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TechWatch Alerts
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2. Batteries for portable ICT devices (February 2010)
Batteries are a major technological challenge for increasingly complex mobile and portable applications and ICT devices. This article summarizes key
trends and developments in battery technologies for mobile devices. |
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1. Mobile Applications (July 2009)
Mobile applications (apps) are add-on software for handheld devices, such as smartphones
and personal digital assistants (PDA). This article describes the mobile application
market and identifies initiatives that aim at an open and interoperable mobile environment.
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Technology Watch Reports
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12. Biometrics and Standards (December 2009)
Biometric recognition can be described as automated methods to accurately recognize individuals
based on distinguishing physiological and/or behavioral traits. The report spotlights biometric
recognition as a key form of authentication, one which is increasingly used in a wide range of
applications made possible by advanced pattern recognition algorithms applied through powerful ICT.
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11. ICTs and Food Security (July 2009)
Food security and hunger are global concerns. This Technology Watch Report examines some of the
main ways in which Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be used locally and globally
to address the problems of food security and hunger and reviews the relevant ICT standardization work.
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10. The Future Internet (April 2009)
The Internet has grown from a small experiment into a collaborative network with more
than one billion users. The rise of mobile access poses additional infrastructure
challenges including addressing and routing, which might require a review of the
architecture. This Report surveys the current debate over the Internet architecture,
and identifies key emerging trends and features of the Internet, in an attempt to
provide pointers for future standards work for consideration by the ITU-T membership
and the broader standards community. |
9. Distributed Computing: Utilities, Grids & Clouds (March 2009)
Terms such as ‘Cloud Computing’ have gained a lot of attention, as they
are used to describe emerging paradigms for the management of
information and computing resources. This report describes the advent of
new forms of distributed computing, notably grid and cloud computing,
the applications that they enable, and their potential impact on future
standardization. |
8. Standardization Activities for Intelligent Transport Systems (October 2008)
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are used to improve traffic flow, to increase the efficiency of freight
and public transportation, and to reduce fuel consumption. ITS could also become a tool to improve road safety,
for instance through emergency vehicle notification systems, collision avoidance systems, and also through
automatic road enforcement. The report identifies the main functionalities of ITS, analyzes ITS-related
standardization activities, and identifies possible future work on ITS in ITU-T.
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7. NGNs and energy efficiency (August 2008)
The term “Next Generation Network” (NGN) is commonly used to describe the
changes currently underway in the telecommunications sector as it
migrates from today’s separate networks (for voice, mobile, data etc) to
a single, unified IP-based NGN. The global migration to NGNs should
bring about a substantial reduction in power consumption and thereby
reduce the telecommunication sector’s contribution to global warming.
NGN should lead to improved efficiency in the energy requirements of
data centres, transmission and end-user equipment and its high operation
efficiency as well as providing the underlying platform to implement
carbon reductions in other sectors of the economy. NGNs are expected by
some commentators to reduce energy consumption by 40 per cent compared
to today’s PSTN. |
6. Technical aspects of Lawful Interception (LI) (May 2008)
Popularly called wiretapping – describes the lawfully
authorized interception and monitoring of telecommunications. With the existing Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), LI is performed by applying a physical
‘tap’ on the targeted telephone line, usually by accessing digital
switches of service providers. However, the future of the telephone
seems to be intertwined with the Internet and mobile networks, which
introduce new challenges for LI systems. Law enforcement agencies oblige
telecommunication operators to comply with new laws. Requirements differ
from one country to another – standardization could assure transparent
and secure interception interfaces. |
5. Remote collaboration tools (March 2008)
"Increase productivity, save time and money while reducing your
company’s carbon footprint"; this is the ambitious sales pitch for a new
family of tools that promise to offer the 3Cs—communication,
collaboration and coordination—without the requirement for physical
travel. This report describes how Remote Collaboration Tools can
facilitate collaboration with colleagues, and support businesses in
overcoming the geographical limitations of everyday work. For developing
countries, in particular, remote collaboration tools can be an important
step towards bridging the standardization development gap and the wider
digital divide. |
4. Ubiquitous Sensor Networks (February 2008)
The term “Ubiquitous Sensor Networks” (USN) is used to describe networks of intelligent
sensor nodes that could be deployed “anywhere, anytime, by anyone and anything”. The technology
has huge potential as it could generate applications in a wide range of civilian and military fields,
including ensuring safety and security,
environment and habitat monitoring,
real-time healthcare,
landmine detection and
intelligent transport systems
(ITS).
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3. ICTs and Climate Change (December 2007)
This report looks at the potential role that information and communication technologies (ICTs)
play at different stages of the process of climate change, from contributing to global warming, to
monitoring it, to mitigating its impact on the most vulnerable parts of the globe, to developing long-term
solutions, both directly in the ICT sector and in other sectors like
energy, transport, buildings etc. The final sections look at what ITU-T
is already doing in this field and strategic options for the future. |
2. TelePresence: High performance video-conferencing (November 2007)
TelePresence is the next step in high-performance, studio-based video-conferencing, which promises to give users the
experience of “going there without being there”. This report looks at the technology behind TelePresence and its
potential applications in business as well as in fields like medicine, education and outsourcing. ITU-T standards,
such as H.323 are at the heart of video-conferencing technology, and the report also looks at new developments,
such as Advanced Multimedia Systems (AMS). |
1. Intelligent Transport Systems and CALM (October 2007)
Intelligent Transport Systems make it possible to imagine a future in
which cars will be able to foresee and avoid collisions, navigate the
quickest route to their destination, making use of up-to-the-minute
traffic reports, identify the nearest available parking slot and
minimize their carbon emissions. A new set of standards—Continuous
Air-interface for Long- and Medium-range communications (CALM)—promise
to provide the underlying glue to make all this happen, and are the
subject of this report. |
