CampusMate

 

How much easier would things be if our computers, and more importantly our mobile computers, were aware of their location relative to their environment? A whole host of applications could utilise this, bringing more relevant and/or targeted information to the user.

The Dream

Imagine travelling down a street in the city. It's lunchtime and you feel like having sushi. You get out your handheld computer and tap in a few keywords for what you are looking for: restaurant, sushi, non-smoking; and within seconds, your handheld responds. It directs you to a small Japanese sushi bar no more than a block from where you were standing, which it determined to be physically the closest and also the best requirement match, based on what you entered.

After lunch, you step back into the street and literally bump into an old friend who you haven't seen for a while. She's moved house to one of the outer suburbs, and is having a Bar-B-Que on the weekend as a house-warming celebration. She beams her new contact details to your handheld from her own, and you part. That weekend, you jump into your car, slot your handheld into its cradle on the dash of your car and depart for the BBQ. Your handheld has already calculated the position of your destination and also the most direct and fastest route there, taking into account things such as traffic lights, road works and other known delays that would be encountered along the way.

Just as you turn out of your street however, you notice that you are low on petrol. You request your handheld to re-adjust the route to incorporate a detour to the cheapest service station in the area en-route to the BBQ, that will still allow you to make it to the BBQ in under an hour.

The 6 month Goal

While there are a couple of different systems involved in the above description, there is one key system. The key lies in the handheld knowing, or being able to find out exactly where it is in relation to other objects, and then being able to use that data to place itself on a map of it's surroundings for the user to interpret. That is what this thesis will be about: To design and build a prototype module for positioning a handheld, using a GPS module and an iPAQ handheld computer. As a demonstration, the designed system would allow the user to find out useful information about the current location and/or to locate and navigate to other positions around the university. Sort of like an electronic tour guide for a new student starting at the university or a visiting academic.

Hardware

The hardware for this project is the iPAQ handheld computer, with a portable GPS module, such as the PCMCIA GPS card made by TeleType.

Software

The software should run on the Linux operating system. It is expected that the software from this project would be contributed back to the Open Source community.

Sponsorship

This project is being sponsored by Compaq Computer Australia, and Compaq will be providing the iPAQ H3600 handheld computer for use in the project.