Working in pairs seems counter productive at first (Two people for the job of one).The developers themselves who are used to working alone are normally hesitant to switch to new programming style where their code is being under constant monitoring of someone else.

But from my personal experience in one of our big projects i came to the conclusion that it leads to enhanced productivity if it is implemented carefully and there is patience for the time taken by the team to adapt and appreciate the changes in their working style.

The project and the team itself could not benefit much in the initial days of its introduction as the pairs could not achieve the required results in short time and missed deadlines .To stick to the time lines they switched sometimes to solo programming again and one guy in the pair became a spectator.

But in 2 months time the pairs were pretty well formed and there was visible much better understanding between the team members for the project as well as their partner.

Later releases went smoothly and number of bugs reported during QA cycles saw a drastic fall. This was amazing result as most of the defects were reported by the partner and corrected right at the time of programming.

Some benefits which could not be overlooked were –

More Economical – Defies common sense at first but as the number of defects reported during the testing was reduced by a factor of 3 or more there was much less time spent in bug fixing and rework thereby reducing total costs .

Code quality – Pair programmers consistently produced better quality of code than sole programmers. The designs were better .Code was elegant and neatly commented .The benefit seemed to come from the continuous review ,a desire to impress their partner and also to stand out among the pairs.

Team Morale – The pairs were able to solve complex problems faster and it seemed that 2 brains working in tandem is way better for keeping the team morale high as working in pairs provides a feeling of support .The partner is a big moral booster when there is lack of confidence for some reason .

Knowledge Spread reduces risk – At least 2 people had familiarity with each piece of code, so it reduced the risk of someone quitting and taking with him all the knowledge of his work leaving the project in a bad shape till some suitable replacement was found.

XEN GlobalTech is one of the India’s leading specialist IT Outsourcing & Business Consulting Company helping its global customers remain at the forefront of their industries with innovative uses of Technology to operate their businesses more efficiently. XEN GlobalTech deliver’s flexible and custom Information Technology solutions with expertise in Custom Application Development, Software Product Development, Web 2.0 Application Development, Mobile & Wireless Application Development and Quality Assurance & Testing that improves quality and drastically reduce cost.

With the advancements made in new technologies, it is now possible to track assets in real time. Real Time Tracking Systems enable visibility of assets in real time, using which, organizations can plan, act in an efficient way. This is made possible by a combination of technologies. Earlier this was not possible as technologies were working in isolation and were not integrated or the individual technologies had its own limitations. This article covers the basics of the real time tracking systems.

All organizations need to tracking information about the assets. The information includes questions like -

• Which asset is Where?
• Where did it come from?
• Where is it going?
• How Much time will it take to reach a particular place?

This necessarily requires automatic identification, location information and a data processing system. This information is made avaiable by the use of following technologies – RFID, GPS, Networking technologies and Enterprise application. Here we will deal with each of the technologies that form parts of the technology.

RFID

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification): RFID technology is used to automatically identify an asset. Their are different flavours of technology available – LF, HF, UHF and Active. The choice of technology depends on the exact usecase. The basic components of the technology are – Readers, Tags and software application. Each item/asset that needs to be tracked has a RFID tag on it. When the tags pass by the reader, it sends its identity and data associated. In common usecases, the tags have a unique number with entire data sitting on the server side in a secure database.

GPS

GPS (Global Positioning System): GPS is used for location identification of assets. It uses satellites to locate an object having the GPS chip. GPS antennas are placed on the item for which you want to know the location. It can placed on a static or moving container, vehicle etc. The GPS antenna gets the location using triangulation from satellites. It gets the latitude, longitude, direction, altitude information from the satellite. The resolution of data depends on the chip used. The resolution requirement is decided by the usecase. Their are different flavours of it available in the market.

Networking Technologies

Networking Technologies: Their are different types of networking technologies available and the choice of which is guided by the usecase. If the information has to be transferred from vehicles on road, GPRS is used as a medium. It its used for passing information across static locations, Local Area Network is used. If it has to be transferred from a local site in an open filed to local server, wireles technologies can be used.

Host application

Host application: The three technologies mentioned above collect different kinds of data about an asset. RFID captures the identity information about the asset. GPS collects the location of the asset. Networking technologies are used to transfer data from the place where asset is to the central server for further processing. Host application captures the data and does the following:

• It filters data based on certain criteria.
• It enhances, enriches the data received from the asset by adding business context. For example, a truck carrying asset number 1 is en route to warehouse A against the purchase order XXX.
• It triggers alarms, exceptions based on certain pre-configured rules. The rules can be applied in real time too.
• It sends data to a legacy application where it is analyzed further.

Applications

Their are lot of applications possible based on the combination of technologies mentioned above. Some examples are:

• Container Tracking in a CFS (Container Freight System)
• Child Tracking
• In transit tracking in supply chains

Their are myriad of possibilities with the technology stack mentioned above. The next set of articles will cover each application in more detail. The key to success of implementing the solutions is the right choice of different flavours of technology and taking into account external factors which can influence the application.The time for the technology has come because integration of different technolgies involved is possible now.

XEN GlobalTech is the leading specialist in providing Global Software Product Engineering services in Mobile & Wireless Technology propelled by the team of bright, efficient & committed technocrat’s from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the World’s Most Competitive Technical University. We deliver end-to-end solutions through valuable strategy development, consulting services and highly skilled engineering execution with established On-Time/On-Budget delivery guarantee at relatively low effective cost.

We expertise in:
-Software product Development,
-Mobile Application Development (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry)
-Wireless Application ( LBS / NFC / RFID / GPS )
-Business Consulting

by
XEN GlobalTech
http://www.xenglobaltech.com

JavaFX combines the best capabilities of the Java platform with comprehensive, immersive media functionality into an intuitive and comprehensive, one-stop development environment. JavaFX offers an intuitive developer-designer workflow that enables graphics designers to author visual and content assets in tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, then encode and publish for multiple screens in an intelligent, organized and simplified manner.

JavaFX Script, a high-performance declarative scripting language, enables you to quickly and easily develop rich Internet applications and next-generation services for desktops, browsers, mobile devices, set-top boxes, and, over time, other consumer platforms. Applications can combine audio/video and 2D graphics with 3D perspective transform (true 3D graphics coming soon) and rich text, with compelling visual effects and transformations.

Key features

• Provides a unified development and deployment model for building rich client applications

• Enables you to easily integrate audio and video, graphics, rich text, and Web services • Allows creative developers to program in a visual context

• Provides tools to build and deliver rich Internet applications for desktop, mobile, TV, and other consumer platforms • Enables unprecedented collaboration between designers and developers

• Allows designers and Java developers to easily leverage the best of today’s advanced enterprise software and rich Internet applications

JavaFX Mobile: 3 Reasons to Use it for Your Next JAVA ME Application

1. New Declarative Syntax

JavaFX is a completely new platform and language with RIA-friendly features, including a declarative syntax for UI development. In the past, a graphical designer would have to learn how to program, or (even worse) a developer would have to acquire graphics and user experience skills. Java is a great language for us developers to use to build dynamic and innovating applications — but the concept of threads, static variables, memory management, and hash maps are not as easy to learn for most graphical designers. JavaFX will allow graphic designers and user-experience team members to aid in the process of creating compelling graphical applications that adhere to the MVC pattern. These team members do not need to learn the Java ME graphical APIs. In fact, once they learn the declarative syntax in JavaFX, they can easily use their skills to create user interfaces for desktop and TV applications.

2. Software Layer above the JVM

The JavaFX runtime is completely dependent upon (and compatible with) the Java virtual machine (JVM). Your JavaFX Mobile application has no restrictions on calling any class bundled in the JAR or any JSR API library that’s present on the handset. Your JavaFX Desktop application will work seamlessly upon any deployment platform that has the current version of the JRE.

3. Data Binding

Data binding is one of the most powerful new features in JavaFX: it is the feature that instructs the JVM to update the value of one variable when the value of another variable changes.

Summary

JavaFX is a feature-rich platform that allows both developers and now designers to create rich and compelling user interfaces for mobile devices. Although JavaFX is a new language and platform, its binaries and runtimes are compatible with latest versions of the JVM. JavaFX includes a powerful declarative syntax that allows various team members (such as designers and graphic artists) to create mobile and desktop applications without having to learn how to program. The Java has language has been the choice for platform-independent application development for over a decade. Millions of developers worldwide use it to solve their everyday business needs. JavaFX is the new evolution of the Java language that provides tons of new features (including screen-independent APIs) that will simplify your development and take you even further.

XEN GlobalTech is the leading specialist in providing Global Software Product Engineering services in Mobile & Wireless Technology propelled by the team of bright, efficient & committed technocrat’s from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the World’s Most Competitive Technical University. We deliver end-to-end solutions through valuable strategy development, consulting services and highly skilled engineering execution with established On-Time/On-Budget delivery guarantee at relatively low effective cost.

We expertise in:
-Software product Development,
-Mobile Application Development (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry)
-Wireless Application ( LBS / NFC / RFID / GPS )
-Business Consulting

by
XEN GlobalTech
http://www.xenglobaltech.com