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Wireless outdoor personal area network using adaptive inquiry scanning for location-based services

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Abstract

The Infopoint Explorer is an outdoor personal area network for location-based services that allows users to access locality information interactively using mobile computing devices such as PDAs and smartphones. The Infopoint explorer was used to study the limitations imposed by inexpensive and popular wireless technologies such as Bluetooth for outdoor location-based services. The Infopoint Explorer functioned as a multimedia guidebook that allowed access to location-specific information using wireless Infopoints. The Infopoints detect and attempt to transfer multimedia content to nearby mobile computing devices using Bluetooth connectivity. An adaptive Bluetooth Inquiry Access Code algorithm was developed to reduce the time taken for the Infopoint to detect nearby devices. The Infopoint was powered with solar panels and was deployed for a four-month trial. During the trial, over 8,000 Bluetooth connections were attempted, with 300 successful transfers.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, we use the term mobiles to refer to personal mobile computing devices in general, covering both smartphones and personal digital assistants.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the support of this project by the ACID Urban Interfaces Research Group. We would like to thank Ingrid Richardson, John McMullan, Ian Clough, Mark Billinghurst and Gang Wang for their assistance in supporting the infopoint Explorer trial. We also thank the Fremantle City Council for allowing us to trial the infopoint Explorer in a public space in Fremantle, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of ECTE, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Montserrat Ros

  2. CSIRO ICT Centre, Brisbane, Australia

    Matthew D’Souza

  3. School of ITEE, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Adam Postula

  4. Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Ian MacColl

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  1. Montserrat Ros
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  2. Matthew D’Souza
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  4. Ian MacColl
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Correspondence to Montserrat Ros.

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Ros, M., D’Souza, M., Postula, A. et al. Wireless outdoor personal area network using adaptive inquiry scanning for location-based services. Pers Ubiquit Comput 17, 387–398 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0501-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0501-2

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