A university research lab announced last Friday it received the second endorsement ever from the WiMAX Forum, indicating the university is at the forefront in wireless technology research.

The University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies received the rubber stamp from the WiMAX Forum, an organization that certifies products that use a wide-ranging broadband access technology called WiMAX, for its part in its development of MyeVyu, a wireless application that allows users to transmit live video from anywhere in a network.

“Not only will this new technology increase our visibility as an institution,” said computer science professor Ashok Agrawala, “but it can also potentially attract more attention to the state of Maryland for tech companies.”

The forum chose the university’s MAXWell lab over other research labs at institutions like MIT and Princeton. Agrawala, the lab’s main developer, called the endorsement a “major achievement for UMIACS, as well as the university at large.”

WiMAX differs from a standard WiFi connection in that a WiMAX signal can provide up to 10 miles of coverage with a much stronger connection, according to Agrawala. A typical WiFi connection provides 100 to 300 feet of coverage.

University spokesman Lee Tune said the resources used to develop MyeVyu, such as space, technology and personnel, were in place before WiMAX’s endorsement.

Agrawala said the development of MyeVyu, a location-based application that works with any WiFi- or WiMAX-capable wireless device, played a role in the WiMAX Forum’s decision to endorse the university lab.

“Our proposal to the WiMAX Forum involved expressly the development of location-based technologies, and out of that proposal, MyeVyu was born,” Agrawala said.

UMIACS Director V.S. Subrahmanian said the application is an infrastructure of live video feeds created to get up-to-the-second video of almost anything going on around the campus.

Subrahmanian said the prospect of live feeds “has many implications.” MyeVyu will serve purposes ranging from providing an interactive campus map to helping fight crime on the campus.

“This new technology would be a selling point for potential students in any discipline that requires accessible methods of communication,” Subrahmanian said.

The new WiMAX lab and MyeVyu are part of what Agrawala referred to as the university’s “mobility initiative,” which aims to improve campus life through technology.

The development of MyeVyu, and the resulting WiMAX Forum endorsement, represent steps in UMIACS’s overall aim, according to Agrawala.

“We want to support and make available whatever information is relevant to you, the student,” Agrawala said.

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