The researchers are trying to figure out how to use cell phone technology, with its extremely limited bandwidth, to transmit, receive and mix enormous amounts of computer information. The UD Department of Computer and Information Sciences team, headed by Paul D. Amer, will translate bandwidth priority systems devised by the University's electrical engineering team into computer software. Two other consortia are working on advanced sensoring devices and interactive displays. The sensors will allow information to be sent to command posts automatically, without the soldier's intervention. One such sensor, for example, would constantly read a soldier's vital signs and chart his or her whereabouts so the command unit could monitor his or her medical condition and location.
Computers communicate differently than people do.
Computers send out packets, or bursts, of information. In the competition for bandwidth, these information bursts can be given a priority field or label. The idea is that the most important data gets a different field or label than the least. For example, in a multimedia transmission, audio would be given a higher priority than video. All of this high technology comes with a price.