M2M communication
Universal Mobile Data Access is a rapidly increasing feature of electronic systems. Machines get connected to the communications infrastructure, as the Internet, known as M2M - Machine-to-Machine communications. The advantage of wireless access is the inherent feature of portability or even mobility support.
Different wireless access technologies are used to connect nomadic users or portable equipment to the fixed infrastructure. There are
- short range technologies, as Wireless LAN, or even DECT and Bluetooth,
- fixed wireless access technologies, as WiMAX or proprietary Wireless Local Loop systems, and finally
- mobile radio systems, as GSM, CDMAone, or even 3G systems, like UMTS and its high speed extensions HSxPA.
Applications
Typical applications for Universal Mobile Data Access are the collection of sensor data and the subsequent delivery of these data via different wireless access networks.
Application example - collecting sensor data and delivering data via different wireless access networks
In this application example, a car is collecting sensor data that shall be sent to a certain server. For the data delivery, the currently optimal connection type should always be chosen.
If cellular radio is available, data will be delivered over the 2G or 3G network, but if the car is within the coverage of a WLAN cell, this connection type should be preferred, as it is usually faster and cheaper to use Wireless LAN.
In the majority of cases, the destination server the data has to be delivered to, is located in an intranet of a certain company. Such a network is protected against intruders using firewalls and other security techniques.
Therefore, it is necessary to set up some VPN-tunnels in order to be able to access the destination server from the vehicle. This may also lead to a high complexity of protocols used for communications in order to secure the information transfer.
Other possible applications are, for example,
- to provide a continuous Internet access for users in different public or private transportation facilities,
- to support mobile transmission of video data for security purposes or entertainment, and last but not least
- to maintain telemetry services.
The solution for M2M communications and Universal Mobile Data Access
IMST has developed a flexible software framework for wireless access routing devices: i_OBU - the Internet Onboard Unit supporting a great variety of communication protocols, security, and management features.
This framework can be easily ported to different embedded platforms. It can be adopted for solutions in different markets, as telecommunications and IT, automation- , automotive- and medical technology. The software operates on an embedded Linux system.
Reference implementations of this framework are available on different embedded systems:
- on an ePC from BMC Messsysteme GmbH (i_OBU automotive) for automotive applications,
- on an XXS embedded system from mycable GmbH (i_OBU XXS) for small applications.
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