University of South AustraliaUniversity of South Australia

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Explorations in Telecommunications: Seeking New Frontiers

by

Professor Michael MillerProfessor Emeritus, University of South Australia

Encounter 2002 Lecture Series

Hawke Centre, University of South Australia

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Encounter 2002Encounter 2002

•1802 - Baudin had no means of knowing that Flinders was in the area - no telecommunications existed

•How have telecommunications developments changed our society in 200 years?

•Benefits from British & French engineering

•Analogies with today’s new social experiment in communications

mNet project - Adelaide as the hub of a new “encounter” likely to once again transform social & business practices

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Early History of TelecomsEarly History of Telecoms

•1680 - English physicist, Robert Hooke - concept of visual telegraph systems

•1780 - put into practice by French engineer - Claude Chappe

•230km line of optical telegraph stations from Paris to Lille

•whole of France systems proved of great military advantage

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University of South AustraliaUniversity of South Australia

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Early History of Telecoms (cont)Early History of Telecoms (cont)

•UK - mid 19th century - electric telegraphs began to appear

•US -1845 - Samuel Morse - Washington to Baltimore

•South Australia - Charles Todd

- 1855 - Adelaide to Port Adelaide

- 1872 - overland telegraph to Darwin

•US - 1890- Elisha Gray & Alexander Graham Bell patents

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Recent DecadesRecent Decades

•1960s & 1970s - founding of the Internet

•How have telecommunications developments changed our society in 200 years?

•Benefits from British & French engineering

•Analogies with today’s new social experiment in communications

mNet project - Adelaide as the hub of a new “encounter” likely to once again transform social & business practices

University of South AustraliaUniversity of South Australia

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New Worlds -The Founding of the InternetNew Worlds -The Founding of the Internet

A network:

- a number of computers or other

telecom devices use a shared

medium to communicate -

eg ethernet system.

An intranet - two or more networks connected through intermediary systems

Typical Small NetworkTypical Small Network

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What is the Internet?What is the Internet?

All messages/data are transmitted across the Internet use theInternet Protocol (IP)

A large part of the data also uses the Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) - hence TCP/IP

World Wide Web (WWW) : the browsing service/interface that enablesaccess across the Internet to a highly distributed, global,multi-media database

The Internet: with a capital “I” is the global internetwork that linksbusinesses, universities, schools and public and private users.

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Total worldwide network demand

135 273 588 1572

4451

11328

27645

948 1107 1294 15111766 2063 2411

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Data

Voice

Gbps

Source: Insight Research Corp, May 1998

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“Wireless access to the web will be the catalyst for a revolution of the Internet which is as profound

as the impact of the original wired Internet circa 1994.”

www.gartner.com

Mobility is the future of the Internet

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The mNet Australia Project

University of South AustraliaUniversity of South Australia

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Snapshot - the mNet projectSnapshot - the mNet project

$9.23 million from the Australian Government $24m in-kind from the mNet partners, to:

•Establish wireless communication networks

•Undertake advanced wireless research

•Support development of applications

The network is part of a $30+ million project to make Australian companies key players in the next wave of the Internet.

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Snapshot - the mNet networkSnapshot - the mNet network

Core network 3G cellular mobile radio base stations along North

Terrace in Adelaide Base stations linked by optical fibre Wireless LANs covering selected buildings and spaces

Regional node Cellular network extended to Whyalla - to explore the

delivery of health and education services to regional areas

University of South AustraliaUniversity of South Australia

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mNet location of core mNet location of core networknetwork

North Terrace, Adelaide.

• A well defined microcosm of business, cultural and recreational activity.

Retail Entertainment Cultural

Government Finance Tourism

Health Education Residential.

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mNet StakeholdersmNet Stakeholders3 universities:

University of South Australia

Adelaide University

Flinders University

Australian Developers:

Aspect Computing

BetterHealth Global

Chimo

DSpace

Imagination Entertainment

Knowledge South

Medical Communications Associates

Also: SA Govt, Playford Centre & The City of Adelaide

3 Carriers:

Telstra, Agile & Airnet

Multinational ICT Companies:

Alcatel, Cisco, Compaq, CSC & Motorola

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mNet Research ProgramsmNet Research Programs

To develop core intellectual property:

Examples: Wireless LAN deployment in wide area networks Connection handover 3G/wLAN Third generation network architectures Research to support 3G application development Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)

mNet Corporation will commission research into the practical issues that emerge in the deployment of advanced networks.

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mNet Industry ProgramsmNet Industry Programs

To support application development in 6 areas:

Conventions & Tourism (eg WCIT 2002) Tele-health & other Health Informatics City E-business / mobile commerce Education New media & entertainment Intelligent Transport

The mNet network will enable Australian commercial developers to profit from an investment in developing new mobile Internet applications and services

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Encounters in 2002Encounters in 2002

New adventures in telecommunications m.Net -an advanced Mobile Internet research

environment• development of applications and services for the

new economy in a modern society

• Support for the commercialisation of Australian mobile Internet technologies and applications

Positioning Australia to profit from leadership in the application of next generation telecommunications technology