Media Servers on CarFi

Did you know that our CarFi router includes a free media server? Probably not, since we haven't released a manual or instructions for it yet, but it's there now. If you're feeling adventurous and want to start using it before we finish the documentation I thought I'd give you an overview of it along with quick instructions.

We try real hard to be vendor neutral here at Autonet, so we've made our media server support three different streaming protocols. With these three protocols I think we've got most every media device covered. They are:

• DAAP - This is what Apple uses, so if you use iTunes, you'll see the Autonet device automatically show up under your shared devices.
• UPNP - This is what Microsoft uses, so on a xBox or a Windows PC, you'll see the Autonet device show up as a Media Server.
• DLNA - This is what Sony uses and seems to be emerging as the standard. I've seen it supported on TV's and a bunch of Android devices lately as well as the Sony PS3 and PSP.

We have these disabled by default, but just log into the admin pages and go to the "Media Server" section to enable them. Feel free to enable all of them, but I typically just like to enable the ones I'm using. I hate to make the router work harder then it has to. :-)

Now, the next most obvious question is "What media?". We've included some music files on the CarFi to get you started. Some of my favorite bands and some friends/employees of Autonet have graciously contributed some awesome music to start with. (I'll write something later about the artists that are on the CarFi). And just in case you don't have the same musical tastes as me, you have the ability to add your own media with our media manager. Just go to the same configuration page where you enabled the media servers with and set a password for the media manager. You can then go to http://www.autonetrouter.com/media to upload new media and manage what's already on there. (We're working on a sync application that will automatically sync your home media with your car. Stay tuned for that.)

The CarFi comes with one GigaByte of extra storage for you to add your own media and it's easy to add even more. If you check out our webstore you'll see that we now offer Compact Flash cards and USB memory sticks so that you can add as much storage as you want. I keep more then 100GB's of music in my car, so I have a virtually unlimited selection of music.

Right now the media servers are really focused on serving up music, but the DLNA and UPNP media servers also support video, so give that a try. We didn't include any sample video's in this release, but put your own on there and give it a work out. My friend keeps his collection of Disney DVD's in his CarFi, so his kids can always watch whatever movie they are obsessed with at any one time. No fumbling (or forgetting) DVD's.

There's a bunch of other new features coming soon to your CarFi. I'm really excited that we have a platform that is capable of so many features without having to require extra fees or new hardware to perform. It really is a complete communications platform and just a router. So there's your sneak preview on some new features you CarFi users have and didn't even know. We've got to work on the some proper documentation for them still, but they all work great! It sure is a lot more fun to develop these applications then it is to document them :-)

Posted at 02:25PM Jul 19, 2010 by dmoeller in Doug Moeller  | 

New Applications NOW Available

Here at Autonet we're excited to be releasing three new applications this week for our CarFi™;

Find My Car - One thing I always hated about Lo-Jack was that it required me to file a police report and report my car stolen before they would locate my car. And then they would only tell the police and not me. Half the time, I'm just looking for it in the parking lot! With Autonet's Find My car, you log into our website and see where your car is whenever you want.

Geo Fencing - With Geo Fencing you can draw virtual fences on a map and then get alerts when your car goes in or out of one of these fences. This is a great way to make sure your car is only going to the places that you expect it to.

Content Filtering - Block objectionable content by category or by specific sites. This one is mostly geared towards the School buses and school districts. The federal Children's Internet Protection Act requires school districts that receive federal funding to comply with Internet Filtering, so this takes care of it for them.

CarFi™ was designed to support applications like this and many others, so that's why were able to offer these new services at such a lower price than others. Just go to our My Autonet web page to sign up.

Think of CarFi™ as the next generation communications platform for your car. We started with WiFi, but we're capable of so much more and we're going to be releasing new applications over the next several months for CarFi™. Our early days were really focused around providing reliable IP connectivity to the vehicle and now that we've done that we're developing applications and services that can be layered on top of that.

If you've got ideas for other applications that you'd like for your car, please let us know.

Posted at 02:09PM Jun 14, 2010 by dmoeller in Doug Moeller  | 

Is it time to start taking DSRC seriously?

DSRC ( Dedicated Short Range Communications ) has been a buzz topic in the automotive world for some number of years now. The idea is that cars will all have this radio technology in them and then they can communicate with each other and with roadside infrastructure. Some sample applications for this technology include:

• Emergency Warning system - e.g. A notice that the road is flooded ahead, or tornado alert
• Adaptive cruise control - e.g. Car slows down when it sees that you're within x ft. of another car
• Collision warning system - e.g. Your car sends you an alert when you get too close to another car, or if their is a stalled car ahead.
• Smart Intersections - e.g. Your car sends you an alert that a traffic signal is ahead. It could even tell you if you're going to make the light or not.
• Smart Traffic signals - e.g. The traffic signals know how many cars are approaching and can optimize it's signals to avoid cars idling at the lights.
• Approaching emergency vehicle warning
• Vehicle clearance information for upcoming bridges
• Real time traffic data
• In Vehicle Signing - e.g. All roadside signs could also be displayed on a display in the vehicle
• Electronic Toll collection and parking

These things all sound great, but many of them aren't really useful till every vehicle has them and we've spent some serious bucks on upgrading the infrastructure on our streets and highways. In today's economy this just doesn't seem practical, and the reality is that many of these new services that DSRC brings aren't really necessities, but fail safes to attentive driving.

DSRC will make our lives better by reducing traffic congestion, reducing accidents, and improving the environment, but without an economic incentive to implement it, it seems unlikely to gain much traction. The one application that I think may help kick start this is Toll Tags and Parking. All across this country we've got bridges, tunnels, roadways and parking lots that use Toll Tags (e.g. EZ-Pass, FasTrak, TollTag, etc.) for automation of the collection of payments for use of these services. These Toll Tag systems are all proprietary and non-interoperable with each other though, so consumers end up having to purchase multiple tags and setting up multiple billing relationships. Why not just standardize on DSRC for this nationwide? It'll mean lower costs and less hassle for consumers, and it starts to get the infrastructure updated so we'll be able to take advantage of the other benefits of DSRC.

Posted at 05:51PM Apr 24, 2010 by dmoeller in Doug Moeller  | 

The time for Telematics over IP (Internet Protocol) has come

Automakers have been delivering Telematics services such as Air Bag Deployment Notifications, Remote Door Unlock and car diagnostics for many years now. However, the technology they have been using hasn't evolved with the onset of the Internet and IP based services. They still use old technology, such as proprietary modems running over cellular voice networks (Remember 300 baud modems?) and SMS messages. These technologies are slow, proprietary and not forward compatible. While these may have been the best methods back in 1990, networking technologies have evolved considerably since then and the auto industry hasn't kept up. It's time for automakers to catch up and put IP in the car

Consumers are bringing the Internet and IP into the car today independent of the automaker by bringing in their own devices such as the Autonet Mobile router and Smart Phones for entertainment applications. IP has clearly won as the network protocol of choice in the world today and it's ideal for providing telematics services to the car as well as entertainment applications. Can you imagine any other industry that is still debating whether to develop applications using IP or not? Back in my days at Wellfleet we were developing routers that supported many protocols such as DECnet, NetBEUI, IPX and appletalk, but we eventually got the hint that IP had won the race and the Internet was built on top of IP. it's time for the auto industry to get that same hint.

I think the reason for this hesitation with some automakers is that when they think of IP, they only think of the Internet with applications like Facebook or Google and they don't see how that relates to the telematics services they wish to provide. They don't get that IP is a method of data transportation and is useful for many types of content. Some of the advantages of IP are:

• Speed - The mobile broadband wireless networks are all built using IP. While it may have been true at one point where cellular voice networks had better coverage than the cellular data networks, that's just not the case any more. The opposite is true in my experience.
  
  
• Scalability - Since IP is a layered model, applications can be built independently of the network type. Today we have wide deployments with 2.5G and 3G networks that support IP. Coming soon we'll have 4G networks like WiMax and LTE. An IP based application that works today will still work tomorrow as networks evolve. Some of the proprietary solutions out there require a complete application re-write as the networks evolve.
  
  
• Time to Market Advantage - By using standards based protocols and development tools, automakers are able to get applications to market much faster and cheaper than using custom and proprietary solutions. Also, there are millions of developers and applications that are developed using IP based solutions and it's very powerful to be able to leverage that kind of available resource.
  
  
• Reliability - IP is capable of ensuring that messages are received, understood and completed successfully, while some of these voice based packages are unable to receive any feedback, so you don't know if a message was ever received or not.
  
  

Automakers are traditionally very conservative about adopting new technologies because they have to be when looking at anything that concerns passenger safety. But I think the case can be made that IP is a proven protocol and the networks that support it are ready for the auto industry. Automotive engineers are mostly graded by how many warranty and safety issues they have but they should also be graded on how innovative they are.

This whole Toyota mess probably has a lot of auto engineers paranoid about integrating new systems and technologies in their vehicles, but I'd argue that they got into this mess because they haven't totally embraced modern software development processes and tools. It seems like they are integrating embedded software solutions in their cars, but their development processes and tests treat it like it was a spark plug or a piece of steel. The Automotive industry is becoming more and more like the software industry but they've got a bit of catching up to do. However recently, I have seen some really positive signs out of Detroit lately that they are now understanding this and are preparing to make aggressive moves towards adopting IP and modernizing their network operations.


-DOug

Posted at 06:47PM Mar 14, 2010 by dmoeller in Doug Moeller  |