The Network Information API - Comments

We are working on a project which will use computer tablets at school. We
design the tablets from a hardware and a software perspective. Amongst the
issues we’ve come across and which will be of some interest to the HTML5
community is the type of communication and more specifically wireless
communication. The devices that we are designing will use wireless
connections but not all of the time. We’re looking for a way to switch on
or off the communication device depending on the situation.




Wireless communications are still a subject of debate and there are no
studies showing clearly that wireless communication should be considered as
a danger to health safety or not. As an illustration, from a power point of
view, the wifi electromagnetic waves are at least 20 times weaker than GSM.
But in a classroom, there will be on average 30 to 35 pupils studying on
tablets, and we don’t know the long term effects of 30 antennas
transmitting simultaneously all day long. As a precaution, we prefer to
switch wireless communication on only when it is necessary and switch it
off the rest of the time.



This is a subject of concern amongst parents and educational institutions.
Thus, it will be useful to have a status of wireless communication
available in HTLM5, and a way to enable or disable wireless communication.



For instance, these are the kind of information we would need:

-          (essential) Is it on or is it off?

-          (optional) What sort of power is it emitting. In Wifi, this
would give something as low: 1mW, standard:100mW, high: 500mW)?



Consequently, we would also need to have the ability to:

-          (essential) Switch wireless communication on or off, if it is
needed or not.

o   General use case: the wireless communication is switched off because
most of the time pupils will work offline.

-          (optional) Change the power of transmission depending on the
circumstances.

o   Use case 1: in a classroom, use low power for short range transmission.

o   Use case 2: in a lecture hall, use standard power for medium range
transmission.

o   Use case 3: on a sport field, use high power for wide range
communication.





Franck