Problem 1. [50 points] The Bluetooth standard allows communication among up to eight devices in a picocell having radius between 30 and 300 feet. The transmission is in the low-power unlicensed radio band and does not incur toll charges, so it is essentially free once the infrastructure is in place. Bandwidth of 1-2 megabits per second is currently possible at very low hardware cost.

A) [10 points] Using Bluetooth it is possible to have people wear computers (with Bluetooth chips) that are able to communicate automatically with nearby computers (also having Bluetooth chips). Select a traditional business that would be improved by this capability and justify your choice. Explain how using Bluetooth would give the business a competitive advantage in its industry. (Suggested length: two paragraphs.)

B) [20 points] Select two business processes that are used by the business and describe clearly how they would make use of Bluetooth to improve at least one of the following: lower cost, improved speed, enhanced service. Explain precisely how using Bluetooth would result in the claimed improvement. (Suggested length: one paragraph per process.)

C) [20 points] A Bluetooth device is not necessarily an Internet device. However, because Bluetooth permits small picocell local area networks, it would be theoretically possible to connect a Bluetooth network to the Internet. Describe in detail how you would use Internet connection capability (at T1 speed) to implement additional improvements to the processes listed in part B. (Suggested length: two long paragraphs.)

Problem 2. [50 points]

The Global Positioning System (GPS) allows inexpensive determination of the position of an object anywhere on Earth to within the length of a room. Progressive Insurance, the fourth largest auto insurer in the U.S., has announced a system called Autograph that bases a customer’s insurance premium on automobile usage. Each car is equipped with a GPS receiver that monitors the position of the car every six minutes and stores the information. Every month, the data is uploaded to the company automatically by cellphone. The insurance premium for the month is based on the amount of driving and the locations at which the car has been parked. Someone who does not use the car very much pays a very low premium. Someone who uses the car a lot and leaves it in high-crime neighborhoods pays more. This system is a very clever modernization of an old industry. See this article about it from IEEE.

A) [10 points] Select a traditional (old economy) business that could be completely revolutionized using the Global Positioning System and justify your choice. (Choose one to which GPS has not yet been applied. You should verify that GPS is not yet being used in your chosen industry by doing a search on the Internet. In particular, do not choose a well-known application such as cargo tracking.) You should choose a business that is large and would benefit greatly from this capability. Explain clearly how knowledge of position of people or objects would enable the business to achieve a competitive advantage in its industry. Assume that you are able to upload position data once every minute instead of once a month. Suggested length: two paragraphs.

B) [10 points] Select two specific business processes from your chosen business and describe precisely how they would make use of GPS data. (The processes need not have existed in the traditional business, but might be possible now because of the GPS capability.) Suggested length: two paragraphs. The more detail, the better.

C) [10 points] GPS gives an accurate measurement of the latitude, longitude and elevation of the receiver. It does not identify directly what house or building the receiver is in. That requires a separate world-wide database, which would need constant updates. Suppose you were to build such a database that could identify every home, apartment, business, office, telephone booth, fire hydrant etc. in the world (that is, all fixed man-made objects, FMMOs) from its coordinates. How big (in bytes) would the database be? Estimate the number of updates per year that would be needed. Suppose you charged one cent per query to look up identity of one FMMO over the Internet, how large a business (in annual revenue) could it become?

D) [10 points] GPS receivers do not work if they are indoors under certain conditions because the satellite signals are not strong enough inside some buildings. Describe what steps you would take to be sure that your business model will not be seriously affected if the receivers are brought indoors and estimate the cost of these steps.

E) [10 points] If the U.S. goes to war, the Air Force plans to add noise to the GPS signals to prevent an enemy from using them for military purposes. Describe what steps you would take to be sure that your business, which has now become dependent on GPS, would not be ruined in case of war. (Suggested length: one paragraph of description and one paragraph of justification.)