postboxweb project flyer 20141105ict4dcc.fraunhofer.pt/flyers/postboxweb_project_flyer.pdf ·...
Post on 08-Oct-2020
7 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
1
Motivation In developing countries missing
network coverage and low bandwidth
pose serious barriers to data-heavy
Internet services, especially outside of
urban areas.
Many people have adopted mobile
phones for daily tasks, which range
from basic communication with
relatives to small family business
support, either for communicating with
customers or receiving service requests.
Though prices for mobile phones, even
smartphones, are rapidly falling and
sales are rapidly rising, shared phone
usage in developing countries is very
common.
Solution PostboxWeb is a framework that
enables offline-capable mobile
applications for occasionally connected
Android smartphones.
It also allows a secure sharing of smart-
phones through personal, password-
2
protected and encrypted data storage
for each user of the phone.
As a proof-of-concept a video mail
application for illiterate or semi-illiterate
users was developed. The GUI and UX
design follow design recommendations
for the intended user group – persons
living in rural areas in developing
countries having no regular interaction
with ICT.
Business Case PostboxWeb could be operated by an
“Email-Postman” in remote areas with
no network coverage. The Postman lets
users record video mails while offline.
At regular intervals the Postman travels
to areas with connectivity, where
outgoing messages are sent to their
The PostboxWeb logo.
Fig1.
POSTBOXWEB
A FRAMEWORK FOR
OCCASIONALLY
CONNECTED AND SHARED
ANDROID SMARTPHONES
Contact
Rua Alfredo Allen, 455
4200-135 Porto, Portugal
+351 220 430 300
info@fraunhofer.pt
www.fraunhofer.pt
3
destination and incoming are
downloaded into each user`s personal
data space.
The Postman could charge for his
services e.g. based on the amount of
data being transferred.
Future Work The PostboxWeb framework is being
developed under the ICT4D Competence
Center scope as a transversal tool
targeting the specificity of Sub-Saharan
countries requirements with respect to
network coverage.
The expected result is to leverage the
work performed from the proof-of-
concept phase into the framework
solution and the introduction of this
framework in every application that will
be developed for the African markets.
4
Conclusion The PostboxWeb opens up possibilities
for a whole variety of new applications,
e.g. medical staff might collect and
update electronic health records offline
and synchronize them with a hospital
when online.
The developed work demonstrates that
the implementation of the designed
solution for the proposed problem is
feasible with the chosen technology.
The tests performed with the solution
show that an implementation of the
project is viable in a real case scenario
and will not introduce significant
overhead in the applications using it.
Specifications
n Framework for Android smartphones
n Utilizes Bluetooth and optionally Near Field Communication (NFC)
n Retrieves geolocation
data
n Supports REST services
n Multi-user environment
n Offline-capable API
n Information security
n Simple to use
n Low execution
overhead
Recognition
PostboxWeb was
awarded an honorable
mention at the Vodafone
Mobile Data Challenge
2012 in Portugal.
User interface layout.
Fig2.
top related