The On The Move Project: Description of Mobile Middleware and Experimental Results

Abstract

The ACTS [1] OnTheMove project [2] is investigating mobile multimedia services for the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) [3]. A Mobile Application Support Environment (MASE) is being designed and implemented to answer the challenges of providing personalised mobile-aware multimedia services.

The MASE system will provide personalised access to multimedia applications. These applications will be available to users irrespective of the mobile hardware, user location, and wireless network characteristics.

A Mobile Application Programming Interface (Mobile-API) is being developed which will provide a standardised means of accessing the facilities of the MASE.

The functionality of the system will be demonstrated to users and service providers through the implementation of a multimedia business information system which forms the basis of a series of field trials.

The project began in September 1995 and lasts for three years. This paper introduces the background and rationale behind the OnTheMove project. An overview of MASE functionality is given and the need for a distributed MASE is explained. Experimental results from the first field trial with the business application “Infomotion” are presented. Finally, the potential impact of the project is assessed.

The On The Move project is sponsored by the European Commission in the ACTS programme, Bonnier Information Systems AB (S), British Telecommunications plc (UK), Burda New Media GmbH (D), Deutsche Telekom MobilNet GmbH (D), Ericsson Eurolab Deutschland GmbH (D), Ericsson Radio AB (S), IBM (F), Iona Ltd. (UK), Royal Institute of Technology (S), RWTH Aachen (D), Siemens AG (D), Sony (D), Swedish Institute of Computer Science (S), Tecsi (F), and University of Singapore Centre for Wireless Communications (S).