As more and more people get their own private broadband connection, the concept of being "always online" is spreading. At the same time mobile phones now offer advanced multimedia services, and many people want to be online also when they are away from home. However, with today’s mobile prices, such a lifestyle will be rather expensive.

In Norway, there are two cellular technologies (UMTS and CDMA-450) that can provide high-speed internet access for mobile users. In addition WiMax (IEEE 802.16) is a technology developed for wireless access over large ranges. All these technologies require new infrastructures and licenses from the regulatory authorities.

The objective of OBAN is to utilize the existing broadband infrastructure in order to provide public wireless broadband network in urban and suburban areas. The idea is that some households with broadband connections offer some of their unused capacity to the open WLAN network, perhaps for a suitable compensation. In this way, it will be possible to offer new and better services to mobile users without having to build a new and costly wireless infrastructure.

There are some challenges that must be overcome before the OBAN concept can be realised. The WLAN standard is not designed for the extensive use described in OBAN, and one needs to solve problems regarding e.g. mobility, quality of service (QoS) and security. These challenges are addressed in the OBAN project by both theoretical studies and analyses, and the project group will also develop demonstrators showing important aspects of the OBAN broadband network.

• The OBAN web page (http://oban.tubit.tu-berlin.de)

Contact: Jan Erik Håkegård (Beskyttet adresse)