Module 3 – Case

WIRELESS NETWORKS AND PERVASIVE COMPUTING

Assignment Overview

The Case for this module involves a tragedy and a potential silver lining. The devastation from disasters in Haiti and New Orleans needs no elaboration here; you all saw the pictures. What is interesting is a piece of the technological aftermath—the use of wireless networks. Here are stories describing the situation:

Nelson, C. B., Steckler, B. D., & Stamberger, J. A. (2011). The evolution of hastily formed networks for disaster response. Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/busi…

Hayes, F. (2005, December 5). Big Easy Wi-Fi. Computerworld. (This is a seminal source that is extremely relevant today.) Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/article/2560747/government-it/big-easy-wi-fi.html

Nguyen, A. (2011). London underground to roll out Wi-Fi at 120 tube stations. ComputerWorld. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/921533/London_Underground_to_roll_out_Wi_Fi_at_120_tube_stations

Stokes, J. (2005, November 29). NOLA’s free WiFi project. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2005/11/5647-2/
Latest progress:
Bangeman, E. (2006, October 23). New Orleans to take city-wide WiFi network offline. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2006/10/8052/

Cauley, L. (2006, March 28). New Orleans’ free Wi-Fi in dispute. Retrieved from USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-03-28-new-orleans-wifi_x.htm

The background information contains a large number of references to deployment of wireless technologies and to their availability in a wide variety of settings, both corporate and urban. You are strongly encouraged also to do further research using search tools in this area, since this is a breaking story, and by the time you get around to doing this module, odds are that the situation will have changed again; you don’t want to look silly by presenting information that is now been rendered obsolete by breaking events. The underlying issues of course remain salient. (Note: Katrina and the Haiti earthquakes are no longer “breaking stories”)

Case Assignment

When you have reviewed these materials and done your own research (please be sure to use appropriate citations for any material that you collect on their own), please write a short (5-7 page) paper addressing the question:

Deploying a Wi-Fi hook-ups in disaster relief—what are the considerations?

In preparing your answer, you might want to consider the following questions:

1. How complicated is it to deploy this technology?
2. Who will pay the costs and who will obtain the benefits?
3. Where is this technology going in the long run?

Assignment Expectations

Length: Follow the number of pages required in the assignment excluding cover page and references. Each page should have about 300 words.

Your assignment will be evaluated based on the Rubric.

Module 3 – SLP

WIRELESS NETWORKS AND PERVASIVE COMPUTING

Here is a wireless tutorial to review: http://www.9tut.com/wireless-tutorial

See this video on a Rapid Deployment Wifi Kit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy60ClBdIMI

Focus in this tutorial on security and the spectrum for sending and handing off wireless signals between devices. How do the security techniques such as wep, wpa, and wpa2 insure that the wireless system is secure? How is the wireless spectrum regulated and what are the standards?

Once you have completed your exploration of the tutorial(s), to finish the project for this module you are to prepare a 2- to 3-page report covering the following topics:

• what the tutorial teaches
• how good a job the tutorial does (include any of your personal experiences with it that might be relevant)
• who might find the tutorial useful
• any other aspect of the tutorial that you think a reader might find useful

SLP Assignment Expectations

Length: Follow the number of pages required in the assignment excluding cover page and references. Each page should have about 300 words.

Your assignment will be graded according to the MSITM SLP Grading Rubric. (To see the rubric, go to Assessments>Rubrics. Click the arrow next to the rubric name and choose Preview.)