book?
The primary audience of this book is the developer community and those who will create the future applications of the
mobile Internet. This book is ideal for those who know a bit about software/Web development and who want to get into
the wireless field. The book is technical in nature, and those who have a technical background are likely to benefit the
most while others can gain a brief overview of the technologies that are involved. This target group benefits from reading
the book from start to finish, because it builds the solid wireless competence that is necessary in order to be successful.
Students who want to gain a solid overview of the main driving technologies of the mobile Internet can read those
chapters that are appropriate and get a good starting point for further studies. Most likely, the knowledge in this book will
be a fundamental part of many software developer and data communications programs at universities.
After having people from the telecommunications industry proofread the content of this book, I found that all of the
involved experts have found the book useful. Those who know all about positioning rarely know everything about
Bluetooth and all of the other areas that we describe. Wireless experts can probably browse through the first part and hit
Part Two and Part Three fairly quickly.
What Is on the Web Site and CD-ROM?
The Web site www.wirelessdevnetGPRSand3Gapps contains links to the sites mentioned below and to the latest
versions of the tools on the CD-ROM. In addition, there are many tools and SDKs that either had licensing issues
attached to them or simply were not available at the time of printing.
The CD-ROM contains a number of useful tools that will get you started. The WAP development kits enable you to
quickly get started with developing WAP applications and also contain valuable guides and advice. To complement those
features, there are a number of emulators of current mobile devices that are useful for testing the application.
Due to the current state of standardization, the attached Java SDKs are likely to be replaced by updated versions by the
time you read this book. The SDKs are still useful and show a bit of what the future will look like. The 3GPP standards
(at www.3gpp.org) can be a bit difficult to read for beginners, although they are freely available on the Web. The page
www.3gpp3G_Specs/3G_Specs.htm explains the structure and links to the relevant document databases. On the File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) site, there are directories for the different workgroups and the specifications are grouped by
Releases (e.g., ftp:// ftp.3gppSpecs/2000 -12/). The status file (e.g., ftp://ftp.3gppSpecs/2000-12/status_2000-
12.zip) contains the document numbers for the standards, and you can use it to locate the correct documents on the FTP
site.
Basic Concepts
For those who enter the world of the mobile Internet for the first time, coming fresh into the business or having some
previous experience from the Internet or computer software worlds, it might appear to be a very strange place. The
terminology is a mixture of legacies from times that are as distant as the early days of telephony and early twenty-first
century wireless nomenclature. The ultimate wireless application developer does not have to master every part of the
mobile system and its history, but some basic knowledge is required in order to understand the market, the technology,
and most of all the people. Many of the mobile operators that you will encounter as you take your upcoming successes to
the market will be deeply rooted in the history of mobile/cellular systems, and you must understand their thinking. This
chapter will briefly describe the basics of the technologies that are involved and that are needed to understand the
following descriptions. In addition, we will go through some of the concepts that we will use and try to define concepts
such as applications and services.
[attachment=42069]
Introduction
The mobile Internet— the marriage between today’s Internet and the increasing urge for mobility— is about to take off.
Independent sources all estimate incomprehensible markets for these new services and applications. With the mobile
Internet, there is a screaming need for applications (in other words, things to do with the new technologies). In other
words, we dearly need the software developer and Internet communities in order to use their expertise for developing
software and content. These developers know about programming and Web design but do not know much about the
wireless technologies of today and of the future. This book provides a broad guide to the networks, devices, and other
items that surround the applications (such as positioning, security, and how to deploy applications in the field).
This book is primarily intended for those who know about software development and who want to do it for wireless
networks and devices, but this book should also appeal to anyone who is interested in these new and exciting topics.
Although some chapters assume knowledge about development, you can read most of them as a technician’s guide to
wireless technologies.
The telecommunications industry has traditionally been a walled garden where no one but the insiders knows much about
the technology.
Overview of This Book and the Technology
When you are trying to make things work with a new technology, you need to combine many forces. Infrastructure and
handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, and so on and the wireless operators Vodaphone/Airtouch,
Sonera, and AT&T have set the groundwork for the mobile Internet. They are all committed to deploying General Packet
Radio Services (GPRS) and third-generation (3G) networks. Now, these players feel confident that their parts of this new
market (technologies such as WAP, Bluetooth, GPRS, and 3G) will be in place and that it will all work. This situation
raises a need to mobilize other players to contribute: the applications (mail, games, chat, Java applets, and so on) and
content developers (Web, the Wireless Access Protocol or WAP, and so on). These players are dying to move into this
space, and there is a need to gain the knowledge about these wireless technologies and how it affects their products.
Today, we see too many developers ignoring these properties, failing to make the applications tolerant to scenarios of
going through tunnels and being in areas of weak signal strengths. Every developer who creates applications (WAP or
others) for GPRS and 3G wireless systems needs a handbook that clearly illustrates how you can overcome difficulties
and leverage the new possibilities of the mobile Internet.
Keeping Things Objective
My focus when talking to developers is first and foremost to explain what the standard in question says and how they
should interpret it. When starting this book, I had the clear objective to keep this view as far-reaching as possible, but
sometimes this challenge proved difficult.
The information in this book is very hard to collect for an outsider, and reading the standards will only get you so far.
Things such as how implementation issues are commonly solved and what the consumer experience will be regarding
technologies that are not on the market are almost impossible for the common man to find out. Because most of my
experiences have come from working for Ericsson, it is inevitable that I have researched some topics by using Ericsson
material (with loss of objectivity as a result). I also have to grab the opportunity to thank the senior management of
Ericsson for letting me share things that are normally not spread outside a limited audience. I am certain that the
developer community will find this information helpful.
In those cases where a standard is not finalized, such as positioning, I try to emphasize that we are describing a
proprietary solution. I chose to include this information because these things are so important to developers, and the
upcoming standard will resemble the existing software development kits (SDKs). My general philosophy is that every
developer should adhere to the standard if there is one, such as with WAP. When there is no standard ready and
migrating from a proprietary solution provides a first-mover advantage, it might be wise to get things going as quickly as
possible. Once the standard is available, it is vital for the entire developer community to strive toward using common
methods. When designing the application, the developer will find this goal fairly easy because he or she can isolate the
API communication and change it easily.
Who Should Read This Book?
The primary audience of this book is the developer community and those who will create the future applications of the
mobile Internet. This book is ideal for those who know a bit about software/Web development and who want to get into
the wireless field. The book is technical in nature, and those who have a technical background are likely to benefit the
most while others can gain a brief overview of the technologies that are involved. This target group benefits from reading
the book from start to finish, because it builds the solid wireless competence that is necessary in order to be successful.
Students who want to gain a solid overview of the main driving technologies of the mobile Internet can read those
chapters that are appropriate and get a good starting point for further studies. Most likely, the knowledge in this book will
be a fundamental part of many software developer and data communications programs at universities.
After having people from the telecommunications industry proofread the content of this book, I found that all of the
involved experts have found the book useful. Those who know all about positioning rarely know everything about
Bluetooth and all of the other areas that we describe. Wireless experts can probably browse through the first part and hit
Part Two and Part Three fairly quickly.
What Is on the Web Site and CD-ROM?
The Web site www.wirelessdevnetGPRSand3Gapps contains links to the sites mentioned below and to the latest
versions of the tools on the CD-ROM. In addition, there are many tools and SDKs that either had licensing issues
attached to them or simply were not available at the time of printing.
The CD-ROM contains a number of useful tools that will get you started. The WAP development kits enable you to
quickly get started with developing WAP applications and also contain valuable guides and advice. To complement those
features, there are a number of emulators of current mobile devices that are useful for testing the application.
Due to the current state of standardization, the attached Java SDKs are likely to be replaced by updated versions by the
time you read this book. The SDKs are still useful and show a bit of what the future will look like. The 3GPP standards
(at www.3gpp.org) can be a bit difficult to read for beginners, although they are freely available on the Web. The page
www.3gpp3G_Specs/3G_Specs.htm explains the structure and links to the relevant document databases. On the File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) site, there are directories for the different workgroups and the specifications are grouped by
Releases (e.g., ftp:// ftp.3gppSpecs/2000 -12/). The status file (e.g., ftp://ftp.3gppSpecs/2000-12/status_2000-
12.zip) contains the document numbers for the standards, and you can use it to locate the correct documents on the FTP
site.
Basic Concepts
For those who enter the world of the mobile Internet for the first time, coming fresh into the business or having some
previous experience from the Internet or computer software worlds, it might appear to be a very strange place. The
terminology is a mixture of legacies from times that are as distant as the early days of telephony and early twenty-first
century wireless nomenclature. The ultimate wireless application developer does not have to master every part of the
mobile system and its history, but some basic knowledge is required in order to understand the market, the technology,
and most of all the people. Many of the mobile operators that you will encounter as you take your upcoming successes to
the market will be deeply rooted in the history of mobile/cellular systems, and you must understand their thinking. This
chapter will briefly describe the basics of the technologies that are involved and that are needed to understand the
following descriptions. In addition, we will go through some of the concepts that we will use and try to define concepts
such as applications and services.