A dvances in Wireless Term in a Is

Current wireless terminals arc limited to voice terminals such as cellular and PCS phones, and traditional laptop computcrs and PDAs configured with wireless modems and network interface cards. However, the current wireless networks, which are by and large wircless extensions of the circuit-switched voice networks, are being replaced by emerging wireless networking technologies that are intrinsically designed to support packet data and multimedia services. This will lead to novel networked applications and services. which in turn will require wireless terminals capable of exploiting these services. What shapc will thcse next-generation wireless terminals take? Thc answer, based on the much talked about notion of ”convergcncc,” would appear to be a marriagc of thc laptop or PC with a wirclcss phonc in the same package, leading to terminals such as thc Nokia 9000 [ 11 or Bell Laboratories’ wireless handset 121. We argue that such a complex one-size-fits-all voice-data integrated wireless terminal will, at hcst. hc a point solution. Rather, with the availability of chcap radio and computing hardware and ubiquitous low-cost indoor and outdoor wirclcss nctworking infrastructures, the capability to access a wireless nctwork will soon he embedded into a variety of devices, gadgets, and appliances with spccializcd functions in our environment. In this article we dcscrihe the technological challenges and identify potential solutions in designing thcsc myriad future “wireless terminals” that will handle diversc data types, have limited battery resources, and operate in environments that are unplanned, insecure, and time-varying, and have context-dependent services.