The Near-Me Area Network (NAN)

Presenting By,Manu Augustine

EC-S7NO:34

INTRODUCTION

The Internet employs many different types of communication networks such as,

• LAN [LOCAL AREA NETWORK]• MAN [METROPOLITIAN AREA NETWORK]• WAN [WIDE AREA NETWORK]• PAN [PERSONAL AREA NETWORK]

What is NAN ?Due to the increasing popularity of location-enabled

mobile devices, a new type of communication network is

emerging — the near-me area network (NAN).

“ NAN is a logical communication network built

on the top of existing physical network

infrastructures that focuses on communication

among wireless devices in close proximity. ”

In LANs, the devices are in the same network segment and share the same broadcast domain

The devices in a NAN can belong to different proprietary network infrastructures

TYPES OF NAN

Closed NAN Formed between devices in

the same mobile carrier network.

GPS is not necessary. Location is identified using

triangulating process. Carrier need to maintain the

database of locations. Advantages are limited.

Global NAN Formed among any wireless

device. The device need to have

both GPS locator and internet connectivity.

The location is updated to a central server in the internet.

Number of NAN application can be developed.

THE EMERGENCE OF NAN

A mother lost her son and she sends out his picture to the other people in

the NAN network so that they can help him.

Although other methods can achieve the tasks just listed, NAN

applications are by far the most efficient.

NAN FORMATION

System Architecture : The network formed of those devices

with both a GPS receiver and internet connection

EXISTING PROTOTYPES AND APPLICATION

WhosHere : (http://myRete.com/WhosHere.html).

Loopt : (www.loopt.com).

Handshake: (http://myRete.com/WhosHere.html)

Fire Eagle : The central server.

WhozThat : Facilitating mobile social networks.

Whoshere

helps users meet people nearby with similar interests.

Features

• WhosHere shows the user the closest people who match your interests

• users can text message each other within WhosHere itself

• this NAN service eliminates the need to give out phone numbers,email or IP addresses

loopt

Loopt lets users to see where and how far their friends are on a detailed map

Features

• Loopt will regularly update its own location to the server.

• consulting the server, users can see where and how far away their friends are

• users see their friends on a detailed map, get alerts when friends are nearby

Yahoo’s Fire Eagle: the Central SERVER

Fire eagle is an online central server that stores the current location of the users

Features

• Devoloped by yahoo.com• Stores location info of users• App’s that use location info and social network

websites can access this information

How Fire Eagle Works?

whozthat

WhozThat facilitate mobile social networking

Features

• integrates online social networks like facebook and myspace with mobile devices

• provide information about the friends and people around the user

• mobile devices must possess both local wireless capability (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) and a wide area wireless connection to the Internet.

Context aware music juke box functioning on WhozThat

• jukebox running WhozThat can receive the social network IDs

• the jukebox can build song playlists that reflect those users’ preferences.

Context aware music juke box functioning

on WhozThat

Challenges for future nan application

Representing a place.

Identifying a position.

NAN Enabled devices.

Implementation issues.

Privacy consideration.

Representing a place

• latitude/longitude pair can define a precise point on earth.

• more appropriate to use more abstract concepts to express locations

• Need to represent place name vocabularies and must integrate it with the Web architecture

• Not all name’s of places are stored, especially in urban areas

Identifying a position

• GPS accuracy is affected by the environmental conditions

• noise or interference near the receiver can create an error

• Presence of physical objects can block sight from satelite

NAN Enabled devices

• mobile devices that are both location- and Internet-enabled must be common

• Availabilty and cost of devices must be affordable

Implementation issues

• software platform must provide the corresponding APIs to build NAN application

• application-programming interfaces for different platforms need to comminicate with no error

ADVANTAGES AND DRAW BACKS

ADVANTAGES

Make Social life eaiser

communication among wireless devices in different

network infrastructures.

NAN applications are more advantageous over current

location based services.

focuses on two way communication among people

within certain proximity.

DEMERITS

• Availability and cost of NAN capable devices• Accuracy of gps may vary according to signal• GPS is not well implemented in urban areas• Privacy considerations

CONCLUSION

Considering the fact that the rapid development of mobile broadband technologies, mobile devices that are both location- and Internet-enabled will likely become widely prevalent in the near to mid term, which will positively boost NAN applications’ popularity. Many exciting opportunities exist for the future design of NAN applications, which could become new modes of location-enabled mobile devices.

Further devolopment in the feild of NAN can be of great use for the human life

references

Angus K.Y.Wong , “ The Near-Me Area Network”,

IEEE Internet Computing, vol.14,no. 2,march-april

2010, pp:74-77.

www.wikipedia.org

THANK YOU