Activity 3b
C&I 335
Summer 1998

Tammy McLane
Argenta-Oreana Junior High School
Argenta, Illinois

I am curious about wireless technology so I researched 2 wireless topics.

  1. Satellite Internet Access
    Our district is presently accessing the Internet with a Hughes VSAT (very small aperture terminal) from Uplinx Technologies. Hughes technicians installed the outside dish and the inside PES (personal earth station). Uplinx technicians then setup the Proxy Server and the Internet User Group in Windows NT. We chose to go with a satellite hookup because land-based lines in our area are unreliable and "owned" by several different telcoms. Even though the satellite hookup is not much cheaper than a land-based line hookup, we felt it was worth the risk of going with an emerging technology to avoid the telcom hassle. Right now our connection is 512 Kb downlink and 128 Kb uplink. It is a little slow but will soon be upgraded. Unlike a microwave or radio connection, our satellite access is not affected by the weather. Our connection has been very consistent and stable except for 5 days when the Galaxy V satellite lost contact. (A worst-case scenario if there ever was one!)
    http://www.hughes.com/vectors_96/vectors_01_96/galaxy/vectors_1_galaxy_spcwy.html
  2. Infrared downloading of data
    Our district is researching small word processors such as the AlphaSmart and the DreamWriter. At a recent technology conference, I saw the infrared accessory demonstrated. Very slick!! Instead of each student having to take time to download his/her data by a cable connection to the teacher's computer (which is very time-consuming), the student simply points the infrared device at the coordinating device on the teacher's computer, hits a key combination, and in about 2 seconds it appears on the computer screen. Of course, this accessory adds to the cost of the AlphaSmart but I think it would probably pay for itself in the long run as a time-saving device.
    http://www.alphasmart.com/Products_Pricing/Products_Pricing.html
  3. Progressive downloading in QuickTime
    Since we received QuickTime version 3 on our CTER CD, I went to http://www.terran.com/CodecCentral/Architectures/QuickTime.html to find more information. I think the idea of a progressive download is intriguing. Our district has a rather slow Internet connection (see above) so I think we would benefit from this new technology. Even with a slight delay before the movie starts playing, I think the tradeoff of not having to download completely would help us.
  4. Codecs
    While at Codec Central, I also found http://www.terran.com/CodecCentral/Codecs/index.html which lists video and audio codecs. This was very informative. I have been looking for a listing of all these new media types, extensions, etc. We are still working on "normal" images and animations in our district, but I can see the writing on the wall. These technologies will soon be the norm.