1. Explorations in Telecommunications: Seeking New Frontiers
Encounter 2002 Lecture Series
Hawke Centre, University of South Australia
Explorations in Telecommunications: Seeking New Frontiers by
Professor Michael Miller Professor Emeritus, University of South Australia

2. Encounter 2002
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
Project is more than just the infrastructure:
It will assist university research in collaboration with industry
It will provide direct support to companies developing new applications and technology
and will facilitate commercialisation of these new technologies.
mNet project - Adelaide as the hub of a new “encounter” likely to once again transform social & business practices

3. Early History of Telecoms
English physicist, Robert Hooke - concept of visual telegraph systems
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
Project is more than just the infrastructure:
It will assist university research in collaboration with industry
It will provide direct support to companies developing new applications and technology
and will facilitate commercialisation of these new technologies.

5. Early History of Telecoms (cont)
UK - mid 19th century - electric telegraphs began to appear
US Samuel Morse - Washington to Baltimore
South Australia - Charles Todd
Adelaide to Port Adelaide
overland telegraph to Darwin
US Elisha Gray & Alexander Graham Bell patents
Project is more than just the infrastructure:
It will assist university research in collaboration with industry
It will provide direct support to companies developing new applications and technology
and will facilitate commercialisation of these new technologies.

7. Recent 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
Project is more than just the infrastructure:
It will assist university research in collaboration with industry
It will provide direct support to companies developing new applications and technology
and will facilitate commercialisation of these new technologies.
mNet project - Adelaide as the hub of a new “encounter” likely to once again transform social & business practices

8. New 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 Network

9. What is the Internet?
The Internet: with a capital “I” is the global internetwork that links
businesses, universities, schools and public and private users.
 All messages/data are transmitted across the Internet use the
Internet Protocol (IP)
 A large part of the data also uses the Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP) - hence TCP/IP
 World Wide Web (WWW) :
the browsing service/interface that enables
access across the Internet to a highly distributed, global,
multi-media database

10. Total worldwide network demand
Gbps
Total worldwide network demand
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
27645
Data
11328
Voice
4451
1294
948
1107
1511
1572
1766
2063
2411
135
273
588
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Source: Insight Research Corp, May 1998

11. “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.”
It is now widely accepted that the Internet will grow through mobility.
The two fastest growing areas of technology
Mobile phones and
the Internet
are converging. The resulting growth over the next five years should rival the growth of the internet over the last five years.
Mobility is the future of the Internet

12. The mNet Australia Project

13. Snapshot - 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
Project is more than just the infrastructure:
It will assist university research in collaboration with industry
It will provide direct support to companies developing new applications and technology
and will facilitate commercialisation of these new technologies.
The network is part of a $30+ million project to make Australian companies key players in the next wave of the Internet.

14. Snapshot - 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
Project is more than just the infrastructure:
It will assist university research in collaboration with industry
It will provide direct support to companies developing new applications and technology
and will facilitate commercialisation of these new technologies.

15. mNet location of core network
North Terrace, Adelaide.
A well defined microcosm of business, cultural and recreational activity.
Retail Entertainment Cultural
Government Finance Tourism
Health Education Residential.

16. mNet Stakeholders Australian Developers: 3 universities:
Aspect Computing
BetterHealth Global
Chimo
DSpace
Imagination Entertainment
Knowledge South
Medical Communications Associates
3 universities:
University of South Australia
Adelaide University
Flinders University
3 Carriers:
Telstra, Agile & Airnet
Multinational ICT Companies:
Alcatel, Cisco, Compaq, CSC & Motorola
Foundation members on honour roll.
Participating members also listed.
Also: SA Govt, Playford Centre & The City of Adelaide

17. mNet 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)
It is now widely accepted that the Internet will grow through mobility.
The two fastest growing areas of technology
Mobile phones and
the Internet
are converging. The resulting growth over the next five years should rival the growth of the internet over the last five years.
mNet Corporation will commission research into the practical issues that emerge in the deployment of advanced networks.

18. mNet 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
It is now widely accepted that the Internet will grow through mobility.
The two fastest growing areas of technology
Mobile phones and
the Internet
are converging. The resulting growth over the next five years should rival the growth of the internet over the last five years.
The mNet network will enable Australian commercial developers to profit from an investment in developing new mobile Internet applications and services

19. Encounters 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
It is now widely accepted that the Internet will grow through mobility.
The two fastest growing areas of technology
Mobile phones and
the Internet
are converging. The resulting growth over the next five years should rival the growth of the internet over the last five years.
Positioning Australia to profit from leadership in the application of next generation telecommunications technology