Motek - Product

WINDOWS CE - THE EMERGING OPERATING SYSTEM FOR INDUSTRIAL RF DEVICES
By David Price
Operations Consultant, Motek, Inc.

Operating system support and capabilities for traditional industrial RF (radio frequency) devices from vendors such as Symbol and Telxon were often downplayed in the past because virtually all RF units were running some form of terminal emulation. The recent introduction of Windows CE devices from the major RF manufacturers will force both resellers and software developers to re-evaluate this viewpoint. Windows CE will spearhead a change in RF systems from character based terminal emulation to GUI (Graphical User Interface) based "RF Client-Server" "Intelligent" RF systems.

The evolution and development of RF systems hardware/software has been much slower than the computer industry in general. The first commercially deployed RF units used proprietary operating systems and Narrow Band transmission frequencies that were only capable of 9600 baud throughput. In 1988 Telxon was the first major RF manufacturer to introduce MS-DOS as an alternative to its traditional proprietary operating system. Symbol joined Telxon a few years later with the introduction of DR-DOS on its units. In the early 90's Intermec introduced its MS-DOS Janus line. Other RF vendors did not see the need to follow suit. LXE, Norand, and Teklogics continued to tout the benefits of proprietary RF operating systems in regards to battery life and terminal emulation response times.

The mainstream computer industry as a whole, however, was adopting a non-proprietary view of operating systems, standardizing on MS-DOS and later Microsoft Windows on the PC platform (of which most RF units are built from). End-users were demanding open, non-proprietary DOS and Windows operating systems even on industrial RF computers. Commercial software developers like Motek in the warehouse management systems area and corporate end-users were beginning to use the native PC like capabilities of DOS based RF units to actually execute programs on the RF units in place of terminal emulation. These early "Intelligent" RF systems were a crude precursor to today's wireless LAN systems.

Intelligent RF systems offer performance advantages and built-in systems redundancy not available with terminal emulation RF. Terminal Emulation RF units are not capable of independent functioning if the central host or RF network becomes unavailable. In addition, host systems controlling Terminal Emulation RF units typically need to perform an RF transmission each time the user scrolls to a new screen or line. Sometimes transmissions occur each time the user hits a key. In Intelligent RF systems, only information requests and their corresponding query answers are sent over the RF network. This dramatically speeds the performance of the overall RF network and greatly enhances the functionality and ease-of-use of the RF units themselves.

Most RF networks require the same overhead to send one character or 1000 characters (one packet). Terminal Emulation RF systems can optimally only send and use a few screens at a time (20 - 100 characters of information per transmission packet). For example, with an Intelligent RF unit the host or data server can send an entire PO or pick list to the RF unit in one transmission packet. The RF unit, functioning like a regular PC, can then store, manipulate, and display this information without requiring additional RF transmissions as scrolling occurs or screens are changed (RF transmissions are still required to update the host when the displayed work tasks are completed). This greatly reduces the number of RF transmissions and speeds overall response times.

The response time problems inherent with Terminal Emulation RF systems were somewhat lessened with the introduction of new transmission technologies like Spread Spectrum and the new frequency ranges of 900 MHz (capable of supporting RF throughput of up to 230 KB) and 2.4 GHz (capable of 2 MB). Intelligent RF systems still retained a speed and user interface advantage over terminal emulation system. The same user requirement for ease of use and the ability to attach PC peripheral devices that sparked the move away from dumb terminals to character based desktop PCs was also affecting industrial RF applications.

Initially, Intelligent RF systems required more memory and were more costly than Terminal Emulation units. This cost difference, however, had disappeared by 1997. This, coupled with the fact that it was easier to develop terminal emulation software on non-proprietary operating systems like DOS than it was to develop on proprietary operating systems led to a general acceptance of DOS (Microsoft or Digital Research) as the accepted operating system for industrial RF computers.

Unable to resist market pressures, the remaining industrial RF vendors belatedly introduced DOS based RF units (Norand in 1996, LXE and Teklogics in 1998). Industry analysts felt that the late introduction of non-proprietary operating systems negatively impacted sales for these companies. In fact, Norand was one year late getting to market its DOS based units following their initial announcement. Sales slumped for their older units (this may have contributed to Norand's acquisition by Intermec).

The move from DOS to Windows and later Windows 95 and Windows NT on RF units was not as successful as the move from proprietary RF operating systems to DOS. The Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/NT units were significantly more expensive than traditional RF units because of screen, CPU (Central Processing Unit), and memory requirements. Software developers and corporate end-users did not embrace these units except in some specialized vertical applications like transportation, shipping, and field service that required signature capture and a screen display that looked like an actual document.

1997 and 1998 saw no real change of DOS as the predominant RF operating system. Most RF units were the computing equivalent of the old IBM PC-XT of more than a decade previously! Most commercial and corporate RF systems developers were content with Terminal Emulation and saw no need for Windows, GUI, or for faster CPUs in the RF units. Developers that were using the Intelligent RF approach could not cost justify using the new Windows based units, even if they did allow for GUI RF.

20 years ago the market demanded a move from "green screen" dumb terminals to character based DOS PCs, then to Windows, and then to Windows 98/NT. Over the last 10 years Microsoft has become the dominant supplier of microprocessor operating systems. We are seeing the same market and technical forces that pushed RF manufacturers a decade ago to DOS pushing them from DOS to CE. Most RF units shipping today come with 640 KB - 1 MB of memory. High speed CPU and display technology has dropped in price. The current crop of CE RF devices is selling for a 20%-30% premium over their DOS character based equivalents. CE unit prices are expected to drop to DOS unit prices next year.

CE units will benefit Intelligent RF system developers with a more stable operating system, fast CPUs that can execute more complex programs faster, and a GUI interface that will provide more information on the screen in a more pictorial and intuitive format, making these systems easier to learn and use. Windows CE is also a better and more stable platform than DOS to develop Terminal Emulation software. Both "Intelligent" and Terminal Emulation RF developers will benefit from CE based RF computers.

A change will also occur in RF system interfaces. Today the vast majority of RF user interfaces are character based dumb terminals. Only a handful of commercial and corporate RF systems deployed are "Intelligent", despite all the inherent advantages of Intelligent RF. The introduction of CE RF devices at similar price points to today's DOS units will cause a market shakeup. Intelligent RF system providers can easily move their applications from a character based interface to GUI. The essential RF Client-Server nature of their application and the underlying logic code can remain the same. Once users see this new generation of CE based GUI RF systems they will no longer be satisfied with character or terminal based systems. Just as PC users switched from character based displays to Windows, RF users will demand GUI interfaces as long as there is no significant price penalty.

The introduction and acceptance of CE puts most commercial RF software application companies on the spot since they are still using Terminal Emulation. How do you do GUI on a dumb terminal? They will be forced to re-write large parts of their existing applications to stay competitive. This opens a window of opportunity for new players offering GUI and RF Client-Server technologies.

Warehouse management systems (WMSs) were one of the first applications to utilize RF technology. Among Terminal Emulation WMS developers, the traditional argument has been that forklift operators should be directed one move at a time, making large character based screens, let alone GUI RF displays, unnecessary. This position is becoming harder to support with increasingly sophisticated RF WMS functionality like Task Interleaving, Crossdocking, RF Picking, RF Receiving, RF Cycle Counting, and Voice Recognition becoming more common.

Windows CE units will allow for a warehouse "map" to be displayed, showing movement start and ending destinations, along with the locations of other RF users in order to avoid congestion. Touch screens and icons will augment or replace keyboards and keypunch. GUI CE systems will be able to display more information more quickly with less reading and keypunching. RF systems will be much easier to internationalize for use with multiple languages because international icon symbols can be used.

In conclusion, Windows CE will become the predominant RF operating system over the next 2-3 years just as DOS did a decade ago. The reasons and market forces for this change are analogous to the change that occurred 10 years ago when the industry moved to DOS. Just as no one foresaw what fast inexpensive CPUs and GUI interfaces would do to computing 10 years ago, few realize what will now occur with industrial RF applications. I expect just as radical a transformation in RF systems as we saw on the PC.

Questions or comments are appreciated and can be directed to David Price at 323-653-4333 x223 or davidp@motek.com

About Motek®
Motek provides an advanced, Windows-based, user-configurable warehouse management system that helps mid-to-large sized companies in the retail, wholesale, and third-party distribution markets save money and improve customer satisfaction by streamlining their warehouse operations. Since 1991, Motek's Priya warehouse software and technology has been leading the market in innovation, implementation time and ease-of-use. Privately owned, Motek has garnered numerous industry awards for innovation, entrepreneurship, and technical excellence, and consistently ranks as one of Southern California's fastest growing companies. Information on Motek is available at www.motek.com



« Back	WINDOWS CE - THE EMERGING OPERATING SYSTEM FOR INDUSTRIAL RF DEVICES By David Price Operations Consultant, Motek, Inc. Operating system support and capabilities for traditional industrial RF (radio frequency) devices from vendors such as Symbol and Telxon were often downplayed in the past because virtually all RF units were running some form of terminal emulation. The recent introduction of Windows CE devices from the major RF manufacturers will force both resellers and software developers to re-evaluate this viewpoint. Windows CE will spearhead a change in RF systems from character based terminal emulation to GUI (Graphical User Interface) based "RF Client-Server" "Intelligent" RF systems. The evolution and development of RF systems hardware/software has been much slower than the computer industry in general. The first commercially deployed RF units used proprietary operating systems and Narrow Band transmission frequencies that were only capable of 9600 baud throughput. In 1988 Telxon was the first major RF manufacturer to introduce MS-DOS as an alternative to its traditional proprietary operating system. Symbol joined Telxon a few years later with the introduction of DR-DOS on its units. In the early 90's Intermec introduced its MS-DOS Janus line. Other RF vendors did not see the need to follow suit. LXE, Norand, and Teklogics continued to tout the benefits of proprietary RF operating systems in regards to battery life and terminal emulation response times. The mainstream computer industry as a whole, however, was adopting a non-proprietary view of operating systems, standardizing on MS-DOS and later Microsoft Windows on the PC platform (of which most RF units are built from). End-users were demanding open, non-proprietary DOS and Windows operating systems even on industrial RF computers. Commercial software developers like Motek in the warehouse management systems area and corporate end-users were beginning to use the native PC like capabilities of DOS based RF units to actually execute programs on the RF units in place of terminal emulation. These early "Intelligent" RF systems were a crude precursor to today's wireless LAN systems. Intelligent RF systems offer performance advantages and built-in systems redundancy not available with terminal emulation RF. Terminal Emulation RF units are not capable of independent functioning if the central host or RF network becomes unavailable. In addition, host systems controlling Terminal Emulation RF units typically need to perform an RF transmission each time the user scrolls to a new screen or line. Sometimes transmissions occur each time the user hits a key. In Intelligent RF systems, only information requests and their corresponding query answers are sent over the RF network. This dramatically speeds the performance of the overall RF network and greatly enhances the functionality and ease-of-use of the RF units themselves. Most RF networks require the same overhead to send one character or 1000 characters (one packet). Terminal Emulation RF systems can optimally only send and use a few screens at a time (20 - 100 characters of information per transmission packet). For example, with an Intelligent RF unit the host or data server can send an entire PO or pick list to the RF unit in one transmission packet. The RF unit, functioning like a regular PC, can then store, manipulate, and display this information without requiring additional RF transmissions as scrolling occurs or screens are changed (RF transmissions are still required to update the host when the displayed work tasks are completed). This greatly reduces the number of RF transmissions and speeds overall response times. The response time problems inherent with Terminal Emulation RF systems were somewhat lessened with the introduction of new transmission technologies like Spread Spectrum and the new frequency ranges of 900 MHz (capable of supporting RF throughput of up to 230 KB) and 2.4 GHz (capable of 2 MB). Intelligent RF systems still retained a speed and user interface advantage over terminal emulation system. The same user requirement for ease of use and the ability to attach PC peripheral devices that sparked the move away from dumb terminals to character based desktop PCs was also affecting industrial RF applications. Initially, Intelligent RF systems required more memory and were more costly than Terminal Emulation units. This cost difference, however, had disappeared by 1997. This, coupled with the fact that it was easier to develop terminal emulation software on non-proprietary operating systems like DOS than it was to develop on proprietary operating systems led to a general acceptance of DOS (Microsoft or Digital Research) as the accepted operating system for industrial RF computers. Unable to resist market pressures, the remaining industrial RF vendors belatedly introduced DOS based RF units (Norand in 1996, LXE and Teklogics in 1998). Industry analysts felt that the late introduction of non-proprietary operating systems negatively impacted sales for these companies. In fact, Norand was one year late getting to market its DOS based units following their initial announcement. Sales slumped for their older units (this may have contributed to Norand's acquisition by Intermec). The move from DOS to Windows and later Windows 95 and Windows NT on RF units was not as successful as the move from proprietary RF operating systems to DOS. The Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/NT units were significantly more expensive than traditional RF units because of screen, CPU (Central Processing Unit), and memory requirements. Software developers and corporate end-users did not embrace these units except in some specialized vertical applications like transportation, shipping, and field service that required signature capture and a screen display that looked like an actual document. 1997 and 1998 saw no real change of DOS as the predominant RF operating system. Most RF units were the computing equivalent of the old IBM PC-XT of more than a decade previously! Most commercial and corporate RF systems developers were content with Terminal Emulation and saw no need for Windows, GUI, or for faster CPUs in the RF units. Developers that were using the Intelligent RF approach could not cost justify using the new Windows based units, even if they did allow for GUI RF. 20 years ago the market demanded a move from "green screen" dumb terminals to character based DOS PCs, then to Windows, and then to Windows 98/NT. Over the last 10 years Microsoft has become the dominant supplier of microprocessor operating systems. We are seeing the same market and technical forces that pushed RF manufacturers a decade ago to DOS pushing them from DOS to CE. Most RF units shipping today come with 640 KB - 1 MB of memory. High speed CPU and display technology has dropped in price. The current crop of CE RF devices is selling for a 20%-30% premium over their DOS character based equivalents. CE unit prices are expected to drop to DOS unit prices next year. CE units will benefit Intelligent RF system developers with a more stable operating system, fast CPUs that can execute more complex programs faster, and a GUI interface that will provide more information on the screen in a more pictorial and intuitive format, making these systems easier to learn and use. Windows CE is also a better and more stable platform than DOS to develop Terminal Emulation software. Both "Intelligent" and Terminal Emulation RF developers will benefit from CE based RF computers. A change will also occur in RF system interfaces. Today the vast majority of RF user interfaces are character based dumb terminals. Only a handful of commercial and corporate RF systems deployed are "Intelligent", despite all the inherent advantages of Intelligent RF. The introduction of CE RF devices at similar price points to today's DOS units will cause a market shakeup. Intelligent RF system providers can easily move their applications from a character based interface to GUI. The essential RF Client-Server nature of their application and the underlying logic code can remain the same. Once users see this new generation of CE based GUI RF systems they will no longer be satisfied with character or terminal based systems. Just as PC users switched from character based displays to Windows, RF users will demand GUI interfaces as long as there is no significant price penalty. The introduction and acceptance of CE puts most commercial RF software application companies on the spot since they are still using Terminal Emulation. How do you do GUI on a dumb terminal? They will be forced to re-write large parts of their existing applications to stay competitive. This opens a window of opportunity for new players offering GUI and RF Client-Server technologies. Warehouse management systems (WMSs) were one of the first applications to utilize RF technology. Among Terminal Emulation WMS developers, the traditional argument has been that forklift operators should be directed one move at a time, making large character based screens, let alone GUI RF displays, unnecessary. This position is becoming harder to support with increasingly sophisticated RF WMS functionality like Task Interleaving, Crossdocking, RF Picking, RF Receiving, RF Cycle Counting, and Voice Recognition becoming more common. Windows CE units will allow for a warehouse "map" to be displayed, showing movement start and ending destinations, along with the locations of other RF users in order to avoid congestion. Touch screens and icons will augment or replace keyboards and keypunch. GUI CE systems will be able to display more information more quickly with less reading and keypunching. RF systems will be much easier to internationalize for use with multiple languages because international icon symbols can be used. In conclusion, Windows CE will become the predominant RF operating system over the next 2-3 years just as DOS did a decade ago. The reasons and market forces for this change are analogous to the change that occurred 10 years ago when the industry moved to DOS. Just as no one foresaw what fast inexpensive CPUs and GUI interfaces would do to computing 10 years ago, few realize what will now occur with industrial RF applications. I expect just as radical a transformation in RF systems as we saw on the PC. Questions or comments are appreciated and can be directed to David Price at 323-653-4333 x223 or davidp@motek.com About Motek® Motek provides an advanced, Windows-based, user-configurable warehouse management system that helps mid-to-large sized companies in the retail, wholesale, and third-party distribution markets save money and improve customer satisfaction by streamlining their warehouse operations. Since 1991, Motek's Priya warehouse software and technology has been leading the market in innovation, implementation time and ease-of-use. Privately owned, Motek has garnered numerous industry awards for innovation, entrepreneurship, and technical excellence, and consistently ranks as one of Southern California's fastest growing companies. Information on Motek is available at www.motek.com
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