More Information

Personal Area Networks (PAN) are formed by wireless communications between devices by way of technologies such as Bluetooth and UWB. PAN standards are embodied by the IEEE 802.15 family of "Home Wireless" standards, which superseded older infrared standards and HomeRF for dominance in this area of wireless communications.

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Applications

Like all personalization technologies, PAN applications are virtually limitless. However, a key capability for a PAN is to enable devices to autonomously detect and acquire one another. This provides the ability for personalization through unconscious communications. For example, a PAN in ones automobile would provide various telematics applications, such as the ability for the system to detect the presence of the user, thereby allowing the mobile handset to automatically acquire pertinent information for driving such as weather and road conditions.

One of the fundamental advantages of PANs is that they negate the need for wires, allowing the user to, for example, have a wireless headset, create ad hoc connections to

Other applications include mobile commerce in which user of a mobile device communicates with another machine for commerce such as ticket purchase, vending and other small purchases.

The evolution of PANs will be from man-to-man, man-to-machine, and finally machine-to-machine.

Issues and Challenges with PANs

The biggest initial issue will simply be to equip devices with software to enable the PAN connection. This will occur once technology such as Bluetooth is cost effective and available in large quantities for deployment.

One of the biggest issues with PANs is the ability for devices to inter-operate with one another. This is not so much an issue with pre-established networks of devices, which all have the same vendor equipment, but it is a major issue for inter-vendor equipment connections. This is a major factor for unconscious communications. Companies are working to solve these issues with various equipment mediation and interoperability software.

Ad hoc vs. Unconscious Communications

Ad hoc connections are simply those that occur in an automatic fashion, but the user is engaged in some activity in which it is known that a connection is about to occur. Examples include connecting to a LAN or buying a beverage from a vending machine.

On the other hand, unconscious communications occur as a result of automatic connections that made between devices unbeknownst to the user. Examples include a user coming home and the local base station in the home sensing this event and thus messaging to the network to treat all calls as home zone calls rather than mobile calls in the macro network. Unconscious connections are the real end-goal for many applications that involve personalization and mobile commerce. The real issue will be to solve the interoperability problems between differing vendor provided equipment.

PAN Standards

• 802.15.1a: Bluetooth (2.4GHz at 1Mbps)
• 802.15.2: Coexistence of PANs with one another
• 802.15.3: High rate PAN (2.4GHz at 55 Mbps)
• 802.15.3a: Alternative high rate PAN for UWB (2.4GHz at 110 Mbps)
• 802.15.4: Low rate PAN - Zigbee
• 802.15.4a: Alternative low rate - low power UWB