Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Laboratory 

 Wireless communications and mobile computing are trillion dollar industries that increasingly affect all aspects of the organizational work program (e.g., operations, administration, and management). Those attempting to integrate these disciplines are faced with rapidly changing technologies, products, and services. To research these interests and provide our clients with a better understanding of the mobile and wireless domain, Noblis established the Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing Laboratory, which comprises both fixed and mobile facilities.

Purpose

Noblis established these resources to assess and demonstrate new wireless communications and mobile computing technologies, particularly for application to our client domains (e.g., public safety, transportation). Specifically, this laboratory is used to:

• Assess the performance of wireless technologies and services—fixed or mobile operations; licensed or unlicensed spectrum
• Evaluate the functionality and maturity of new mobile computing products, such as wearable computers
• Examine wireless communications interoperability
• Conduct concept prototyping to demonstrate feasibility and illustrate the potential of new technologies and/or services
• Support clients with their applications involving wireless communications and mobile computing
• Perform radio frequency (RF) propagation and network optimization analyses
  

Capabilities

The Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing Laboratory provides engineers with the resources to:

• Study emerging wireless technologies, such as ad-hoc meshed networking solutions, and WiMAX broadband wireless access (BWA) systems based on the evolving IEEE 802.16 standards
• Examine new wireless services, such as the newer third generation commercial mobile radio services (CMRS), including CDMA-based EVDO Rev-A and GSM-based HSPA
• Assess and verify the state-of-the-art in mobile computing and remote sensing products used in applications such as intelligent field data collection and autonomous environmental monitoring 
• Demonstrate integrated wireless communications and mobile computing solutions
• Model wireless coverage and system availability
  

Recent Research

• Establishing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) for Distributed and Autonomous Sensor Networks.  The goal of this project is to develop and implement innovative networked, sensor prototypes capable of responding autonomously to emerging situations.  The initial applications are focused on environmental monitoring (e.g., monitoring the ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay) and mobile radiological detection.  However, the value of this research will be to develop sensor and Web service capabilities applicable to other, larger environments.
• Developing a Mobile Nuclear Detection Network.  This effort involves the integration of commercial nuclear detection sensors into vehicular platforms that have live communication with a centralized facility.  Through a series of applied experiments, the vehicular prototypes will identify the presence of man-made radioactive materials from the roadway environment.  The primary objective is to assess the performance and utility of back-end communication and data processing systems (e.g., the mobile communications networks, a SOA designed to support autonomous detection, alert, and response, and advanced visualization) that could be used for state-of-the-art command and control operations.
• Building a wireless 802.11-based VoIP network with full authentication and authorization capabilities.  This effort is part of a grant activity for DHS OIC, which will help establish a public safety security framework based upon the person or the role of the first responder.
• Creating a test-bed to simulate a variety of video systems used in law enforcement, fire, and telemedicine.  As part of the DHS OIC grant activity, this test-bed will be used to assess the qualitative and quantitative performance of video within these systems.
• Developed a prototype to support full motion video for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications installed on operational Baltimore MTA Mobility Buses (i.e., Paratransit).  The prototype employs CDMA EVDO-RevA and can provide both live and archived video.  The video is sent directly to the MTA  operations/dispatch center, but can subsequently be multicast to field supervisors and transit police.
• Assessed the new mobile Internet technologies, which comprise mobile devices, wireless networks, and wireless application environments (e.g., WAP). This research was established to demonstrate and test the application of these technologies within the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) domain. In a collaborative effort with the Virginia Department of Transportation, 11 different concept prototypes were developed and used to support field maintenance operations at the Northern Virginia Smart Traffic Center (STC) in Arlington, Va.
• Designed, deployed, and field-tested the Broadband Wireless and Integrated Service Prototype—an unlicensed-band system that simultaneously provides voice, data, and video services. This prototype now supports joint operations between the NY State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the NY State Police (NYSP).
• Conducted various assessments to determine the performance and availability of the new 3G CMRS, including CDMA-based EVDO Rev-A, and GSM-based HSPA
  Conducted assessments of some of the new ad-hoc mesh networking technologies, which can be used for tactical command and control operations in remote/mobile environments, including disaster scenes, HAZMAT contamination scenes, terrorist incident scenes, and other first responder and task force situations. Two different networks were prototyped as part of this initiative—one based on proprietary equipment, the other using proprietary software but standardized IEEE 802.11 radio technologies.
• Conducted feasibility assessments to determine if and how mobile-IP can be used for roaming between different mobile networks—but not necessarily different locations. This study was used in the development of mobile command center operations.
• Mobile Command Center Operations: Tested various security mechanisms used to protect information on local- and wide-area wireless networks, and assessing the impact of these mechanisms on the performance of the networks.  Encryption mechanisms used over CMRS include, 3DES/IKE and AES/IKE on laptops, and 3DES/ECC on PDAs.  WEP, WPA and WPA2 were used to protect WLANs. A biometric authentication solution was also developed to support field user authentication and access to mobile gaming and visualization applications.

Recent Publications  

• “Test of Commercial Cellular Data Services for Transit Operations”, March 2008
• “Capital Wireless Integrated Network (CapWIN) Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) Proof-of-Concept”, June 2007
• “Vehicles as Mobile Sensing Platforms for Meteorological Observations”, June 2006
• “Effective Multi-Agency Emergency Response: The Un-tethered Officer”, March 2006
• “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the Evolution of IP-based Services within the ITS Domain”,  April 2005
• “Wireless Networking for Wildland Fire Incident Command Posts”, February 2005“Mobile Internet Technologies and their Application to Intelligent Transportation Systems”
  • “Phase I—Technology Assessment,” July 2002
  • “Phase II—Prototyping and Field Assessment,” November 2003
• “Commercial Mobile Radio Systems for Public Safety Data Applications,” October 2003
• “Commercial Mobile Radio Systems Applications in Public Transit,” February 2003
• “Broadband Wireless, Integrated Services and their Application to Intelligent Transportation Systems”
  • “Phase III—New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA), NYSDOT, and NYSP Operational Support,” July 2002
  • “Phase II—Concept Prototyping,” October 2001
  • “Phase I—Technology Assessment,” June 2000
  
  

Demonstration Capabilities

The lab facilities are able to utilize and demonstrate many different local- and wide-area wireless technologies and services, including the CMRS, standard and ad-hoc meshed WLANs, satellite, as well as the integration of these wireless solutions. Resources also include several new mobile computing technologies (e.g., smart phones, PDAs) that can be used with the lab’s wireless networks to demonstrate different mobile applications. The modeling and simulation tools can be used to demonstrate wireless coverage and system availability.

Current List of Equipment

The Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing Laboratory’s inventory of equipment, services, software, and tools is constantly changing to reflect new needs and current projects and research. The lab’s facilities are primarily comprised of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software products, and commercially available communications services. Current inventory includes:

Fixed Facility

• Marconi’s Decibel Planner—an RF propagation and wireless network modeling tool suite
• 802.11a and 802.11b/g and 802.11n WLAN, and 802.15 WPAN systems (Bluetooth)
• Mobile computing devices (e.g., PDAs and smart-phones)
• Various servers to support streaming media, mobile-IP, biometric authentication, DNS, Web services, instant messaging (IM), multimedia messaging service (MMS), session initiation protocol (SIP), etc.

Mobile Facility

• 2004 Ford E-450 cutaway, high cube body with four full height 19” equipment racks
• 48’ hydraulic mast with pan and tilt (for directional antennas)
• Mast mounted camera system and antenna array
• Multi-terminal audio/video monitoring and switching
• Broadband satellite (two-way data and TV)
• CMRS (EVDO-Rev0, EVDO-RevA, EDGE, HSPA) from various providers
• Various WLAN (802.11a,b/g, and n)
• Wireless ad-hoc networking—“Tactical Networking”
• Servers, development PCs, routers, switches, etc.
• Multimedia peripheral equipment/systems (e.g., PDA, environmental sensors, cameras)