M I C H A E L W . C H I T W A

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B S C . I N F O R M A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y

Wireless Blogging with Video Surveillance

Introduction

Mobile phones are a natural fit for data collection and dissemination.

More own a phone – more than computers, TVs.

Improvements in broadband Internet access and speeds have enabled a big number of end-users to access high quality multimedia from various devices ranging from mobiles to notebook computers. The Internet is faster than before allowing most communication today to happen via mobile phones through text messages and various applications such as WhatsApp, Viber and Twitter just to name a few.

Are not resource hungry. Good for field work.

Problem Definition

Blogging enables one to send and receive information quickly over the Internet, and share that information with a wide audience.

Inaccessibility to information in a fast and easier way still provides a big challenge more so in many areas in Africa, due to poor communication channels and infrastructure to support wide area dissemination of data/information.

There’s been a massive growth in the use of mobiles phones over the last decade in Africa, with more and more people having a mobile than a PC. Given the ubiquitous nature of these devices, this would come as an ideal medium for enabling access to information.

Problem Statement

Many people, more so in Africa and other developing regions, are unable to get access, report events and share information on the go, especially in areas where the infrastructure is found to be wanting. This project aims to build a system that will solve this problem of inaccessibility to collecting and disseminating vital data and information.

Aim

To develop an application system that will enable a mobile phone user to launch a mobile wireless blog on phone and demonstrate the use of mobile phones as a replacement of regular PCs to send data over the network, and their importance as a tool for data collection and dissemination.

Objectives

To investigate the feasibility of transmission of data from a mobile phone onto a web server.

To develop a web log for posting information and retrieving it.

To test/investigate the feasibility/viability of streaming live video capture across a network onto a mobile phone.

To demonstrate the working application in a live, wireless, computing environment.

Methodology

Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD)

Models real world objects

High code reusability

Reduced code maintenance

Builds robust systems

System Analysis

System Architecture

Systems Architecture, cont’d.

Constraints and Limitations

i. Media format dependence

ii. Player dependence

iii. Mobile phone dependence

iv. Cellular service provider

v. Data transmission technology available

vi. Application software compatibility issues

vii. Network connection

Achievements/Results

i. Develop an application that enable posting of data and retrieving it wirelessly onto a web server using a mobile phone (both Android and J2ME enabled phones).

ii. The development of a video streaming media server on the PC to streams video from a network camera and broadcast them to other PCs or mobile phones on the network.

iii. The creation of a J2ME application that enable viewing of webcam streams on a phone just as you would from a local PC.

iv. The research carried out during the development of this project has led to a greater understanding of the programming methodologies and techniques available today.

v. Programming in an object-oriented language was both exciting and challenging exercise, and aided in adopting new skills in programming design.

vi. Throughout the study of the capabilities of a mobile phone, the understanding was that “It’s just not a phone anymore. It’s a wireless platform for content delivery that is always with the user”.

Suggestions for Further Work

i. Enable the user to download form data on the mobile device.

ii. Fill a form online and upload it later for online storage on the web log.

iii. Enable a user to log in to the mobile phone before he/she can gain access to a webcam. This is to authenticate the user and ensure no one else has access to his/her camera. Currently, the user can simply open the application and select a camera from the list given

iv. Include a form in which a user can specify an IP address of their network camera. This address can then be added into a database for automatic access the next time the user logs in.

Questions & Comments!

Questions and Comments

END!!!