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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The mobile communications of World War One

Mark Bridge writes:

Unmanned drone aircraft are flown by pilots thousands of miles away, while hackers attempt to intercept their transmissions. Temporary WiFi connections offer internet access to soldiers working at army bases in unfamiliar countries, prompting warnings about sharing too much information on social networks. Civilians transmit live video coverage of military activity from their mobile phones, putting themselves at risk of being targeted.

It’s clear that communications technology has transformed 21st century warfare.

What may not be so obvious are the ways that wireless communications played a part in the First World War... and the concerns about security that remain with us today.

Radio had proved its worth at sea before the war when the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in 1912. The stricken liner sent a Morse Code radio distress call that was received by RMS Carpathia. As a result, more than 700 people were rescued from the Atlantic Ocean. During WW1, all the major navies used radio equipment - and were also aware of the risks involved with wireless technology. Communications could be overheard and could even be located by the enemy. As a result, ships tended to avoid sending messages unless it was essential. Instead, radio was used mainly for receiving one-way messages. Submarines had a greater problem: they could only communicate when they were on or very near the surface, risking discovery.

And there was another issue that affected everyone using wireless during the 1914-1918 conflict. Most equipment at the beginning of the war wasn’t capable of sending voice by radio, which meant Morse or military codes needed to be ‘tapped out’ by hand and translated by radio operators.

The danger of intercepted messages wasn’t just restricted to the sea. Direction-finding receivers were also used on battlefields, causing land-based forces to be cautious as well. While messages to and from the frontline were sometimes delivered by motorcyclist dispatch riders, it wasn’t unusual to see carrier pigeons and messenger dogs being employed. Similarly, semaphore flags and lights were utilised when field telephone lines weren’t practical. But this didn’t prevent radio equipment from being carried into battle by horse-drawn vehicles or trucks on occasions.

Radio equipment was bulky, which is one of the reasons it wasn’t used much in aircraft at the start of the Great War. Antennas were long and batteries were heavy. Yet by the end of the war, wireless communications had evolved dramatically. In 1918, several hundred RAF aircraft had been fitted with two-way radios that could transmit voices, enabling an informal version of Air Traffic Control. Transmissions were used in a different way by the pilots of German Zeppelin airships; they listened to radio signals in order to track their own location as they flew towards England.

Wireless technology was in its infancy at the time of the First World War. However, the benefits and the risks were already clear to military commanders. Although the technology has developed in the past 100 years, many of those risks and benefits remain largely unchanged. It’s still a challenge to ensure your message is heard by the right people... and not overheard by the wrong ones.

Mark Bridge is a freelance copywriter who’s easily distracted by any kind of vintage wireless technology. He’s also one of the team behind The Fonecast, which produces podcasts about the UK mobile phone industry every week.
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Opinion Articles

4G doesn't come to Three

Mark Bridge writes:

Earlier today, Three.co.uk published a blog post headlined “4G comes to Three”. But it hasn’t.

I spent most of this morning here at Mobile World Congress muttering about the blog before returning to it this afternoon. And suddenly it’s changed.

The blog post remains. The headline is completely different. Now we’re told “Three to launch leading edge 3G service”.

Author: The Fonecast
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How far does it go, mate?

Geoff Varrall of RTT writes:

About 15,000 years ago some indigenous Northern Australians decided that they needed a more efficient way of talking to each other than just shouting a lot.

And blowing into a long cylindrical tube proved to be just what was needed and seriously useful fun – the dawn of the didgeridoo.

Trumpets and bagpipes were invented at about the same time. The ancient Greeks used the trumpet in battlefield communication to devastating effect.

The way you can tell that your didgeridoo is better than everyone else’s didgeridoo is to blow into it and see how far the sound goes.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 20th February 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So said Sir Arthur C Clarke.

Last week’s magic was supplied by imaging company Scalado, which announced a new product called ‘Remove’. The clue’s in the name: it can automatically remove unwanted people from photos taken on a mobile phone. Expect to see it on a handset near you before too long.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 13th February 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s not been a good week for Nokia staff, with 4000 of them likely to lose their jobs from factories in Finland, Hungary and Mexico. The company says it’s moving device assembly to Asia, where it’ll be closer to component manufacturers. The three scaled-down factories will remain open with a new focus on smartphone customisation.

Author: The Fonecast
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Could a new legal framework for FRAND principles end the mobile patent wars in 2013?

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m not the first person to point out that mobile phone patent battles are raging all around us. They’ve been going on for years.

However, the topic of FRAND patents - those designated as ‘industry standards’ and therefore required to be licensed on Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory terms - has become an increasingly newsworthy topic.

In the last couple of weeks we’ve reported on an EC investigation into Samsung’s licensing of mobile patents and a Motorola/Apple legal battle that involves FRAND licensing.

Author: The Fonecast
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