Reuben Edwards

• PhD
• Lecturer at Lancaster University

There has been considerable focus on delivering location based services using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in order to acquire user location details and enable over the air interactions or experiences. In this paper we present an alternative system, where the focus changes to the use of Implied Location Based Services (ILBS) using Near Field Co...

In this paper we describe an information system designed to simplify the interactions which occur frequently between students and lecturers within a Higher Education environment. The concept focuses on utilizing both objects in the physical world and online services to create new experiences to support flexible learning for educational settings. Wi...

Checking-in to social networks to inform 'friends' of a user's up-to-date location and activities is becoming part of the information we reveal. However, it is possible for users to 'cheat' the system to gain extra points as the granularity of the positioning technologies allows a user to check-in to location they may not actually be physically pre...

Whilst there has been considerable research focus on the user experience of using NFC enabled mobile phones interacting with tags or objects, the ability to perform peer to peer contact has been given little consideration and is often dismissed as being only useful for setting up a connection or transferring business cards. In this research, we pre...

The Nabaztag is an ambient, internet-enabled device which is designed to introduce a young audience to web-based social interactions. It connects wirelessly to the internet, allowing users to access a variety of services, ranging from the audio relay of RSS feeds and text based messages, to visual displays of light sequences and ear rotations. Inte...

This paper describes a work in progress of using animation software tools to teach programming principles. The motivation behind this work is to encourage students in higher education who do not see themselves as serious programmers to engage with some of the concepts and methods used in the teaching of programming. In addition this work was used i...

Applications of 3 dimensional (3-D) virtual reality are now possible on current mobile phones due to the advances in mobile 3-D graphics technologies. However, the user-interface to these applications is generally still limited to the basic phone keypad which detracts from the sophisticated experience 3-D worlds can provide. In this paper we presen...

Undoubtedly the biggest success amongst the recent games console releases has been the launch of the Nintendo Wii. This is arguably due to its most innovative attribute—the wireless controller or “Wiimote.” The Wiimote can be used as a versatile game controller, able to detect motion and rotation in three dimensions which allows for very innovative...

In the emerging world of m-commerce potential users consistently cite location based information as one of the emergent services that they would most likely utilise. However, solutions for obtaining the specific location of a mobile user predominately rely on the provision of additional hardware and/or software within either the mobile phone or sys...

3D computer graphics have been an important feature in games development since it was first introduced in the early 80s and there is no doubt that 3D based content is often viewed as more attractive in games than the more abstract 2D graphics. Many games publishers are keen to leverage their success in the console market into the mobile phone platf...

Despite the ubiquity and rich features of current mobile phones, mobile games have failed to reach even the lowest estimates of expected revenues. This is unfortunate as mobile phones offer unique possibilities for creating games aimed at attracting demographics not currently catered for by the traditional console market. As a result, there has be...

Mobile games are expected to play significant role in future mobile services by evolving beyond the largely single player titles that currently dominate the market to ones that take advantage expanding mobile phone functionality and the wide demographic of the mobile phone user. However, because of the fragmented nature of the mobile software devel...

As standardised operating systems for mobile phones emerge the development skills required are not merely those of being able to programme in an object-orientated language; rather, they are those of the embedded programming engineer. In this paper we show that embedded programming can be both attractive to students and a novel way of delivering dif...

Whilst augmented reality (AR) has been a prevalent research topic it has proved difficulty to implement and apply in commercial situations as it generally requires complex and expensive hardware. With the proliferation of mobile phones amongst the world population with ever increasing sets of advanced features such as cameras and high resolution sc...

Whilst location based services have long been envisioned as an important element of future mobile user experiences, they have only recently become realizable for the average phone user. This is due to the emergence of: flat rate date tariffs on mobile networks; low cost Bluetooth GPS units and a large user base of phones capable of installing and r...

Undoubtedly the biggest success amongst the recent games console releases has been the launch of the Nintendo Wii. This is arguably due to its most innovative attribute—the wireless controller or “Wiimote.” The Wiimote can be used as a versatile game controller, able to detect motion and rotation in three dimensions which allows for...

This paper presents the results of a successful development of an algorithm to reduce processing time for mobile hosted location aware software applications. It starts with a review of location based services and discusses issues surrounding various designs to place the algorithm in context. The algorithm draws on various methodologies pioneered in...

RFID (Radio frequency identification) is often seen as an enabling technology for mixed-reality experiences where all kinds of objects, even the most mundane and inanimate, can be equipped to provide interaction between the real and virtual worlds. These mixed-reality experiences could occur in all aspects of our lives, but one of the most easily e...

Mobile game development is seen as an area likely to exhibit increasing influence on the structure of the games industry although many current pc/console game developers are struggling to adapt their existing practices to this new medium. This is due to both the physical restrictions of the mobile phone and the mobile network as a development envir...

In this paper we describe an innovative mobile game in the form a multi-authored book. Based upon the 1920s surrealist technique of "Exquisite Corpse", the book builds from a series of standard text message length contributions with each author being given only the previous message on which to base their own contribution. Previous contributors are...

PAC-LAN is a mixed reality game, which plays homage to the Namco classic Pacman, which utilises mobile phones equipped with in-built RFID readers. The game is played by 5 players around a suitable pedestrian area with their positions indicated on a graphical representation on their phone screen. Players use their mobile phone to interact with physi...

Since the first appearance of modern man, one trait of human behavior in our interaction with the physical environment appears to be an inherent desire to leave our mark on a particular object or space. 'SprayCan' graffiti that appeared in the 1970s is but a modern extension of this phenomenon, yet it divides communities and generations in terms of...

The mobile phone games market is currently dominated by the single player titles that merely use the phone as a computing platform and ignore the possibilities for innovation provided by the phone's inherent mobility and connectivity. One new game genre that does utilize these features are the so-called 'location based games' which allow players to...

Whilst there is a number of location sensing games emerging for mobile phones, from both commercial and academic sectors, there are few examples of social proximity based games that are effectively position independent. Bluetooth would seem an obvious choice for proximity based games, although the majority of games produced to-date simply uses it t...

This paper analyses mobile terminated (MT) SMS billing, an area of mobile commerce which has undergone massive growth with the maturation of mobile content delivery on 2.5G mobile networks. Although the short message service for GSM devices was never designed to be a facilitator for micropayments, premium SMS services have been embraced by many net...

Directing advertising to mobile phones currently is limited to commercial text messages, short-code text-back messages, two dimensional (2D) images, or wireless access protocol (WAP) clickable push links. All of these traditional methods do not facilitate advertising approach were consumers can interact with prospective purchases. In this paper we...

RFID is often cited as the next big evolution in computing as it effectively enables everyday objects to be connected to the Internet. RFID readers are now available on mobile phones and in this paper we present an example of their use in a location based mobile game. Location based games are a new entertainment genre that allow users to play games...

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In the current market many game developers and publishers treat the cellular phone as just another platform to which they can port a console game; they ignore the exciting new possibilities cellular phones provide via their inherent ability to maintain connectivity while on the move. One possibility is to extend the virtual world of traditional vid...

The mobile phone industry has established a large customer base market, providing a wide range of mobile applications from voice and data services to digital media such as digital music, video and mobile gaming. As content becomes more widely available in digital form, it becomes easier to share, distribute, manipulate and copy if it is not properl...

Most new entrants into the mobile commerce marketplace are faced with a paradox; how can we attract users without merchants, and how can we attract merchants without customers? Without a huge investment in marketing to build consumer recognition, starting a new m-commerce service is risky. In this paper we analyse how successful companies on the we...

The mobile industry has evolved rapidly in the past couple of decade and amongst these advances are 3D graphics on mobile phones. This advances topic have had to address specific process of architectures and small memories on mobile phones that are generally ill equipped to the intensive calculations of floating-point precision required by 3D math....

Mobile phones are becoming the most pervasive computing platform for a large proportion of the world's population. Furthermore, their inherent mobility and connectivity are providing new and interesting possibilities for documenting human activity across both time and space. In this paper, we present the LocoBlog, a mobile phone application which a...

Bluetooth application developers have to address technical challenges imposed by the heterogeneity of the wide range of hardware and software capabilities present in the Bluetooth enabled devices. The wireless nature and the mobility of devices place an added strain on resource management. To manage such diversity of software and hardware, middlewa...

The emergence of IMS and SIP has major ramifications for the whole of mobile industry including network providers, end users and application developers. This paper focuses on the evolution of mobile entertainment applications towards the utilization of rich multimedia content coupled with presence and localization awareness and how Java, the domina...

The wireless nature and the mobility of Bluetooth enabled devices combined with the heterogeneity of the wide range of hardware and software capabilities present in those devices makes Bluetooth connection and resource management very complicated and error prone. To manage such diversity of software and hardware, middleware technologies masking the...

Mobile commerce applications that attempt to introduce a new payment method to the public experience a high failure rate. This mirrors the experience on the web whereby a number of high profile 'web-money' solutions were withdrawn due to poor adoption. Despite their technological advantage and suitability for mobile payments (lower overheads, cheap...

Whilst there are a number of location sensing games emerging for mobile phones there are few examples of social proximity based games that are effectively position independent and whose game play is invoked by serendipitous encounters. In this research we have extended the existing mobile phone phenomenon of Bluejacking, which allows spontaneous so...

Location based services (LBS) were one of the new emerging technologies that appeared and fell with the WAP non-revolution. The concept of providing information and facilities based on a user's physical location was simple and intuitive, but over-hyped. These services were imprecise and one-way. No feedback could be given for the quality of the pre...

Most mobile games currently available are single player, but the increasing interoperability and connectivity between mobile devices is taking advantage of mobile phone portability for multiplayer gaming. Real-time gaming where players can see each other move at the same time requires the higher bandwidth connectivity offered by Wireless LAN, Bluet...

Electronic (E) business has been the culmination of efforts and development in modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It became the most important tool for the conduct of many transactions and ventures worldwide. Mobile (M) business is defined as the conduct of business transactions across public telecommunications infrastructures...

While there is no doubt that there will be an increasing trend towards 3D games on mobile devices the resource constraints of the devices themselves and the highly variable nature of the environment present considerable challenges for games developers. In this paper we consider some of the current constraints together with current and, probable, fu...

In the emerging world of m-commerce potential users consistently cite location based services as a technology they would be interested in using. However, solutions to obtaining the specific location of the user predominately rely on the provision of additional hardware and/or software within the mobile phone or the system infrastructure. These tech...

Security in mobile commerce is becoming more important due to increasing demand from users wishing to perform online transactions over mobile devices. Security is one of the critical issues for successful adoption of mobile commerce both from an operator and user perspective. Although there are many aspects relating to security in this paper we con...

Cellular phones offer a whole range of interesting and exciting possibilities for entertainment systems coupled with a very resource-constrained environment. In this article we consider the possibilities currently achievable through the example of a networked sports service. Applications that keep users up-to-date with sports results and playing fa...

This paper presents a project to aid student conceptualisation of the complex theories that characterise the mobile channel and the operation of a Rake receiver. We show, through student feedback and performance, that these complex systems can be presented in a challenging and stimulating way to maximise the learning experience.

Walking out of the house on cold and wet winter morning to catch the bus knowing with confidence that arrival is imminent would be a dream for many users of public transport. With one look at the mobile phone not only it is possible to see the exact time of arrival at a user's stop but also the next departure from the central terminal and its estim...

In this paper, 3G licensing and deployment in Jordan and the implications for others in the Levantine region is studied. Jordan has the highest mobile penetration rate in the Levantine region of the middle east just following the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It has probably been the first country to incept mobile services and...

This work presents a detailed study of the rollout of 3G in the United Kingdom. It elaborates the aspects of network technology, the various consumer mobile terminals in use, service models, and pricing structures and describes the means through which users are made aware of the differences between 2G/2.5G and 3G, the methods whereby business model...

The market for broadband hotspots is expected to grow with the deployment of WiFi technology becoming the standard to access the Internet in a range of mobile settings. Many businesses are entering into the market, looking at the promising prospects and opportunities offered by hotspots. Some companies are investing to become a hotspot venue like S...

Mobile gaming now forms a large part of the wireless industry. Although other business models have been conceived for operating a mobile games service profitably, most operators employ a 'pay for download' model to deliver games to handsets. However, with the advent of local area mobile gaming, users can play together in a local area with Bluetooth...

Wireless hotspots in public venues offer customers the prospect of broadband Internet connectivity that nomadic workers would experience in a corporate environment. Hotspots not only benefit users but also provide opportunities for businesses, such as hotspot wholesalers and telecommunication companies, to enter the market to gain a competitive edg...

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Future mobile/wireless services constitute a set of multidimensional issues that stretch beyond the more technical reconsiderations. It is believed that for such network configurations to flourish and prosper, several social, business and even consumer - oriented paradigms are essential. Users can be thought of as the fuel for the advances in the f...

UK departments offering engineering degrees are struggling to maintain recruitment levels at a time the British government is aiming to increase the number of school leavers entering further education to fifty percent. Although engineering academics sight a number of external factors which contribute to this situation, there appears to be reluctanc...

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This paper focuses on the use of reconfigurable analogue technology to support multi-standard Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) and high frequency (HF) communication systems. The choice of receiver architecture is discussed within the context of frequency adaptive systems and the low-IF receiver is introduced as an alternative to the zero-IF digital rec...

Adaptive real-time systems are often typically considered by design engineers to be a solely digital preserve. However, in recent years analogue technologies such as the Field programmable Analogue Array (FPAA) have been developed to support real-time reconfiguration. These technologies can offer an analogue platform for a vast number of applicatio...

The ability to connect anytime and anywhere is becoming easier and more convincing with the technological advances and approaches in the wireless communication technologies in recent years. Along side the mobile phone there has also been a proliferation of wireless devices such as Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), digital camera, camcorder, portabl...

The requirements of 3G and 4G systems dictate that system architectures adapt to various user conditions, i.e. be reconfigurable. The concept of a fully reconfigurable system is fast becoming reality, due to new and advancing enabling technologies. This paper presents two such technologies, the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and field program...

The authors analyse a new topology for designing ring-TCM schemes over N-dimensional constellations. The squared free distance of these codes is optimised. Thus optimisation is performed for AWGN channels. The generalised topology is studied for M-PSK and N-dimensional constellations. An improvement is obtained by using an N-dimensional constellati...

A high performance block coded modulation technique using a concatenated phase/frequency signal constellation is introduced. The coded modulation schemes described have very large minimum squared Euclidean distance (MSED) and are bandwidth efficient with reference to uncoded QPSK, giving gains of up to 15 dB over the AWGN channel. Simulation result...

Mobile application development requires many techniques unfamiliar to the general PC developer due to the limitations presented by the mobile platforms. Unlike the PC environment where hardware capabilities can easily be upgraded to accommodate more complex applications, in the mobile environment the onus is on the ability of the developer to produ...

Mobile phones are becoming one of the major personal entertainment devices amongst the general public. We are currently seeing a paradigm shift from the traditional voice-centric applications to those that incorporate music, pictures, video, games, internet browsing, etc. Although mobile games represent a significant portion of the mobile entertain...

In recent years mobile communication systems have become extremely complex. To add to the complexity there is a diverse range of hardware and software used across the industry. Resource management across heterogeneous system and networks is made easier by use of a platform and language independent middleware. Common Object Request Broker Architectu...

In this paper we discuss the interactive installation, 'TxT Book Roskilde', which appeared as part of the Roskilde Festival in 2007. The installation consisted of a user-generated collaborative story projected on to the side of one of the event marquees to which festival goers could contribute via their mobile phones. This type of event invariably...

Whilst there are a number of location sensing games emerging for mobile phones, there are few examples of social proximity based games that are effectively position independent. Bluetooth would seem an obvious choice for proximity based games, although the majority of games produced to-date simply uses it to provide a quasi peer to peer connection...

The UNIVERSAL Exchange for Higher Education will demonstrate the feasibility of an open exchange system for course units between institutions of higher education across the world. .The aim of this project is to develop and validate a model and standards that could later be widened to embrace other groups of higher education institutions and that co...

This paper investigates the effects of tonal masking on the five discrete audio channels of a Dolby® 5-channel surround-sound system, found through the perceptual testing of subjects. This simple model provided a compression ratio of 14:1 in the input stimuli. Although the model is at the early stage of development, it demonstrates that through a d...

In this paper, we describe trends in mobile phone use in Denmark and Britain based on observations of information publically broadcast by Bluetooth-active devices in two environments with a mainly 18-25 year-old demographic. The study is based on more than 25000 unique devices found based on almost 500000 data points collected at the Roskilde Festi...