WInsiTek - Saurabh Blog

Mobile Phone Chargers will become Universal

2009-06-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

Bowing to a request from the European Commission, 10 major device manufacturers have agreed to adopt a universal battery-charging design for their mobile handsets. Though the agreement only applies to mobile-device sales within the member states of the European Union, the standard is expected to have a far wider impact since the mobile-device market is essentially global.
Phone-charger compatibility will make life much simpler for consumers, noted EU Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen. "They will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger," Verheugen said. "This also means considerably less electronic waste, because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones."

Eliminating Waste

Today's plethora of external power supplies for mobile phones means there are many chargers that can only interface with a particular handset. Any user buying a replacement handset today must get a new charger -- even though the charger for the previous phone may be in perfect condition.

According to the EC, the disposal of old chargers generates several thousand tons of waste each year. Moreover, consumers are paying for an accessory they shouldn't have to replace.

Beginning in 2010, consumers will be able to charge mobile phones from any external power supply compatible with the new common charger specs. Additionally, the agreement will protect consumers from unsafe operations, which can occur if an incompatible external power supply is used to charge a phone.

A new memorandum of understanding governing the changes has been signed by representatives of Apple, LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Texas Instruments. Verheugen said he was very pleased with the self-regulation agreement. "As a result, the commission does not consider it necessary to introduce legislation," he said.

Bing - New Search Engine

2009-06-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

Bing is out....try using it!! Images look cool.

First commercial 4G base station being tested in Sweden

2009-06-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

The world's first radio base station in a commercial 4G network has been deployed in Stockholm, Sweden. Or at least that's what the Swedish national incumbent telecommunications operator Telia has announced.

Telia is among a handful of mobile operators worldwide building next-generation networks for mobile broadband with 4G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology. The largest is Verizon, identified as a world leader by Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg.

"The U.S. is back in the driver's seat and Verizon has taken the lead in rolling out LTE,"

Though Telia says it has connected the 4G base station to its IP network and to a test network belonging to Swedish telecom vendor Ericsson, commercial launch of the network is not expected until 2010, when modems will be available.

Expected speeds are "10 times faster than the speeds customers enjoy today with mobile broadband in 3G networks," according to Telia.

That would mean between 60 megabits and 100 megabits per second, given that today's 3G networks with HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) technology can attain 6Mbps to 10Mbps, depending on the version deployed.

One reason why Verizon is aggressively planning for a 4G network is that its 3G network, based on EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) technology, doesn't match the speeds possible in HSPA networks belonging to the GSM/WCDMA family, used by operators such as Telia and AT&T. GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communications, while WCDMA is short for Wideband Code Division Multiple Access.

Ericsson: Next-gen base station ready for deployments

2009-05-15T05:02:00.001-07:00

BOSTON—Ericsson's (NasdaqGS: ERIC) long-awaited universal base station is out of the lab and in the field. Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) will be among the first to receive the new multi-standard platform, deploying it in its forthcoming long-term evolution (LTE) network, but Ericsson executives revealed that the kit is already deployed in an existing operator's high-speed packet access (HSPA) deployment, though they did not reveal whose.

Unveiled at Mobile World Congress in 2008, the RBS 6000 is Ericsson's first software-upgradable base station, supporting GSM, GPRS/EDGE, Wideband CDMA and eventually LTE. The platform consists of a single cabinet, sporting common components to all of the radio standards. The selected radio baseband technology is loaded into the box as a software module, either running on its own as a dedicated GSM or UMTS base station or concurrently with other radio standards.

Boston Dynamics-designed RiSE V3 robot climbs poles

2009-05-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

The folks at Boston Dynamics have already made quite a name for themselves in the world of creepy robotics, but it looks like they're not ones to keep all their know-how to themselves, and they've now lent the University of Pennsylvania's Kod*lab a hand with this new RiSE V3 pole-climbing robot. That, as you've no doubt surmised, is a followup to RiSE V1 and V2, which were developed without the help of Boston Dynamics and were more suited to climbing flat surfaces than poles. In addition to a vastly different leg mechanism, this latest model also makes use of some brushless DC motors that increase the power density to let it climb poles at rates up to 22cm per second, which the researchers say make it well-suited for a wide range of tasks. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the bot mostly seems to work remarkably well, although it's obviously not quite ready to tackle critical jobs all by itself just yet.

Google Founder and EECS Alumnus Larry Page Delivers Commencement Speech

2009-05-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Larry Page received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering in 1995. Watch the video, view some photos and read the highlights of his speech. Read article. [Video ]

XstreamHD live demonstration of their cutting edge technology at NAB show in Las Vegas

2009-04-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

XstreamHD booth at NAB show

http://www.xstreamhd.com/NABshow.html

Report: HSPA Will Lead to LTE

2009-04-30T03:24:00.000-07:00

A Frost & Sullivan report concludes that mobile operators will trend toward fully maximizing their high-speed packet access (HSPA) deployments before eventually deploying LTE.

The report comes amid an industry that paid a lot of attention to LTE at the recent CTIA 2009 trade show.

Citing skyrocketing data demands – six to 14 times more data being consumed over the past year – driven by flat-rate pricing, the report concludes that new networks are essential for continued revenue growth.

The report shows that average users download more than 5 GB per month, some as much as 9 GB to 11 GB.

“Next-generation wireless technologies such as 3G LTE and mobile WiMAX will eventually lead operators to move to an ‘open’ access, any client device connected, Internet model, with the advent of consumer electronic devices being embedded with 3G LTE technology,” notes Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Luke Thomas in the report.

Thomas stressed the importance of upgrading backhaul in a cost-effective manner, as each LTE base station “would require a minimum of 200-300 Mbps backhaul capacity.”

The report found that most mobile operators are considering high-capacity point-to-point microwave links and relay for backhaul, but also noted a growing interest in subsidizing femtocells as a way to reduce backhaul costs.

D.C. to Get First Crack at Free Mobile TV

2009-04-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

Washington will be the first U.S. city to get free digital TV broadcasts for mobile devices like cell phones, laptop computers and in-car entertainment systems, broadcasters were set to announce today.

Broadcasts using new "mobile DTV" technology are expected to begin in late summer from five stations: local affiliates of CBS, NBC, PBS and Ion and one independent station owned by Fox.

The initial broadcasts will be identical to those beamed to TV sets, including the advertising.

It's unclear what devices might be available with the special receivers needed for the new signals. Cell phones are main candidates for the technology, but the wireless carriers have shown no enthusiasm, and the largest two have their own TV services, which require subscriptions.

However, Dell will be showing a prototype of a small laptop with a built-in mobile DTV receiver at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show in Las Vegas this week. The computer maker joins cell phone makers LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics in supporting the technology. Kenwood is developing car-based receivers.

The companies backing the technology in the so-called Open Mobile Video Coalition said Washington was chosen as a test market because the city is full of tech-savvy viewers who pay attention to local news. Attention from politicians and regulators probably doesn't hurt either – the coalition has earlier pointed to the usefulness of free mobile TV broadcasts in case of emergencies and disasters like hurricanes.

Broadcasters plan to quickly start broadcasts in more than two dozen other cities by the end of the year, covering 39 percent of U.S. households. Among the target cities are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Atlanta.

HD Movies@ My Home: XstreamHD showcases innovative satellite technology at CES 2009

2009-01-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

XstreamHD (based in McLean, VA) comes up with a winner! in this year CES 2009. XstreamHD marched ahead and the company showcased their new pro-receivers and RF remote control along with REV2 media servers and receivers that offers blue-ray quality 1080P video and unmatched 7.1 channels lossless DTS-master audio. The company had a big booth in CES South Hall at Las Vegas Convention Center and that clearly spells the seriousness with which XstreamHD is pursuing the home based digital entertainment technology.

XStreamHD Media Servers utilized their custom ASIC that is specifically designed to support multiple simultaneous high bitrate streams. The ASIC supports dual GigE ports and uses hardware accelerators to transmit the IP streams. At CES, the XStreamHD Media Server demonstrated its ability to stream an 80Mbps MPEG2 main level/high profile 1080p movie at the same time it streamed another 1080p 40Mbps video stream rate movie along with several audio streams to other devices. The total aggregate stream exceeded 125Mbps!

XStreamHD Media Server demonstrated at CES its ability to interoperate with six other DLNA client devices that included the Sony PS3, a Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV, a Samsung Plasma TV, a Dell notebook PC, a Phillips Internet radio, and a Denon networked audio system.

*** Disclaimer: This blog is purely based on the author's experience in telecommunications and wireless industry. It doesn't reflect the views of any other person, institution or organization whatsoever.

For Prospective CS Graduate Students: Umich, Ann Arbor

2008-10-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

Watch this video

Femtocells: making the economics of convergence work

2008-10-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

October 22, 2008 — 11:29am ET | By Sangit Rawlley

Indoor telephony is under renewed attack. Emerging coverage enhancement solutions such as femtocells threaten to further erode the already declining market for fixed-line phones. But with adversity has come opportunity. Femtocells mitigate many of the historical challenges that lead to the failure of MVNO's set up to offer converged services and provide another opportunity for wireless and fixed line operators to work together.

The significance of having high quality voice telephony inside the house cannot be denied. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 76 percent of an average person's "awake hours" resides indoors. Of that time, 61 percent is spent in the home vs. a separate building.

Indoor telephony has traditionally been the stronghold of wireline and cable (fixed line) carriers. However, in the last few years cord-cutting has emerged as the primary threat for fixed line carriers. Declining mobile price is the key driver for this trend. According to CTIA, around 15.8 percent of U.S. households were wireless-only in 2007.

But there are limitations to using the cell phone inside the house. Bad indoor wireless coverage is one of the key barriers to cord-cutting. According to a Harris Interactive survey, 62 percent of cell phone owners have done something special to improve signal reception in an attempt to make or receive a cell phone call at home. 30 percent said they used their fixed-line phone.

Today the question that is top of mind for all fixed line operators is how best to deal with femtocells. The situation is grimmer for operators such as British Telecom, Embarq, and Qwest that don't own wireless assets. Their past attempts to reduce cord cutting by offering wireline-wireless bundles and converged services through wireless wholesale (MVNO) deals have failed.

But there is a glimmer of hope. Femtocells require a broadband connection to operate. Fixed line carriers can leverage this dependence of femtocells on DSL and cable in two ways--obstructive or constructive. The obstructive approach revolves around non-cooperation with wireless carriers and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) marketing. Such tactics are not sustainable in the long term. The constructive approach is difficult, but if implemented correctly can reap long term benefits. This approach involves setting up mutually beneficial partnerships with wireless carriers to revive the convergence play.

Google Introduces an iPhone Rival

2008-09-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO — Google and T-Mobile unveiled their answer to the iPhone on Tuesday, pulling the wraps off a slick mobile device that combines a touch screen and a keyboard and is aimed at putting the Internet in the pockets of millions of cellphone users.

Enlarge This Image

The T-Mobile G1 will cost $179, $20 less than the iPhone.

Sharing TV spectrum may require Cognitive Radio Technology

2008-09-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

By Fanny Mlinarsky

In the early days of broadcast TV, the world was analog and spectrum was plentiful. Spectrum sharing was unnecessary and, indeed, hadn't even been invented. Dedicated spectrum was allocated to each TV channel and later, 202 wireless microphones were permitted to operate in unused channels (FCC part 74).

Conventional TV stations use 6-MHz channels, numbered 2 to 69 in the VHF and UHF spectrum (54 to 72 MHz, 76 to 88 MHz, 174 to 216 MHz and 470 to 806 MHz). The 2009 transition from analog to digital TV, expected to free up channels 52 through 69 due to DTV's higher spectral efficiency, has prompted the FCC to update its regulations, allowing more efficient use of the spectrum, now possible with modern technology.

A hidden-node example signal from a TV station reaches WSD through a building or other obstructions and may be undetectable due to propagation losses. A TV antenna on the roof receives the same signal at a power level sufficient for viewing. WSD, not having detected the signal, may transmit and cause interference at the TV tuner.

The new regulations (FCC Dockets 04-186, 02-380) may allow unused portions of the TV spectrum to support wireless broadband services. They require the use of cognitive radios able to determine whether a channel is available prior to transmitting.

Nokia Linux tablets go 3G, OMAP3

2008-09-19T03:49:00.000-07:00

Nokia's Linux-based web tablets may soon gain faster processors and built-in 3G cellular modems. Nokia executive Ari Jaaksi revealed today in a keynote at the Open Source in Mobile show that Nokia will add 3G/HSPA capabilities to an OMAP3-optimized Maemo 5 release for the tablets.

Jaaksi, is VP of Maemo Software at Nokia. A slide show of Jaaksi's presentation, posted on his blog, suggests that during his OSiM keynote, he also revealed that Nokia plans to contribute code for 3G/HSPA on OMAP3 to the Linux kernel, and that Nokia has upgraded its membership in the Linux Foundation (LF) from a Silver to a Gold sponsorship. The LF's members page confirms the upgrade. Another revelation from the talk is that the upcoming Maemo 5 release will support photo sharing with HD cameras.

Jaaksi apparently did not offer a timetable for the release of Maemo 5. The last major revision of the Debian Linux-based distro, Maemo 4, appeared last November in conjunction with the arrival of the N810 Internet Tablet. Maemo 4 reflected N810 improvements including faster performance than the N800, and the addition of a slide-out hardware QWERTY thumb keyboard, GPS receiver, and a light-sensing screen dimmer.

N810 WiMAX Edition

The N800 and N810 both depend on WiFi for connectivity, but a newer WiMAX version of the N810 (pictured above) also supports that higher-bandwidth, longer range wireless technology. The addition of a cellular modem has long been anticipated, however. When we spoke with Ari Jaaksi about the addition of WiMax, he said adding a cellular chip to the Nokia N8xx Linux tablets would be pretty easy to do, but that at the time it was "more a business model than a technology barrier."

Android Challenge Winner pushes location awareness

2008-09-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) have announced the final winners for part one of the Android Developer Challenge. The OHA granted ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards for the best applications created for the Linux- and Java-based Android mobile phone platform.

(Click for larger view of party location app, Wertago)

In May, the OHA chose 50 finalists out of a field of 1,788 submissions, awarding each team $25,000 and a chance to compete for the final awards. A second round of the challenge will be opened for submissions "after the first handsets built on the platform become available," the search giant said.

Most of the winners reflected the general focus of the finalists on GPS location awareness and Google Maps. Others put the camera to work as a barcode scanner, or focused on social networking.

Google Chrome is here!!

2008-09-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

No doubt, its one of the fastest browser.

The features are just breathtaking. The striking part is its ease of use just like Google Search Engine.

1) Tabs are more easier to manage now
2) Browsing history is pretty clean and easily organized
3) Bookmarks are very easy to manage
4) For developers - source, javascript, console debugging are pretty flexible
5) Pop-ups are automatically blocked
6) Password history etc. is similar to mozilla firefox and easier to manage
7) Crash control is much more powerful than mozilla
8) Safe browsing, faster downloads make it a clear winner.

After 1 hour of browsing on chrome, I am switching loyalty from mozilla firefox to chrome. IE doesn't even figure in competition with Chrome or mozilla. Chrome can easily be upgraded for mobile applications and sooner we can have Android with Android app store with Chrome Browser coming in a single pack for Android Mobile Handsets...this is just the tip of iceberg.

Google wins!!

Plus one more thing to add, task manager is integrated with the browser. One process per tab makes it so much easier to control through task manager in case of crashes or rogue application running in one of the tabs. Overall great thinking by google guys.

Google Unleashes Detail of Android App Store

2008-09-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

On the Android Developers Blog the company showed how Android users will be able to get applications on their handsets. The process will be similar to posting a video on YouTube: Content providers register as a merchant, upload and describe content, and then publish it.

The first Android-powered handsets will be enabled with a beta version of Android Market that will at minimum support free applications. End users will use this to find, download, and install content, and they'll be able to rate and comment on applications.

Top 5 Hottest Technologies for the future

2008-09-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

1. Green IT

2. Cloud Computing

3. Social Networking

4. Video Telepresence

5. Micro Blogging

Google unveils free browser Chrome

2008-09-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. is releasing its own Web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.

The Mountain View, California-based company took the unusual step of announcing its latest product on the Labor Day holiday after it prematurely sent out a comic book drawn up to herald the new browser's arrival.

The free browser, called "Chrome," is supposed to be available for downloading Tuesday in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft's Windows operating system. Google said it's still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc.'s Mac computer and the Linux operating system.

Google's browser is expected to hit the market a week after Microsoft's unveiling of a test version of its latest browser update, Internet Explorer 8. The tweaks include more tools for Web surfers to cloak their on-line preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.

Although Google is using a cartoonish approach to promote Chrome, the new browser underscores the gravity of Google's rivalry with Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer is used by about 75 percent of Web surfers.

Google's lead in the lucrative Internet search market is nearly as commanding, with its engine processing nearly two-thirds of the Web's queries.

For the past few years, Google has been trying to take advantage of its search engine's popularity to loosen Microsoft's grip on how most people interact with personal computers.

Nortel demos LTE handoff

2008-09-01T03:27:00.000-07:00

Nortel claims first field handover of data call between base stations

Nortel Networks has moved its Long Term Evolution (LTE) trials out of the lab and into the field, claiming to have achieved the industry’s first handoff between live cell sites during a recent test at its development center in Ottawa.

Using prototype Nortel LTE radio and network gear and prototype handsets from 4G development partner LG Electronics, Nortel said it has demonstrated LTE handover at speeds of 100 km per hour between cell sectors, maintaining an HD video stream in the process. Data speeds for the tests, however, averaged 10 Mb/s over a 10 MHz channel in Canada’s Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band. That’s far from the theoretical 100 Mb/s or so promised by the LTE standard, but Nortel officials said that, just as in 3G and 2G before it, real-world conditions will vary far from theoretical limits.

“We’ve demonstrated far greater speeds in the past but in a non-handoff environment,” said Danny Locklear, Nortel vice president of marketing for carrier networks. In June, Nortel demonstrated data speeds of 50 Mb/s in a car traveling 110 km per hour but remaining in the same cell sector. The demands on the network for true mobility—i.e. with multiple handoffs—is much greater, Locklear said. “In this kind of environment, the network will have to be very robust from cell to cell, sector to sector.”

Nortel is on pace with the rest of the industry to produce trial LTE gear early next year and its first commercial base station line by the end of 2009. LG is on a similar timeline to produce LTE devices and handsets. Nortel is one of three North American vendors selected by Verizon Wireless and Vodafone to supply trial networks for their future 4G launches, and just as Nortel has been active in fine-tuning its LTE platform, Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola have been doing the same. Alcatel-Lucent has formed a joint venture with NEC to develop an LTE kit, which gives the French-American vendor immediate exposure to what will likely be the first commercial LTE deployment, NTT DoCoMo’s in Japan.

Meanwhile Motorola has focused on a unique business case for LTE in the US: the integration of CDMA networks with LTE, which is being developed by the GSM standards body, the Third-Generation Partnership Project. Not only has Verizon Wireless committed to LTE, but CDMA operators Alltel and MetroPCS have also tapped the technology. Motorola has already performed live tests of CDMA-to-LTE handoff.

Sprint Plots WiMax-Powered Location Services

2008-08-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

Soon you'll be able to find yourself -- and local businesses -- on mobile WiMax, but only in Baltimore to begin with. (See Sprint Announces Geobrowsing for XOHM Mobile Internet.)

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S - message board) today unveiled one of the first services that will be available on its XOHM mobile WiMax network: A location service that will pinpoint local businesses, restaurants, and "points of interest" for mobile users with WiMax-cards for their laptops. The third-largest cellular carrier in the U.S. is calling the application Geobrowsing and says at least some of the capabilities will be available when it goes commercial this September in Baltimore.

MIDs offer Atom, HSDPA

2008-08-29T04:36:00.000-07:00

WiBrain has started shipping its B1LE and B1LH, two MIDs (mobile Internet devices) based on Ubuntu Linux and Via C7M processors. Additionally, the Korean company will soon unveil an Intel Atom-based "i1" MID (shown) that features built-in cellular networking based on HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access).

WiBrain says it will unveil the i1 (also referred to as "Tomorrow's Communicator") at the IFA 2008 show in Berlin, Germany, which starts Aug, 29th and runs until Sept. 3rd. The only clue offered by WiBrain about the i1, other than its processor, is that the device will be able to use HSDPA cellular data services. Most commonly found supporting downstream data rates of 3.6Mbps, HSDPA service may also be available in some locations at 7.2Mbps, or even 14.4Mbps.

Ericsson Joins Mobile Chip Challenger

2008-08-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC - message board) and STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM - message board) got together today to create a 50-50 joint venture company combining Ericsson's mobile platform business and STMicro's ST-NXP Wireless mobile semiconductor joint venture, a move that signals that wireless chipset companies are having to bulk up to compete. (See Ericsson, STMicro Form JV.)

The news follows STMicro's joint venture with NXP Semiconductors in April this year that created a $3 billion mobile chipset company. STMicro is now expected to buy out NXP's 20 percent stake in this joint venture before the new joint venture deal with Ericsson closes.

Intel Demos Wireless Power, Robotics

2008-08-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Intel on Thursday showed off its technology for transmitting power wirelessly, a capability that could one day help eliminate the wire clutter behind desks and other areas of the home or office.

Wireless power was one of several technologies Justin Rattner, CTO for Intel, highlighted at the last keynote of the chipmaker's Developer Forum in San Francisco. Rattner also rolled out Intel's work in robotics and "programmable matter," which is the ability to manipulate the shape, size, and even color of an object.

Alanson Sample, a University of Washington intern at Intel's research facility in Seattle, demonstrated the ability to transmit 60 watts of power a distance of two or three feet, using two round metal coils, one as a transmitter, the other a receiver. The latter had a light bulb on the top that remained lit as Sample, a graduate student in electrical engineering, moved the coil around.

Yahoo presentation to stockholders Archive

2008-08-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

Slides available here.

How to fix poor usability of free software

2008-08-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

Matthew Paul Thomas has an entry on his blog called Why Free Software Has Poor Usability, And How To Improve It. While this advice is helpful and may indeed lead to improvements in many open source programs, the guidelines may be much more difficult for smaller projects. From the entry, 'Free Software has a long and healthy tradition of "show me the code." But when someone points out a usability issue, this tradition turns into "patches welcome," which is unhelpful since most designers aren't programmers. And it's not obvious how else usability specialists should help out.'" Thomas has been developing the ideas in this essay for years. The critique is comprehensive, listing 15 challenges in the way software projects, and in particular free software projects, are structured, with suggestions for improving each one.

Read more of the story here.

Symbian New Initiative - Open Source Foundation

2008-08-04T00:43:00.000-07:00

When it comes to cell-phone software, open is the new black. In less than two years, no fewer than three coalitions have formed with the intent of building mobile handset operating systems with input from all comers. Suddenly the business of developing mobile software -- once handled by coders working behind closed doors for a single vendor or group -- has gone open source.

To recap, there's the Google-led Open Handset Alliance that draws together dozens of companies to work on an operating system called Android. "The first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices" is how Andy Rubin, director of mobile platforms at Google, described the effort, unveiled in November 2007. Then there's the LiMo Foundation, a coalition formed early last year that's already proved successful in getting the Linux open-source operating system onto mobile phones.

Most recently, cell-phone giant Nokia said it's buying the part of the Symbian mobile software effort that it doesn't already own, and creating a foundation that will render Symbian open source and give away its software to device makers.

"A Rattly Ship"

Now, the question for many in the wireless industry is to what extent the world needs these potentially competing open software efforts and whether there's capacity for them to work together. "We are all doing the right thing," Rubin says. "I don't think there's anything that would preclude us from working together. How we cooperate -- that's the question." Rubin also says he's willing to host a meeting among "everybody that's interested."

Open-source efforts might be able to accomplish a lot more together than they can apart, analysts say. Concerns over the reliability and lack of focus for any one initiative sends some handset makers into the arms of proprietary software makers Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Apple, says Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI...

Mars Lander finally does first ice test

2008-08-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes "Deception Point" novel on fictional blunder near the Arctic circle come to my mind...:-)

However, this time it looks very true.

Just as NASA announced the extension of the Phoenix Mars mission by five weeks, its scientists disclosed that they finally got the first Martian ice sample into one of the analysis ovens onboard the Lander.

NASA scientists earlier this week had decided to temporarily bypass the ice test because they had repeatedly run into trouble trying to get ice samples into the test ovens for analysis. The ice simply kept sticking to the back of the scoop on the robotic arm.

So on Wednesday engineers and programmers sent the robotic arm new instructions to gather a dry soil sample and get that into the ovens while they tried to solve the ice delivery problem. As chance would have it, when they got the soil into the oven, they discovered that it contained a small amount of ice, so they actually got exactly what they wanted.

Microsoft's Midori -- a future without Windows

2008-07-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

According to a report, Microsoft isn't just looking at the next version of Windows (no, not Mojave) for future OS possibilities, but is looking beyond the Windows architecture altogether with a project known as Midori. The new OS is still in the "incubation" phase (which puts it slightly closer to market than R&D projects), but Microsoft has admitted to its existence, and the Software Daily Times says at least one team in Redmond is actively working on the new architecture.

The basis for the platform centers around research related to Microsoft's Singularity project, and envisions a distributed environment where applications, documents, and connectivity are blurred in a cloud-computing phantasmagoria which can be run natively or hosted across multiple systems. The researchers are working to create a concurrent / parallel distribution of resources, as well as a method of handling applications across separate machines -- religiously-dubbed the Asynchronous Promise Architecture -- which will set the stage for a backwards-compatible operating system built from the ground up, with networks of varying size in mind.

AlcaLu Teams for 3G CDMA Femtocells

2008-07-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU - message board) made its first official move in the 3G CDMA femtocell market today with the announcement that it will work with Airvana Inc. to develop a CDMA EV-DO femtocell solution that is based on IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). (See AlcaLu, Airvana Team Up.)

The news won't come as a complete shock to femto followers as the two companies staged a demonstration of this solution at the CTIA show in Las Vegas earlier this year. (See AlcaLu, Airvana Demo Femtocell and In Focus: Femtocells.)

The combined offering, which Airvana claims is the first 3G femto solution for CDMA operators, comprises Airvana's HubBub femtocell access point and Alcatel-Lucent's IMS core network elements. Airvana will add new interfaces to its femtocells so that they can be integrated with AlcaLu's IMS mobile core products.

Cuil- A new search engine on the horizon

2008-07-29T03:11:00.000-07:00

I found lot of curiosity amongst the media about cuil- the latest search engine by an ex-google employee. However, a simple test of having very well known searches threw some vague and old links. So, relevance of the search results need to improve a lot.

Mozilla patches Firefox side of Safari 'carpet bomb' threat

2008-07-29T02:41:00.000-07:00

Mozilla Corp. has patched a pair of critical vulnerabilities in Firefox, taking the unusual step of updating the older Version 2.0 on Tuesday but delaying the fixes for the newer Version 3.0 until Wednesday.

Both updates, labeled Firefox 2.0.0.16 and Firefox 3.0.1, plug two holes rated "critical" by Mozilla, which uses a four-step threat ranking system. Firefox 2.0.0.16 was posted to Mozilla's servers Tuesday afternoon.

Firefox 3.0.1, the first update since the open-source browser was upgraded almost a month ago, won't reach users until Wednesday at the earliest, according to notes from a Mozilla status meeting published online.

One of the flaws patched in 2.0.0.16 and 3.0.1 was credited to security researcher Billy Rios, who wrote last month about a "blended" threat to Windows users who had both Apple Inc.'s Safari browser and Firefox installed on the same system. Then, Rios said that Safari's "carpet bomb" bug -- first disclosed in May and patched in June by Apple -- could be combined with other vulnerabilities to attack not only systems with Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, but also those equipped with Firefox.

Microsoft Challenges Google's PageRank Technology

2008-07-29T02:38:00.000-07:00

Google's PageRank Web site-ranking method is being challenged by Microsoft. Microsoft's new tool, BrowseRank, aims to add a human factor to the site-ranking process. Microsoft claims PageRank does not take into account frequency and staying time of Web site visits, while BrowseRank monitors user behavior data to calculate page importance.

Microsoft engineers, in collaboration with researchers at several Asian institutions, have proposed a new method for improving upon the Web page rankings produced by today's search engine requests. Called BrowseRank, the new approach adds a human factor to the process by weighing how people actually use the Internet, the collaborators reported in a paper recently presented before the Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval.

"The more visits [to] the page made by the users, and the longer time periods spent by the users on the page, the more likely the page is important," the paper's authors noted. The goal is to "leverage hundreds of millions of users' 'implicit voting' on page importance," they said, "in accordance with the concept of Web 2.0."

Time is the most valuable gift

2008-07-28T01:11:00.001-07:00

Its something you can't buy or you can't make more of it. Everyone in this world have the same amount of time. An interesting article on this concept: read here.

Facebook Connect with IPhone

2008-07-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

The world of social networking is going to foray soon into your pockets....It is still there in some sense with the present IPhone. However, in future more and more applications based on the idea of social net will soon see them paving their way into next generation mobile handsets. The idea is pretty simple - how to engage a user more and more onto the new "interactive" applications and earn revenue based on m-commerce. IPhone is a revolutionary in this direction. However with Nokia N-series and Sony Ericsson next generation products too keen on gettting users gelling more and more with their phones, it might soon be a hot money churner.

Facebook has already a huge customer base and its been growing every day. Mark Zuckerberg had an innovative idea when he started this for desktop computer. His company's growth is phenomenal today and he himself must have not imagined this success just like Larry Page.

More information on facebook apps on IPhone is present here

Design Question for a simple technical interview

2008-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

This was an interview question given to me 2 years back:

The idea was to design a solution for a simple problem within couple of hours and also give some insight into its scalability aspects. Many companies are these days throwing up these design problems to aspiring technocrats in order to see if you can come out with "out of the box" solution. Basically in today's world innovation sell.

Attached below is the transcript of the interview solution:

Queue Management System (QMS) Problem

Goal:

a) The queue management system should be able to server multiple applications.

b) All the applications must register itself with the queue management system before using the queue management system

c) Queue in the queue management system should be able to store generic data.

Challenges:

Management of internal memory subsystem inside this queue management system

Multiple applications access queue management system (so these applications should get different queues and the dedicated queues to one application should be protected from the other application in order to avoid data corruption)

Boot time initialization (QMS can be implemented in the form of driver inside OS kernel) or it can exist in user space and just a wrapper over OS to provide abstraction and provide dynamic support to the applications
QMS will have dedicated memory region for queues management and this memory is not infinite (so QMS needs to support applications flexibly and efficiently)
Queues should store generic data
Fairness in the queueing order to support first come first serve basis (One application shouldn’t be starved in order to benefit the other application unless there is a concept of priority based service by QMS to the applications)
Advanced QMS should have knowledge of past history of the jobs (read applications + memory requirement by them in order to allocate memory in advance to such jobs in advance at the time of registration). History information is maintained and the statistical data processing can be done in order to efficiently manage new requests.
Better QoS (Quality of service) to the application
OS independent and portable i.e. no OS system calls (A wrapper is written over OS so that it can be ported to some other GPOS or RTOS for future enhancements).

Limitations:

Assumptions/Comments:

QMS provides first level abstraction with the underlying OS calls by declaring its own memory pool internally and allocation/deallocation of the queue data structure is handled internally by QMS.
QMS can be implemented inside OS kernel or outside in the user world. When inside OS kernel, it can be implemented as a driver or a loadable module inside kernel. So, the BOOTINIT facility as discussed on the following pages is dependent on the implementation of the QMS.
Though at some places, whatever I am talking about looks like linux oriented but I have tried to keep everything as much OS independent as possible.

Design Overview

The design overview for a QMS is depicted below in the form of a pictorial diagram.

Functional Blocks:

BOOTINIT: This module is in-charge of the initialization of the QMS internal memory pool and the initialization of the external and internal context associated with it. This module is basically necessary to bootstrap the QMS.

RMC: The role of RMC is dual purpose.

It’s a registration module for all the applications. Applications must init itself with the QMS and QMS responds back with a sid (service identifier) which the applications must use in order to be served by the QMS. Actually AC checks it later on while serving.

This is for authentication + also keeping the number of

clients to a value below threshold limit. The threshold limit is governed by the initial memory allocation for QMS (given by MMU of the OS). So, QMS based on its calculations and also the average memory required by earlier application clients (of similar nature) knows how many clients it can serve now. QMS rejects application requests if the threshold limit is crossed or can be violated by this new application request.
Callback facility is provided for the applications whose request can’t be processed the first time or who need to wait for the additional requests due to unavailability of enough memory inside QMS. All the clients register their callback functions at the time of the registration and these clients can be waked up in round-robin fashion by the RMC as and when the memory is freed for some other application. So, this can avoid busy wait for an application with QMS and also this ensures a proper mechanism to ensure some fairness in the system.

AC: Authenticity checker basically checks for the incoming requests sid (service identifier). There is a range or service identifier which is known to QMS and which is governed randomly by rand() inside RMC (unlike nonces or seq nos. in TCP) so that even if some malicious agent decrypts one sid for one application, it is not possible for that agent to guess the next sid. So, sid is unique for one application request and AC checks this before processing the request. Once the request is valid, it passes this onto ASPE.

ASPE: The role of ASPE is as mentioned below

This is the core part of the QMS. Once a request is found legitimate by AC, ASPE works over it. It calls on the internal memory subsystem (IMS) services to look for whether this request can be processed. If there is not enough memory inside QMS, then error id is returned to the application. If there is enough memory, then IMS in collaboration with DTA module allocates a queue for this request.
Once a valid queue is allocated for this application, ASPE asks the QS to see if this application request can be serviced now. If yes and there are no pending requests from other users, then ASPE service this request. Actually this step should be before the 1^st step of ASPE but it is debatable.

IMS: The role of IMS is to manage memory pool allocated to the QMS. It also needs to provide memory (read queue) protection for queues being used by different applications. It also needs to verify that the threshold limit (as discussed earlier) is not violated. Besides, it needs to work with DTA in order to provide generic data type service to the application. To avoid endian-ness issues in certain processor architectures, we can keep the queue elements as word aligned but it depends on the implementation. It’s a minor suggestion.

DTA: As QMS is required to provide data abstraction to the application e.g. application can use queue of int, char, map etc. The role of DTA is to provide abstraction to the application. Internally it would return the queue pointer (pqueueid) allocated by IMS as of void type to the application and it would be the role of the application to cast it into the requisite data type in order to be used properly by the application.

Exported Functional APIs

Following is the list of APIs to be used by the application while using QMS services. QMS initializes and exports these APIs at the time of BOOTINIT or the QMS initialization time. I am not defining list of error ids here due to time constraints but we can keep error ids as enum.

1) void Qms_init(void);

This API would initialize QMS and would do the job of BOOTINIT as described earlier.

2) void Qms_register_app(void *datatype, void *apptype, int *sid);

This API is used by the application to register itself with the QMS and in turn QMS responds back with a sid. For now since the API is not returning errors (time constraint), if sid is NULL, this means that the request has failed. Or we can return SUCCESS/FAILURE (bool type).

3) void Qms_aspe_service_req(int sid, void *datatype, qsize_t queuesize);

qsize_t can be similar to size_t structure in linux and the sid should be a valid one for ASPE to process this request.

Internal Functional APIs of the QMS

Naming convention: systemname_callerroutine_calledroutine_requesttype();

· int qms_rmc_ac_gsid(void);

o This function generates a random sid which is unbreakable by external moles or malicious agents.

· void qms_aspe_qs(int apprequest);

o Apprequest is internally generated from sid and is required by QS (qms scheduler to see if this request can be processed at this time).

· Void qms_aspe_ims(void *datatype, qsize_t size);

o ASPE asks IMS whether this request can be processed or not by looking into the memory requirements. IMS upon checking itself whether this is a valid request or not (remember threshold limit…J) can allow DTA to take over and allocates a generic data type queue.

· Void qms_ims_dta(void *datatype);

o This is for generic data type abstraction purposes (as it was one of the goal).

· void qms_aspe_auccheck(int sid);

o This checks whether this is a valid sid from the application or a fake one.

3GPP Picks Femtocell Standard

2008-06-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

The squabbling over competing 3G femtocell designs is over, as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards body has adopted an official architecture and started work on a new standard for home base stations.

The 3GPP’s aim is to have the new standard completed by the end of this year, which would be a faster outcome than might have been expected, considering that vendors were still duking it out over a common approach just a few weeks ago.

The news is available here.

Did Arun Sarin foresee what others couldn't in verizon alltel takeover?

2008-06-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

This verizon bid was at a time when arun sarin is leaving vodafone "better than ever". I hope this has nothing to do with Arun's shift from vodafone's ceo to a free agent right now.

The news

Google Co-Founder Pitches 'White Spaces' in DC

2008-05-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Google co-founder Larry Page visited Washington, D.C. to talk up his company's proposal for a new generation of wireless devices that can run on "white spaces."

"White spaces" are the unused wireless spectrum between broadcast TV channels. Google and others have been lobbying for this spectrum to be made available to the public for free, unlicensed use, like Wi-Fi networks.

'Huge Difference'

But there has a great deal of opposition, including cellular companies that want the spectrum sold and wireless microphone makers, commercial TV broadcasters, and even medical technology companies that think use of white spaces will cause interference.

In February of next year, TV broadcasters in the U.S. will be moving from their current frequencies to new ones, as they transition from analog to digital TV. Devices using the white spaces would utilize a new class of Wi-Fi, and advocates contend that users could have access speeds in the billions of bits per second.

A ruling by the FCC is expected by late summer. Page's visit to D.C. included meetings with federal legislators and with officials at the FCC.

Page told one group that he thought white spaces transmission would "make a huge difference to everybody." Google has been joined in advocating this approach by a coalition of technology companies, including Microsoft, Dell, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and the North American unit of Philips Electronics.

'Very Google'

But there are still substantial technical hurdles. The FCC has been conducting tests about whether transmission in the white spaces would interfere with commercial use of adjacent bands. Some reports have indicated that the agency has encountered problems with the transmission scheme in its tests, but Page and others have said those technical problems can be solved.

The National Association of Broadcasters, among others, isn't buying it. In a statement to news media, Executive Vice President...

3G Layer 1 Inner Loop Power Control Internals

2008-05-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Overview:

The purpose of power control in WCDMA systems is to achieve the following objectives:

· Removes near-far effect
· Mitigates fading
· Compensâtes changes in propagation conditions.

At the system level

Decrease interference from other users
Increase the network capacity

There are two types of power control

· Uplink (UL) Power Control: Power control in uplink must make signal powers from different users nearly equal in order to maximize the total capacity of the cell.

· Downlink (DL) Power Control: Downlink power control ensures that node B keeps the signal to the minimum level in order to decrease the interference to the users in other cells.

Inner Loop Power Control also known as (Fast closed loop power control) is based on the feedback information. There is one PC (Power control) command per timeslot. The SIR _target for fast closed loop PC is set by the outer loop PC. The three special cases of power control are radio link re-configuration, compressed mode and soft-handover (SHO).

The figure below shows inner loop downlink and uplink power control overview.

Downlink Power Control

The downlink (DL) power control is used to decrease interference to the users in other cells. The transmit power of the DL channels is determined by the network. The UE generates TPC commands to control the network transmit power and send them in the TPC field of the uplink DPCCH. Upon receiving the TPC commands UTRAN adjusts its downlink DPCCH/DPDCH power accordingly. DL power control is always applied at the pilot bits of every timeslot. The assumption here is that there is no radio-link reconfiguration (RL_RECONF), compressed mode or SHO.

Power Leveling and Output to HCP from Tx Service for power update

Abbreviations:

3GPP: 3rd Generation Partnership Project
COD: Codec
DEM: Demodulation SC
DPCCH: Dedicated Physical control channel
DPDCH: Dedicated Physical data channel
DL: downlink
DTX: discontinued transmission
GLO: Global Handler
HSDPA: High speed downlink packet access
HSM: Handler shared memory
HSUPA: High speed uplink packet access
MDM: Modem
P-CCPCH: Primary Common Control Physical Channel
S-CCPCH: Secondary common control physical channel
SHO: Soft handover
SIR: Signal to interference ratio
Tc: Chip period (1/Fc = 1/3.84 MHz)
TFCI: Transport Format Combination Indicator
Ts: Timeslot
Ue: User Equipment
UL: Uplink

True JPEG file

2008-05-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is taken from my friend padala blog...[:)]
I found this graph to be true.

Of course this is upto you to figure out whether you are doing really very well or poorly in case people are getting
real crazy.

10 Hottest M0bile Phone Ads

2008-05-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Of course the article is written by a girl...[:)]

however my ranking is different

No. 10 should have been out of the list. For me the top 3 are:

1- The HTC SmartPhones Guy
2- The Verizon Razr2 Guy: The Modern Athlete.
3- Samsung SGH-Z107 Guy: The Dreamer.

How about IPL on mobile handsets?

2008-05-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

IPL action on mobile handsets would mean million bucks from mobile adsense? Wireless companies are working real hard to get high quality streaming videos over the mobile handsets worldwide. Mobile TV is already hot in europe and US but has a long way to go in India. I guess IPL might be that trigger through which mobile ad market can get the initial thrust it is looking for. With high end smartphones becoming a common thing in india middle class soon, i guess IPL would be a killer application. With mobile broadband connections becoming real in Indian market place, we are not far off from having all the favorite games/reality tv shows streaming into our pockets..

How about mobile bidding?? How about clicking pictures from the mobile handsets with resolution as good as a real camera and just uploading property images for online auctions.... :-) sounds good!! howzzat

Cognitive radios Tutorial

2008-05-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

Cognitive Radios Research is one of the focal point of DYSPAN.

If you are wondering what spectrum sensing is all about:

Read this good tutorial:
Tutorial 1

Google -1 , Yahoo - 2 , Microsoft - 3 and Facebook as 6th most traffikked site in US

2008-05-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

April Stats:

Google reached the pinnacle of the Top 50 U.S. Properties in April, with an audience of 141 million visitors, according to data from comScore's monthly analysis. In April, more people used Google's job search, career resources and television sites, according to comScore.

Yahoo sites ranked second, with 140.6 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Corp. sites with 121.2 million visitors.

"April was a very active month. Google took the top property position, thanks to continued search growth and rapid growth at YouTube," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, in a statement.

What's next from Apple?

2008-05-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

Rumor mills are working really hard on "Atom powered mini-tablet"...I hope apple is also working as hard!

The device looks HOT HOT HOT!!!

Will 4G be the next step of evolution from EDGE?

2008-05-16T16:32:00.001-07:00

With 3G not taking off in a way it was predicted, researchers in telecom labs are working overtime to push 4G as a direct evoltionary path from WiMAX, LTE and IMS.

Nortel is already out with its mobile broadband and its been predicted time and again that most of the data packets in a 4G network won't come from humans -> it would be coming from sensors and robots working on behalf of humans. Next decade is going to be revolutionary as far as telecom and entertainment/content on mobile handsets is concerned.

Wind powered motor vehicle - concept

2008-05-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

Recently a bug hit my head - seeing the gas prices sore so high and also hearing all hues and cries all day at CNN, i thought over alternative energy resource. Yesterday evening i sat down with a clean paper sheet and made some designs of how a windmill can be installed over a mobile vehicle. Initially all the thrust would be derived from a battery which would then get charged as the vehicle derives its power from the wind energy. On a highway and also on roads, we see this huge surge of wind coming through the windows (if they are down). I wonder if we can make some ducts inside the car, which allow the wind to move inside an aerodynamic channel (pipe) which is twisted several turns below the car floor and finally hitting a wind turbine through a narrow duct with a high pressure. The ducts can be created at the front + sides (for max. wind gush) and the wind power can be stored in some batteries which would come in handy when the wind speed is slow or when the car is moving slow. Of course this idea requires automobile engineering (not my cup of tea.. :-)) but someone must have thought on similar lines to power vehicles using wind. Fuel cell is one other concept using renewable source of energy. Will upload some of the designs soon for the automobile guys to select/reject for their research...!!!

Friction is one issue....so then just create the ducts at the backend of the car and use tail wind to power your vehicle whenever you are moving in the direction of the wind and not against it....i.e. use wind, batteries and gas in transition to save fuel....howzzat!!

XStreamHD(TM) Announces New Additions to Executive Team

2008-05-16T04:19:00.001-07:00

article

"So-called experts" grilling candidates hard in tech interviews-

2008-05-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

Product life-cycle depends on so many random variables. Having some additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) won't make it worse... :-)

RadioFrame readies 2nd gen femtocell chip

2008-05-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

Femtocell processor and basestation specialist RadioFrame Networks is readying a version of its OmniRadio processor that will be targeted at the LTE and WiMAX femtocells sector.

The initial OmniRadio chip was one of the first deployed in femtocells and works mainly on GSM/UMTS 2G/3G specifications.

Breaking a complex system software problem and solving it in steps

2008-05-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

Recently got the USB 2.0 interface working on the receiver boards. Initially it was a blackbox for me with a h/w ip and documentation of register interface and usb signals to look at. Of course this blog is a general description of general system software problems confronted in order to give a glimpse of how a complex system software problem is broken down and solved. Proprietary h/w and s/w stuff is not explained.

Expectation: To enable USB host controller with root hub powering 2 usb ports and analyzing the data bursts on the usb bus. The host controller packs data to the PHY which does bit slicing and append sync header and finally transceiver spits it out over the usb bus. We used really state of the art solid state drives for testing.

To envision USB architecture: Imagine USB host class driver sitting over the USB host stack which sits over the USB host controller driver layer. Normally in the h/w there is a host controller and a device controller (on the device side). The application sits over the host class driver.

Problem statement:

Ensure EHCI host controller driver was up and running!!

Ensure all the usb registers were initialized in the right way.
Use uncached volatile in all the read/writes with the registers. Otherwise we get m/c checks from the ARC.
Mapped the values with the USB documentation
Understood the offsets used by USBx code and also used scripts to check the values of the USB h/w registers after ensuring that ehci host init was correct and complete.
Ensure that the threads are working well and relinquishing the control at the right instant.

Ensure USB host stack is up and running!!

No hiccups faced

Ensure USB class driver is up and running!!

Described later in the article

Ensure Interrupts using some low level bsp changes and add some synchronization delay in the test application

Ensure that the cache is disabled or use cache safe
Ensure the following important interrupts:

Root hub status change signal interrupt (vital for device insertion/extraction)

This was ensured using above cache disable macros
Ensure that USB reference clock frequency is correct.
Ensure that the timer interrupts are working at the right frequency

End of Transaction interrupt (absolutely vital for async td process procedure)
Host error interrupt (vital for the host error interrupt in case of transactions error)

Using Scope

Using an oscilloscope to measure crystal frequency
See J/Ks and SoFs (Start of Frame – To understand more: Google it). This helped us in understanding that actually SoFs are going on to the bus.

Using Beagle Toolbox

This came in really handy as I could see the real transactions on the bus and I gained confidence that actually something is gong on to the bus.

Learnt to play with the toolbox

Understood how to connect and generate a trace
Generated test traces with different devices e.g. flash drive, camera, ipod, low-speed mouse, usb 2.0 sata adapter in order to understand the different traces in different scenarios. Found that using a high speed usb drive always result in the set_configuration at the end with an ack of 0 coming back.

Solving the final problem after the set_configuration command

Till now we understood that 2 important interrupts form the basis for USB transactions -> Root hub status change signal and the end of transaction interrupt
So, I thought that why storage instance of the device is not available to the application even when the configuration is getting set correctly? I found out that the logical entity for the device is getting freed even though device enumeration was correct.
I watched the following functions very closely in my iterations and also traces on the beagle toolbox.

Registeration of a USB controller driver with the USB stack
Interrupt handler
Device insertion
Connection change on the port
Create new device
Command Block Wrapper (CBW) that encapsulate the SCSI request
SCSI unit is ready for data transfer

I had special focus on the above 2 routines coz in my traces along with device enumeration routine, I could see the following :Class=0x08 SubClass=0x06 Prot=0x50 which basically means it is a SCSI storage device with a Bulk Only protocol

Storage activation

I found that this function was not called and the resources are getting freed before this point. So, I decided to look into the storage entry and storage thread entry and storage driver entry functions very very closely.
Storage entry functionality basically implements a state m/c for storage entity. I understood my problem lies at the class driver i.e the layer between host controller driver and the application. As host controller driver properly enumerates the device after setting the correct address and is able to read all the device descriptors correctly. So, I started looking for the above class driver functions related to storage at run time.

§ Storage activation is normally done after the memory allocation for Threads and memory allocation for the media structures used by our filesystem

§ Bingo!! I was excited here. I knew I was close.

Thread stack allocation required X bytes. It was okay and I checked the memory pool available after thread stack allocation.
Thread creation for storage entry was fine
Memory requirement for the file system media structures was a whooping 10X bytes + Y bytes for alignment. I simply didn’t have that big memory block free and therefore it returned memory as insufficient. I increased the memory pool in the application and I started getting DATA0 and DATA1 as seen by the beagle toolbox. I wrote my own program to create/read/write/close/delete files on the media and validate it with a PC. It worked alright.
Why didn’t I find it before??

No way to see USB bus transacitons without USB analyzer.
Taking step by step approach helped me in understanding USB code in-depth.
There was no error returned for a storage device not present. I repeatedly ensured that device enumeration is correct. I thought that the problem is at the lower bsp or the host controller driver rather than at the class driver.
There were 3 main threads in-operation

One main thread
Storage entry thread – Even if there was not much memory available, the control used to just pass to and fro to the main thread, driver entry thread and storage entry thread encompassing 100s of functions.
Host controller driver thread

I firmly believe in breaking down the problem statement in sub-tasks and then solving the subtasks by checking out the tested segments of the code. Getting a complex s/w work on a h/w IP is sometimes really time consuming and painful as there are 100s of variables in the system and normally some random variable (transceiver not spitting out data properly or s/w stuck in some memory pool assignment issue) would be there which hurt u the most. So, its always good to characterize your problem.

Why apple can't kill the blackberry phone?

2008-05-14T11:18:00.001-07:00

Good Article

History's Worst Software Bugs

2008-05-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.wired.com/software/coolapps/news/2005/11/69355?currentPage=1

Encryption Engine Driver

2008-05-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

The latest assignment is the encryption engine driver for AES, SHA-128, SHA-256 and md5 block testing for our h/w ip. In my digital h/w testing course at umich, ann arbor we learnt about scan chains, secure keys and trust zones. My course project was h/w security: Testing vs Reliability Tradeoffs. At the end of the course, we were required to submit analysis of over 50 research publications and our own projections of where the technology is heading to. I intend to re-use that repository of knowledge in the current work assignment. Hope to do it in quick time...[:)]

Oldest code still running

2008-05-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

Slashdot featuring an article on the Oldest algorithm still in use!! People have their own opinions but I suppose if something is running for so long, it ought to be optimal and bug free...i wonder how many people think on the longevity of their code while testing for the recently added feature.

Funny Things happening with USB host controller

2008-05-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Recently purchased beagle USB 480 analyzer for office. The toolbox is quite good in the sense you can sniff packets going onto the USB bus betweeen the host controller and the device. However USB host controller provides the following interrupts level.

1. Interrupt ASYNC Address
2. Host System Error
3. Frame List Rollover
4. Port Change
5. USB Error
6. USB Interrupt

The issue here is that USB interrupt is seen whenever there is a device insertion or extaction but whenever there is a transaction that is finished, there should be an interrupt. Even though masking of interrupts is correct, still the host controller is unable to generate an interrupt. This could be more of a transceiver issue as there is tight binding b/w host and device and sync-up sometimes results in lot of corrupted packets.

Ann Arbor Visit

2008-05-10T17:25:00.001-07:00

It was fantastic to go to my alma mater (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) and meet some of the people who have literally transformed my life.

1) My Professor: It was great to join his group and do research under cognitive radios with NSF funding.
2) Pradeep, Sujay, Ramashis, Harsh and others doing PhD in computer science and Statistics department respectively.

The Question is: Are you smart enough?

2008-05-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Asia and South America will produce the biggest # of billionaires in next 10 years.

Are you game??

1) Today do i have the skillsets or am i in the process to open a startup in next couple of years?
2) What domain it should cater to?
3) Target Users?
4) Do I have the network to do so today? If not build it.
5) Can i organize the unorganized real estate, retail or infrastructure sectors using technology skills? Can we build systems like Google that cater to these unorganized trade sectors? If yes, what aspect of the supply and demand cycle should we target?
6) Can i sum-up my idea in 3 lines and formulate it into the problem statement that brings benefits to million of users?

I guess, everyone has these questions. Everyone has 24 hours. Everyone has similar constraints. The big question is are you smart enough to tap the resources and make something as beautiful as Google?

This Ain't Rocket Science

2008-05-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

Favorite Topics for system software tech interviews:

1) Cache coherency
2) Interrupt Handling
3) Priority based scheduling
4) Spinlocks
5) Sample DMA driver using a provided register map
6) Buffer Management for multi-core SoC
7) Simple C routines like strrev, strncpy, atoi, itoa, reversing words in a string, macro for power of 2, bitreversing
8) Puzzles from howtomove_moutfuji handbook
9) Stack overflow
10) FileSystems - disk mounting, inodes, distributed vs centralized tradeoffs
11) RTOS concepts like priority inversion, scheduling algorithms
12) Write sample boot code - preboot, boot, post-boot initialization code for board bring-up (for people having experience in bsp)
13) Usage of volatile and const in device drivers

Others feel free to add.

Heroes are not born: They are built

2008-05-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

Top News that caught our eyeline in 2007

i) IPhone
ii) FemtoCells
iii) Google's plans for bidding 700Mhz spectrum for 4.6 billion dollars and then pulling out of the race
iv) Navigation chips market heat burning top gps chipmakers like sirf, garmin
v) Users hues and cries against Facebook privacy infringement

In 2008, we are interested in knowing about:

i) Oil Price rise will shatter all records
ii) Real Estate Market is still sluggish and may be in negative growth
iii) HDTV is going to be the next big thing after mobile revolution in last 10 years
iv) Retail biggies eyes Aisa-Pacific particulary India-China great middle class
v) Virgin Space Flight

IronMan & IRobot - Nerd's favorites

2008-05-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

I wonder if someday i could be like Tony Stark and fly at supersonic speeds. His command center is just awesome. Already there are experiments that allow people to fly for couple of minutes on self-propelled gadgets.

A command center connected to all the databases and speech recognition s/w on top of it was just cool. The robots were intelligent enough to understand human emotions and were responsive enough to behave in a deterministic and predictive way.

Similarly IRobot was such a wonderful piece of imagination that allowed people to think beyond robots. Robots enslaving other robots and even enslaving whole human civilization.

The truth is that people remember legends. Tony stark is the latest entry to all these superheroes with technology showcases might still be some decades away but surely not impossible.

I sometimes wonder do technocrats lack the imagination of Hollywood directors as technology usually lags behind the movies that allow you to believe in things that are still some decades away. Surely we can one day all fly like Tony Stark!

Mobile TV is hot in US and Europe!!!

2008-05-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Every day in Europe, people are subscribing to watch news broadcast (small-clips) on their wireless handsets.
Already tiny TV, the kind that is watched on a cell phone, is spreading beyond Japan and South Korea, where it has been available for about three years.

Britain is auctioning wireless spectrum this month that could be used for mobile TV. France plans to award a license for a 13-channel mobile video service in June to begin by the end of the year. In Germany, Mobile 3.0, an investor group led by a South African media company, Naspers, plans to start a video service this year.

On Sunday, AT&T Wireless, with 71.4 million phone customers, started AT&T Mobile TV in the United States. The 10-channel service, priced at $15 a month, includes Pix, a channel with movies from Sony Pictures. AT&T will sell cell phones made by LG Electronics and Samsung that can receive the TV broadcasts.

Mobile operators across Europe and the United States are investing in new broadcasting towers, mobile devices, TV programming and promotions. Its still not clear how the profits would follow.

USB analyzer and some known stuff

2008-05-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today we ordered a USB analyzer to sniff the packets going out on the USB bus from our host controller interface. The scope wasn't doing too great as it was just enabling us to see the signals at some of the USB points going out on the bus. We were able to see the traffic on the downstream but the upstream traffic couldn't be analyzed using a scope.

Recently I joined a startup. My previous company was STM.

Working in a startup is different from a big company like STM.

a) People are more pro-active and there is no excuse. You just have to do it right!!

b) Business makes lot of sense to you as stocks form a major part of your compensation package. If everything goes alright, sometimes people earn more than their 10 years of savings.

c) If you wish to learn something, join a startup. If you wish to leverage your knowledge, again join a startup. I don't see any reason why i didn't do it earlier. Technology is the forefront of a startup and its thrilling to learn from the experts who have been working for 20 years non-stop in embedded software domain.

d) People are more open to discuss the technical problems as every cog in the wheel has to work right to move the vehicle forward. Their is no inertia or time for friction whatsoever.

e) When you see your CEO and CTO working with you inside the lab, you ought to get it correct and that too fast. Time is your enemy in a startup. Nevertheless, an inspiring environment.

f) Sometimes, you got to work in unrelated fields and that too diverse and you might wonder that you have no prior experience on that. However, you got to be flexible and adapt to the environment as soon as possible.

g) Don't think about risks or rewards. Just focus about the work and things would automatically settle in place.

5 Sins

2008-05-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

1) Corrupting a jtag ashling using a wrong side to plug into a board
2) Unethical Hacking
3) Making sphaggeti code work
4) Unauthorized cache line accesses in multiple core SoC platforms
5) Enabling all unwarranted timer interrupts

Femto cell conference

2008-05-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

With field trials of Femtocells now underway in Europe, USA and Asia and results expected in Q3/Q4, be sure to you mark your diaries for the 2nd Intl. Conference on Femtocells and Home Access Points to take place in Dallas, 5th-7th December 2007 to get the latest updates on services, products, market potential, players, pricing, field trials, etc.

Utilizing Online Technical Consortium

2008-05-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

I have been amazed many times that there are lot of technical people who just strive for challenges and wish to work on nice cool project e.g. 20% -80% google way but somehow don't get the resources or the time to do it.
Why not we can utilize this big technical community to make something similar to Linux open source project for solving critical AI or information learning or spectrum utilization algorithms for vast no. of users? Making it similar to wikipedia or open source would be beneficial to everyone in longer run. Today internet provides us this unique mechanism by which all the knowledge gained in last several centuries is at our disposal. We should understand and utilize it in constructive ways to solve the problems which might be seen in the future.

For example, next decade belongs to network data transmission and reception (be it wired or wireless): there would be sensors exchanging tons of information about their local environment to the centralized governing entity which would take into account all the history information before making an optimal decision. However, this would entails some problems regarding storage, usage and complexity of the analysis of this huge data that the present h/w or s/w resources wouldn't be able to cope up with it....So, we should start thinking about these problems with an altogether different mindset.

Future: Unthinkable = possible

2008-04-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

How much cool these would be...?

1) On-demand Sports/News HDTV channels on mobile handsets.
2) Mesh connected Robot driven Cars/Auto Pilot navigating traffic with precision
3) Alternative energy resource from sea-water
4) Nuclear energy powered monorails connecting all the pivotal nodes inside cities
5) .....

Technologies to watch in next 5 years

2008-04-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

1) HDTV

Bringing commercial HDTV content via a unique transport medium would be a killer application. Market is already flooded by innovative HDTV displays which can render the high definition content, however the transport medium is still a debating point. XstreamHD (xstreamhd.com) brings out the latest transport mechanism for theaterical quality experience at home.

2) Cognitive Radios

Spectral Agility is a technology which enables secondary or unlicensed users utilize the seldomly utilized bands in the spectrum and vacate the channels when a primary user (licensed user) returns to the host channel. There are companies which are working on multi-radio h/w platforms that will enable spectral agility to scan and listen on multiple channels at the same time and utilize the spectral opportunities without hindering the primary users in the network.

3) Femto Basestations

Home based 3G access point would surely be the best way to propell the growth of 3G handset sales in the european and asia-pacific markets which typically boosts of the higher cell densities and frequent call drops. However WiMAX is a great competition and several companies like picochip are looking for bigger partners/operators to take the lead in this domain.

*** Disclaimer: This blog is purely based on the author's experience in telecommunications and wirelss industry. It doesn't reflect the views of any other person, institution or organization whatsoever.