The InfoPad project: review and lessons learned

The InfoPad project was started at UC Berkeley in 1992 to investigate the issues involved in providing multimedia information access using a portable, wireless terminal. It quickly became clear that a key design constraint was the energy consumption, which could best be addressed through an integrated system approach. The project was therefore organized to address all design levels, including the applications and user interface, backbone network protocols, software for distributed network support, the wireless link, and the pad itself which used a number of low voltage ASIC designs and a processor running embedded code. Tools were developed when not available (particularly in support of low energy design), as well as an interface to mechanical designers who created a custom injection molded case. The wide scope of the project presented a number of unique challenges for a research environment and the lessons learnt are presented.