Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 Course Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Course Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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MDT 330 - Location Based Services and Sensors

Credits: 3
Lecture Hours: 3
Lab Hours: 0
Practicum Hours: 0
Work Experience: 0
Course Type: Voc/Tech
An initial course in developing mobile applications utilizing built-in sensors to inform the app about the devices state and its external environment. Develop mobile apps using Location Based Services (LBS) to enhance the apps functionality. Discuss the devices ability to implement Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
Prerequisite OR Corequisite: MDT 210  or MDT 220  
Competencies
  1. Describe the sensors in mobile devices.
    1. Discuss the sensing capabilities of mobile devices.
    2. Describe the following sensor types: location sensors, physical sensors and the NFC scanner.
    3. Explore which tasks within an app can benefit from sensor-related input.
  2. Review the fundamentals of location based services (LBS).
    1. Introduce Global Positioning Services (GPS).
    2. Describe geocoding locations using latitude and longitude.
    3. Discuss mapping features available in mobile applications. 
  3. Assess methods used to determine location.
    1. Identify the types of location providers available to mobile devices.
    2. List the strengths and weaknesses of GPS.
    3. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Wi-Fi-based location detection.
    4. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using the cellular network to determine location.
    5. Describe situations when apps may prefer one location provider over another.
  4. Create an app that determines a devices current location
    1. Explain the tradeoff between battery life and accuracy of location data.
    2. Examine the mechanics of requesting and processing location data.
    3. Discuss handling a location provider going offline while the app is running.
    4. Discuss keeping location data up-to-date while the app is running in the background.
    5. Explore how different providers can impact the overall user experience of an app.
    6. Explain how to determine a device’s current location.
  5. Create a mobile app demonstrating device tracking.
    1. Discuss techniques to continuously track the location of a device as it moves.
    2. Describe how to persist location data.
    3. Describe how to plot all the persisted locations on a map.
    4. Discuss handling incorrect location data.
    5. Explore how continuously tracking location data adversely affects battery life.
    6. Describe how to track device movement.
  6. Create a mobile app implementing proximity alert.
    1. Discuss how to notify an app when a device enters or leaves a defined area.
    2. Describe how to define a target location.
    3. Describe setting a proximity alert.
    4. Describe responding to a proximity alert.
    5. Explain the limitations of proximity alerts.
    6. Explain proximity alert functionality.
  7. Explore the device’s physical sensors.
    1. List the available physical sensors.
    2. Describe how to collect sensor data.
    3. Explain what the sensor values mean and how to interpret them.
    4. Describe common use cases for each sensor.
  8. Create an app that makes a simple orientation determination.
    1. Discuss how multiple sensors are capable of determining device orientation.
    2. Examine the utility of an app reacting to a change in device orientation.
    3. Explore using various sensors to determine device orientation.
    4. Describe how to determine current device orientation.
  9. Detect the general motion of a mobile device.
    1. Describe how moving the device affects the acceleration sensors.
    2. Discuss how acceleration data can be obtained.
    3. Introduce some of the issues involved with using acceleration data.
    4. Explore how to differentiate between incidental acceleration and intentional acceleration.
    5. Create an app that detects the motion of a device.
  10. Analzye how to determine the altitude without using GPS-based data.
    1. Explain the main purpose of the barometer sensor.
    2. Describe the advantages of barometer-based altitude data over GPS-based data.
    3. Discuss how the barometer sensor can determine a device’s current altitude.
    4. Discuss how the barometer sensor can compute the relative altitude as the device?s altitude changes.
    5. Describe the ability of apps to determine if a device has changed floors in a building.
  11. Describe Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
    1. Describe NFC and its relationship to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
    2. Explain how NFC hardware can sense electronically enabled objects within close range of the device and read data from these objects.
    3. Discuss how two NFC-enabled mobile devices can establish a peer-to-peer network.
    4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of NFC-enabled mobile apps.



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