Hand-held computing devices for industrial applications: Some case studies

This paper deals with an approach to the modes and methods of using hand-held computing devices in industry. The basic concepts and cross-platform computing models related to the hand-held computing devices are described firstly. Then three key and fundamental enabling technologies, including sampling real-time data, implementing interoperations with different database, and supporting collaborative activities, are presented in detail so as to use such mobile devices for potential industrial applications. Thirdly, five typical cases of using hand-held computing devices in design, manufacturing and logistic are studied in depth. Through analyzing and discussing the cases, four viewpoints are put forward: (1) using hand-held computing devices to supporting industrial activities is feasible; (2) hand-held computing devices play an important role in collecting, querying, scanning and simply processing data; (3) integrating hand-held computing devices with desktop computing devices together is needed if a huge number of data are involved in industrial applications; (4) hand-held computing devices will be used more widely and deeply in the future.