TEST BED SERVICESProviding Canada with a versatile wireless experimentation environment
The world of wireless technology moves at a blinding pace. New products and services are announced almost daily, and any one of these may impact the future direction of a communications project or the strategic direction of a government initiative.
You could say that it is a research topic unto itself: to study the current state of wireless technologies, along with the impact of their combined effect when they are used to create solutions for problems in business, education or government.
In fact that is what the CRC WISELAB has been created to do. Their mandate is to study comprehensive solutions to specific problems. Luc Boucher, the WISELAB's manager explains, "We're looking at whole systems and how they can be used, not just at one specific technical aspect. Our group needs to understand how each individual component can be applied, together with other technologies, to create whole solutions."
"A key skill we have in the WISELAB is the ability to learn quickly, in order to respond rapidly to the requests of our clients", says Mr. Boucher. "We must acquire knowledge quickly in order to understand the required field in a very short time so that we can come up with the answers very quickly. The fact that we are collocated at Shirleys Bay with all of their technology specialists is a very important part of our ability to get our job done."
As with other labs, infrastructure and facilities is key. By providing a versatile testing environment, the CRC WISELAB can support advanced development and evaluation of terrestrial wireless technologies for industries, governments and universities. The infrastructure in place includes broadband wireless links, wide area networks access, personal area networks, and multimedia platforms. Some of the facilities that the lab maintains for test services include:
* 802.11a/b/g WLANs, Mesh networks and Bluetooth
* Broadband point-to-point and point-to- multipoint links
* LMCS, MMCS, and Free space optics links
* OFDM simulator
* CDMA 1xRTT, GPRS and IS-95 access
* Handheld/Wireless tablets, Pocket PC, Palm
* WAP, SMS, MMS, BREW, J2ME, etc.
Mr. Boucher says, "We're overwhelmed with requests for our services from inside and
outside CRC. We're looking forward to building a larger team of partners, to include industry and universities, to help us better address Canada's wireless broadband requirements."
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