Mobile service

Mobile IPv6 is the protocol defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to enable nodes to roam between IP subnets. Its specification requires the mobile node to be configured with at least a Home prefix to discover a home agent address, a home address and the cryptographic materials needed to protect mobile IPv6 signaling. In a real deployment perspective,

This paper presents a revision of the status of current standards dedicated to mobile services systems, using combined satellite and terrestrial components transmission. The objective is the analysis of a hybrid system compatible with DVB-SH and SDR technologies, taking as a basis the work and studies performed in MOVISAT project.

This paper presents the first version of a mobile service robot designed for older people. Six service application modules were developed with the key objective being successful interaction between the robot and the older people. A series of trials were conducted in an independent living facility at a retirement village, with the participation of 32 residents and 21 staff. In this paper, challenges of deploying the robot and lessons learned are discussed. Results show that the robot could successfully interact with people and gain their acceptance.

Customer retention (CR), loyalty (CL), and satisfaction (CS) are important (intermediate) goals for telecommunication network operators on their way to superior economic success in the liberalised German market. Therefore, drawing on a sample of 684 residential customers of digital cellular network operators in Germany this study tests hypotheses suggesting that CR, CL, and CS should be treated as differential constructs which are causally inter-linked. LISREL analyses support a two-staged model in which overall CS has a significant impact on CL which in turn influences a customer's intention to terminate/extend the contractual relationship with his mobile cellular network operator (=CR). Mobile service price and personal service benefit perceptions as well as (lack of) number portability between various cellular operators were identified as supply-related variables with the strongest effects on CR. Mobile network operators’ perceived customer care performance had no significant impact on CR. The findings suggest that an important lever for regulators to promote competition in cellular markets is the enforcement of efficient number portability procedures between mobile network operators.

Provision of wideband services up to the final user anywhere is a challenging task for terrestrial technologies unless the satellite is included as an essential system component. This objective is even more difficult to be met if at least a limited degree of user interactivity and mobility is required. Satellite multimedia applications will require wide bandwidths, high degree of flexibility on-board and intelligence at terminal level. The combined use of Ka band (20-30 GHz) and EHF (in the range 40-45 GHz) can extend interactive multimedia and personal services to ubiquitous and mobile users. This paper discusses the main interactive multimedia services and applications that may be provided via satellite. Particularly, it describes a new project, the “SECOMS project”, that is under way in the framework of a programme of the European Union. The paper provides some indications on the main SECOMS assumptions and requirements, and system design elements.

We have designed a stress management biofeedback mobile service for everyday use, aiding users to reflect on both positive and negative patterns in their behavior. To do so, we embarked on a complex multidisciplinary design journey, learning that: detrimental stress results from complex processes related to e.g. the subjective experience of being able to cope (or not) and can therefore not be measured and diagnosed solely as a bodily state. We learnt that it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to make a robust analysis of stress symptoms based on biosensors worn outside the laboratory environment they were designed for. We learnt that rather than trying to diagnose stress, it is better to mirror short-term stress reactions back to them, inviting their own interpretations and reflections. Finally, we identified several experiential qualities that such an interface should entail: ambiguity and openness to interpretation, interactive history of prior states, fluency and aliveness.

In this paper, we illustrate a Mobile Wireless Vehicular Environment Simulation (MoVES) framework for the parallel and distributed simulation of vehicular wireless ad hoc networks (VANETs). The proposed framework supports extensible, module-based and layered modeling, and scalable, accurate and efficient simulation of vehicular scenarios integrated with wireless communication and mobile services/applications. The vehicular layer includes models for vehicles, synthetic and trace-driven mobility, driver behavior, GPS-based street maps, intersection policies and traffic lights. The wireless communication layer currently includes models for physical propagation, and a network protocol stack including IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control, up to the Application layer. MoVES provides a platform for microscopic modeling and simulation-based analysis of wireless vehicular scenarios and communication-based services and applications, like Intelligent Transportation Systems, communication-based monitoring/control and info-mobility services. The framework includes design solutions for scalable, accurate and efficient parallel and distributed simulation of complex, vehicular communication scenarios executed over cost-effective, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) simulation architectures. Dynamic model partition and adaptation-based load balancing solutions have been designed by exploiting common assumptions and model characteristics, in a user-transparent way. Test-bed performance evaluation for realistic scenarios has shown the effectiveness of MoVES in terms of simulation efficiency, scalability, adaptation and simulation accuracy.

This paper analyzes how new mobile platforms change existing value networks in the mobile service industry and describes how mobile network operators (MNOs) can react to such changes to remain competitive. A state-of-the-art analysis takes stock of mobile platforms provided by, e.g., device manufacturers and Internet companies. The business model of and ecosystem around such platforms are examined. This includes application stores, which are often tied to a mobile platform and enable developers to distribute and monetize their applications. MNOs' efforts to open up towards 3rd parties by exposing network capabilities through APIs are examined. MNOs' joint efforts to decrease fragmentation of their platforms and application stores are analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis, several options for MNOs' potential role in a mobile service industry dominated by mobile platforms are discussed.