Now, startup fg microtec has developed a technology that significantly improves quality and transmission speed while at the same time potentially increasing user acceptance.

Most new cellphones are equipped with a camera. Often it takes several minutes to transmit images. Future applications such as interactive games and software downloads will increase data quantities still further, said Arno-Alexander Filbig, vice president of business development at fg microtec.

Cellphone users can talk while data is being transmitted. If mobile subscribers connect to overloaded radio signal cells, if a hand-over occurs or if the connection is not optimal, data packets must be resent — drastically increasing transmission times.

"This could significantly impede acceptance of new technologies such as GPRS, Edge or UMTS," Filbig said. Transmission quality will degrade further, especially for 3G networks such as UMTS, estimates Filbig. "All you need to do to negatively impact the quality of the connection is walk around in the room," he added.

The company has developed an algorithm called "predictive flow control" (PFC) that improves transmission speed by increasing effective transmission bandwidth by a factor of up to four in field testing.

The algorithm, for which a patent is pending, is embedded between the transport protocol and air interface, making it possible to predict network behavior in the 1-millisecond range. Hence, the algorithm can adjust packet size and efficiency of data transmissions, he said.

The software controls, prioritizes and optimizes data flows, thus ensuring that multimedia data is handled in the fastest possible method depending on the network status. As the provider sees it, integration of software offers a competitive advantage to manufacturers of end devices since complex real-time applications such as hi-fi audio or streaming video, interactive games, instant messaging or push-to-talk can run at the highest possible speed.

The software runs on a client in the cellphone, eliminating the need for corresponding software at the other end. This tuning effect does not depend on the level of network development. fg microtec's product portfolio includes various implementations of the algorithm.

The company is offering what it says is the first quality- of-service manager (QoSM) for mobile phones called QoSM6251. The embedded solution can be integrated into designs of 2.5G, EDGE and UMTS cell phones. The primary goal is to set priorities, provide specific bandwidths and improve loss characteristics for real-time and interactive applications.

One goal of the manager is to ensure that the data flow of one or more applications does not result in the failure of other data flows. The software not only prioritizes data packets on the transmission path, but also gives priority to time-critical applications on the processor.

The company is initially targeting the European and Asian markets. The growth of Edge networks in the United States means North America could also become a promising market, the company said.

"Nowhere else in the GSM market " and EDGE is a GSM technology " does grow faster than in the USA", explains Filbig.

The first implementations of the quality-improving software are already in use in various mobile phones. The company will demonstrate the software at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, from Feb. 23 to 26.

--Christoph Hammerschmidt is editor-in-chief of EETimes.de