University Of Florida To Test Drive Wireless Computers

January 7, 1999

GAINESVILLE — Even with the latest laptop or fastest desktop computer, anyone who wants to surf the Web at the University of Florida has to plug into a telephone line or computer cable.

But in what may be a sign of things to come, a group of students and faculty in UF’s main computer engineering building will go wireless this semester — with the help of wireless equipment provided by Harris Corp. and Nortel Networks.

The computer engineering undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members in UF’s Computer Science Engineering building are participating in a semesterlong trial for UF’s first wireless communication system this week. The system, which UF officials plan to demonstrate today, will enable users with specially equipped laptops to access UF’s network and the Internet from anywhere on the building’s first two floors through wireless transmission to antennas installed in the building.

Harris Corp., a global communications company headquartered in Melbourne, and Nortel Networks, a global telecommunications networking company, are donating the wireless equipment. Ron Van Dell, vice president and general manager of communications products business at Harris’ semiconductor sector, will join UF President John Lombardi and UF College of Engineering Dean Win Phillips, among others, at the demonstration.

The wireless trial could lead to a larger wireless communication system on the UF campus — possibly reducing the costly and time-consuming job of wiring old classrooms and residence halls, according to UF officials.

One day, it may even be possible for users to log on to UF’s network from outdoors on campus, the officials say.

“Students and faculty could use e-mail or tap in to the Web while outside on a bench or under a shady tree,” said Gerhard Ritter, chairman of the computer & information science & engineering department.

Van Dell said Harris and Nortel are pleased to donate the equipment to UF.

“Harris is pleased to partner with Nortel Networks to provide the University of Florida with a wireless networking system,” Van Dell said. “The world continues to go wireless, and wireless systems will improve productivity for both students and faculty members.”

For the trial, UF will lend several graduate students, and undergraduate students in one computer engineering classes, newly purchased IBM laptops. The laptops will be outfitted with cards that can receive radio signals from “access points,” small transmission antennas, installed in the computer engineering building. The cards, which resemble credit card-sized laptop modem cards, receive signals from a “local area network” tied into the UF network.

Ritter said the graduate students will probe the practicality of the system. For example, they will examine how quickly users can download and upload data, whether interference poses a problem and what dangers the system may pose to network security.

Students in the class, meanwhile, will test the usefulness of the system for instructional purposes, said Abdelsalam Helal, a computer and information science and engineering associate professor who is teaching the class.

Helal said the technology will provide a hands-on learning lab for the class, which focuses on mobile computing. But he added he also will explore how the technology can be used for more general teaching purposes. “Our goal is to be able to develop a methodology where the professor is able to download the right information at the right time, such as handouts or tests, and the students are able to upload assignments,” he said.

If the trial shows promise, UF may try installing similar networks in several buildings, Ritter said. It’s possible such systems could reduce the university’s costs in wiring every residence hall and modernizing all its classrooms. It’s also likely the installation process would be significantly faster than wiring the old buildings, Helal said.

Phillips said the trial for the wireless technology represents another step forward in UF’s information technology thrust. “It’s important to pursue every avenue as we seek to upgrade the campus’ communications and networking systems,” he said.

The wireless system is the Nortel Networks BayStack 660 based on the Harris PRISM radio chip set. The system provides a high-speed wireless connection to the network.