| Open source WiFi tools supports Windows Mobile |
May 17, 2006
Boingo Wireless has released an open-source software toolkit for integrating WiFi connection management into portable, wireless-enabled devices such as dual-mode phones, VoIP handsets, and mobile gaming consoles. The Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit is available in versions that supports Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 5, and several other embedded OSes, according to the company.
Boingo is the world's largest aggregrated WiFi hotspot network operator, with a worldwide network of more than 45,000 hotspots, according to the company.
The release enables device vendors to add Boingo connection utilities to their devices without incurring a license fee. These utilities are modular, to simplify porting, and represent a "complete solution" that can handle network detection, connection, authentication, log out, and disconnect, Boingo says. Additionally, the toolkit is said to incorporate power-saving technology that can recognize known signals and minimize unnecessary connections.
Boingo CTO Niels Jonker stated, "Our open source code base allows the development community to self-manage the process of making their products eminently more usable in public Wi-Fi spaces."
Boingo's Embedded WiFi Toolkit Architecture
The toolkit comes with two additional components -- an Application Layer that provides a reference user interface, and a Platform Abstraction Layer that provides the interface to the operating system. Together these three "interdependent" modules implement a complete WiFi connection management system for handsets, tailored to specific OS and hardware requirements, according to the company.
Niels Jonker, Boingo Wireless CTO, stated, "The sheer number of mobile devices that will be able to connect via Wi-Fi in the coming years is astronomical. Our open source code base allows the development community to self-manage the process of making their products eminently more usable in public Wi-Fi spaces."
"Boingo's new Wi-Fi Toolkit can help developers enhance UMA and IMS applications on Windows Mobile-powered devices to easily find and connect to Boingo's worldwide network of hot spots," stated Jonas Hasselberg, Group Product Manager in Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices (MED) Group. "Windows Mobile offers a consistent and flexible development platform and familiar tools to help developers take advantage of opportunities such as this to offer more options for an increasingly mobile workforce."
Availability
Boingo's Embedded WiFi Toolkit is publicly available to developers for porting to any device operating system with no license fees, as long as improvements to the core toolkit are available to the open source community.
The toolkit module is licensed under the open-source LGPL (Lesser General Public License), which requires modifications to be republished and returned to the community. The Application Abstraction and Platform Abstraction layers are licensed under the open-source Apache 2.0 license, which does not require republication, and allows hardware manufacturers to retain the proprietary nature of their hardware interfaces and GUI frameworks, according to Boingo.
Boingo says a commercial license is also available for handset vendors or service providers that want proprietary features, or require a closed source option. Under the commercial licenses, code changes are not required to be republished to the open-source community. Potential licensees include wireless carriers, MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), VoIP providers, and other service providers that can benefit from WiFi access in public places, according to Boingo. Accton, Broadcom, E28, and Kyocera Wireless are already using the toolkit, the company says.
The Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit and supporting documentation are now available at SourceForge in Windows Mobile 2003, and Windows Mobile 5, BREW, and Linux versions. Additional documentation and test tools are available at the Boingo Embedded website.
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