Editor's Note
Doug Mackey
Editor, Pocket PC Enterprise Solutions
[email protected]
The Envelope Please! Enterprising Developers
Most of what you read in this magazine is the product of sheer enthusiasm. Even in the realm of the enterprise, where many people who write for us are ultimately being subsidized by some corporate budget or another, you will see an extraordinary commitment to sharing valuable information and promoting excellence in the new technology.
The Pocket PC Best Software Awards for 2003 include two new categories, Developers and Enterprise Mobility . These awards are a bit different from the end-user software awards. Developer software is not Pocket PC software per se; it is the software used to create mobile applications. Obviously this is an important area to recognize, and we have been lucky to have a number of strong judges to funnel their expertise and enthusiasm into the awards selection for Developers.
The Enterprise Mobility Awards showcase the best efforts of developers who are creating custom products in a wide variety of industries. Often this is where "leading edge" applications get written. Commercial products are written to appeal to broad needs that are shared by thousands or millions of users. But if individual companies cannot apply commercial technology to their often very specific needs, they have no use for it. Thus they become pioneers by commissioning developers to write for them, participating in the design process, managing, and planning; and from the resulting applications new commercial prospects may be born. Many thanks to Nathan Clevenger and the Mobile Development Association for organizing these awards.
In a non-awards-related story, it is, frankly, inspiring to read of the fruits of Pat Phillips's efforts in offering a high school computer science program in mobile development. She gives her students hands-on development experience creating real-world applications for businesses in their community (read full article). The applications they have built using Visual Studio .NET, the Pocket PC Best Software Award-winning development suite, are original and well-suited to the needs of their users in manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and other industries.
It is our pleasure to recognize these young award winners of
tomorrow.
High School Computer Science Meets Reality
Community businesses and students benefit from an innovative program
by Pat Phillips
Each fall as a new school year approaches, I face the challenge of making my students' education in computer science as valuable and as relevant as possible. Last year I hit upon an idea that will change my classes forever. My students at Craig High School in Janesville, Wisconsin, are now creating programs for clients in the community to use on the Pocket PC.
It all started as I searched for new ways to make use of Visual Studio .NET in my classroom. As a member of the Microsoft Academic Alliance program, our classroom has this powerful Integrated Development Environment on every computer and students have it on their home computers, too. The challenge for me was to develop learning units to take advantage of the power, versatility, and depth of the programming options VS.NET provides. I decided that programming the Pocket PC for real-world users would offer my students (many who are planning careers in IT) challenges in programming techniques, as well as develop skills in client relations, user interface design, and time management.
So a group of twelve advanced students began the task of developing a useful application for a client in the community. I searched the community for individuals in careers and businesses who were willing to work with students in a learning project. A wide variety of volunteers were secured and we were off and running.
Each student selected a client from the list and was provided with a "professional folder" complete with letters of introduction, personal business cards, fax forms, and a planner. Students met with their clients to learn about the problem to be solved. Then they designed the interface, developed the algorithm and solution, tested the program, deployed it to the Pocket PC, and finally delivered the device to the client. Each client used the Pocket PC for several days and then met with the student for a final evaluation of the project. Evaluations were based upon the "professionalism" of the student as well as on the success of the application. Seven Dell Axim Pocket PCs were provided through the generosity of our principal Glen Disrude, a grant from the local Community Connection Project, and a grant from Microsoft. Several of the projects were of such quality that I am excited to share the results.
Helicopter navigation
Andrew Kundert developed FlightNav4 for Gil Cowell, a UW Med-Flight pilot. The helicopter ambulance service is based at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Flight personnel have to do quick calculations, sometimes while en route to the victim. No longer will pilots have to lug around tables and algorithmic devices that calculate the total time in the air or fuel consumption. This program improves navigational efficiency and reduces calculation time by taking out the guesswork. Ultimately it increases the speed at which the pilot can navigate. FlightNav4 accepts 7 input variables: magnetic variation, true heading, wind speed and direction, airspeed, flight distance, and fuel flow. This data is processed to determine the true heading, ground speed, estimated time en route, and estimated fuel use. This program provides output that is more accurate than that from manual navigation devices, and one of the first such programs to incorporate the .NET Compact Framework. The algorithm includes sine, cosine, arc sine, and arc cosine functions to calculate vector equations efficiently. FlightNav4 uses standard calculations for flight navigation but adds a level of convenience, accuracy, and efficiency not available before the handheld device.
Flight manager for Pocket PC (above)
Students Andrew Kundert and Jon Schendt getting the feel of the helicopter flown by their client, UW-MedFlight pilot Gil Cowell (above)
Developer Kundert summed up the experience, "I am really glad to have had this opportunity to work on this project. I learned a great deal about the entire programming process, from interviewing the customer, planning, developing, and finally troubleshooting the application."
"These corrections are essential to flight operations," says Cowell, "allowing us to plan our emergency response time more effectively. It's great to see high school students getting an opportunity to practice solving real-world problems."
Plastic manufacturing
The PlasticFantastic application was developed by student Joel Bessire under the guidance of Steve Zimmerman of Prent Corporation, a thermodynamics plastics company in Janesville, Wisconsin. Prent produces packaging materials for other companies. The program accepts choices for material type and gauge value and then searches data records to select the correct processing temperature and recommended processing time. It also allows the user to add new materials and gauge values to the database. This program saves a lot of time that was formerly taken up by tediously searching for data in various reference sources. According to Zimmerman, "This program is clean and easy to use and flexible enough to use far into the future."
Joel Bessire demonstrates the use of PlasticFantastic for his client Steve Zimmerman.
"I have learned a lot from this experience. I have endured numerous setbacks but have persevered. I am grateful that I got a chance to develop for a Pocket PC and also with a local company," commented Bessire.
Fencing design and pricing
Richard Roth, owner of Preferred Fencing of Clinton, Wisconsin, worked with student Dan Lupton to create a fence pricing program, FencePrint. Preferred Fencing specializes in fences for a variety of clients, from farmers to city homeowners. Generally speaking, calculating the cost of a fence is a simple matter of determining the length of the fence, the price of that type of fence, and the number of gates. Lupton ingeniously designed this program to do considerably more. His application takes the size of fenced areas as input and then blueprints these areas graphically. FencePrint then calculates the costs based on the lengths and prices provided.
Dan Lupton demonstrates the Pocket PC FencePrint program for his client, Richard Roth.
"This was an experience, to say the least. I learned a fair amount in terms of mobile devices and their capabilities," commented Lupton on his challenging project.
Pocket PC in construction
Daniel Wendorf created the Pocket PC application, Drywall Calculator, to assist in the building of a Habitat for Humanity home currently under construction by the Construction Technology classes of Craig High School. This advanced building trades class is taught by Jim Adams. The Drywall Calculator uses a compact user interface and a dynamic list to determine the sizes of the walls in a home, as well as metadata for easy identification of walls. The data is then parsed and a drywall count is returned. The drywall count includes information about how many pieces of each (preset) size of drywall must be purchased to build the house in question. This data can also be saved room by room and recalled for continued updating. According to Adams, "It takes the guesswork out of estimating material needs for a drywall job."
Drywall Calculator allows user input and provides a list of previously entered walls.
Dan Wendorf instructs his client, Jim Adams, on how to use the Drywall Calculator.
"I feel energized just thinking about the help I have given to Habitat for Humanity via the use of my program on the Pocket PC," explained Wendorf.
Measuring efficiency in the plastics industry
The Scrap/Efficiency Calculator was developed for Freedom Plastics, Inc., a nationwide manufacturer of plastic piping and fittings located in Janesville, Wisconsin. Ben Williams used the total production in pounds of plastic and the pounds of scrap on a daily basis to calculate and chart daily efficiency. This Pocket PC program analyzes the data through a variety of algorithms to calculate industry measures of production efficiency including scrap percentage, monthly encapsulation, daily efficiency, and monthly efficiency. The ScrapEfficiency Calculator generates a line graph showing daily and monthly figures for further analysis by Kevin Wright of Freedom Plastics.
The emulator of the ScrapEfficiency Calculator (shown above), for user input of variables to be used to calculate scrap loss and efficiency.
"This project has allowed me to learn a lot about programming graphics for use on the Pocket PC," Williams commented when asked about his greatest challenge in the project. Kevin Wright reflected on the project that "it allows the student to get a glimpse of practical applications and allows organizations to try things or systems they may not have tried."
Roofing estimates with the Pocket PC
Roofing-On-The-Go was developed by Scott Hoadley for Semmens Construction of Janesville, Wisconsin. Semmens Construction specializes in the repair and construction of many roof styles. Roofing prices are calculated based on several formulas using the height, width, and other dynamic variables of the roof, all of which are represented graphically in the Pocket PC application. To calculate the cost of materials needed for the roof, many unique and involved formulas are employed. The roofing project accepts variables for three different types of roofs such as arch, hip and ranch, and calculates the cost of roofing materials for each. It utilizes form functions and the System.Math functions. This application allows Bill Semmens, owner of Semmens Construction, to provide cost estimates more quickly on location for potential customers.
Scott Hoadley tests the accuracy of his Roofing-On-The-Go program for determining roofing costs for various roofing styles.
"This was definitely a new experience for me and it made me think about what it will be like when I work for clients in the future," reflected Hoadley.
Agriculture and the Pocket PC
The Fertility/Seed Cost Calculator was designed for Twin State Engineer & Chemical by Nate Weiss. Twin State sells fertility and herbicide chemicals as well as corn and soybean seed to area farmers. The Fertility/Seed Cost Calculator is used when a Twin State consultant meets with a customer. The consultant and farmer input data such as desired total nutrient weight and seed population. The Fertility/Seed Cost Calculator processes the raw input data and calculates the amounts of each chemical needed for the desired outcome and the total cost for purchasing these chemicals and seed. Frank Masters served as the business consultant to Nate for this project. When asked to comment on the greatest challenge in creating such an involved application, Weiss replied, "Trying to fit everything into the display of the Pocket PC has really helped me learn User Interface Design."
The Fertility/Seed Cost Calculator (shown above) allows the user to enter the variables for calculating costs.
Nathan Weiss directs his client Frank Masters in the use of the Fertility/Seed Cost Calculator on the Pocket PC.
Back to school
My initial goals for this project were achieved. The students tackled real problems for real clients in real environments. In so doing they gained valuable experience in client relations, problem solving, and Pocket PC solution development. Some of the applications have potential for commercial value, and I'm sure this is the first step toward successful careers in software development for many of my students.
A new school year has begun, with new students, new goals, and new projects with the Pocket PC.
* * *
Pat Phillips teaches computer science at Craig High School in Janesville, Wisconsin. Her classes at Craig have included Programming C++, AP Computer Science, HTML, and application courses. Patricia is also a graduate instructor for St. Mary's University of Minneapolis, MN in desktop publishing and HTML & Web design and has conducted many staff training courses at Craig H.S. She serves as project director for the DREAMS program that encourages young women to pursue careers in technology, math, and science, and on the TACKLE Box Project working for gender equity in technology education. She serves on the Microsoft Academic Advisory Team. Pat can be reached at [email protected].
Easy Riding with Axim Tracking
How Pocket PCs were used to monitor a 3600-bicycle event
by Don Sorcinelli
When the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (www.pmc.org) prepares for its annual event, logistics, rider safety, and tracking are major concerns. The Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC) is an annual fund-raising event for the Jimmy Fund of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. What began with 36 riders raising $10,200 in 1980 has grown to 3600 riders raising $16 million in 2003. The enormous growth of this event has resulted in an equally enormous logistical challenge. With as many as 3600 cyclists from 40 states riding six different routes through 46 Massachusetts towns over the course of one weekend, a significant amount of effort is required to properly capture the data that organizers, riders, and spectators need. This past summer, PMC 2003 turned to a Pocket PC solution to ease the complexities of this enormous task.
Thanks to the help of 20 Dell Axim Pocket PCs (www.dell.com) and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, the PMC 2003 was a logistical success. What began as a "proof of concept" to eliminate paper reporting and improve upon past technology implementations is now looked at as a future technology solution for PMC events.
The logistical challenge
One key to the success of the PMC is the ability to efficiently track the progress of all riders in the event. Information is captured at the end of each day (while the PMC is not a race, finish times for each rider are still recorded), as well as at a number of medical tents set up at various water stations along the six different routes. At medical tents, information pertaining to medical conditions and treatments is recorded. An additional logistical requirement for the event relates to riders participating in the two-day versions of the PMC. While some of the courses are only one day in duration, others require an overnight stay. The training ship at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay served as the overnight stop. For security reasons, identification of all riders was a critical requirement.
Prior to PMC 2002, logistical data was captured and tracked using paper-based solutions. According to David Hellman, Director
of Operations for the PMC, 2002 saw the introduction of handheld barcode scanners. The scanners were loaned to the PMC by a local-area ski resort that uses them to track lift tickets. While the scanners worked for PMC, they did have limitations, including the size of the devices and the fact that the solution was proprietary. In order to improve upon PMC 2002, alternative solutions were looked at.
All roads lead to the Pocket PC
Two key events resulted in the technology choice for the PMC event. First, the emergence of RFID technology allowed for a solution with significant benefits over barcode scanning, such as easier data capture over a longer range without a line-of-sight requirement. Hellman had been following RFID for quite a while, and had a hunch that someone had already investigated putting RFID scanners into a CompactFlash format. His belief proved to be true—a Canadian-based company, Syscan International (www.syscan.com), was readying just such a device. The second event was the launch of the Dell Axim X5 Pocket PC line, late in 2002. This device provided both CompactFlash and Secure Digital slots (important for needed storage) in a price range that was very appealing to a fundraising organization such as the PMC.
Pocket PC magazine, January 2004 Page 5