WhatIsMobileComputing?
Mobile computing(sometimes called ubiquitous computing and al
so at times called nomadic computing) is widely described as the
ability to compute remotely while on the move. This is a new and
fast emerging discipline that has made it possible for people to
access information from anywhere andat any [Link] can al so
view mobilecomputing as encompassing two separate and
distinct concepts: mobility and computing. Computing denotes
the capability to automatically carry out certain processing
related to service invocations on a remote computer. Mobility, on
the other hand, provides the capability to change location while
communicating to invoke
IntroductiontoMobileComputingandWirelessNetworking 25
computing services at some remote computers. The main
advantage of this type of mobile computing is the tremendous
flexibility it provides to the users. The user need not be tethered
to the chair in front of his desktop, but can move locally or even
to far away places and at the same time achieve what used to be
performed while sitting in front of a desktop.
[Link]
We must distinguish between mobile computing and wireless
networking. These two terms are not synonymous. While mobile
computing essentially denotes accessing information and remote
computational services while on the move, wireless networking
provides the basic communication infrastructure necessary to
make this possible. Thus, we can say that mobile computing is
based on wireless networking and helps one to invoke computing
services on remote servers while on the move: be it be office,
home, conference, hotel, and so on.
It should be clear that wireless networking is an important
ingredient of mobile computing, but forms only one of the
necessary ingredients of mobile computing. Mobile computing
also requires the applications themselves—their design and
development, and the hardware at the client and server sides. In
fact, we can say that mobile computing subsumes the area of
wireless networking. Consequently, to be able to understand the
subtle issues associated with mobile computing, in addition to
studying the different aspects of mobile computing applications,
their design and development, we need to have a good knowledge
of the basics of wireless communications technologies. Wireless
networking is increasingly
replacingtraditionalnetworksbecauseofthelowsetuptimeandlowini
tial investment required to set up the wireless network. As we
discuss later in this chapter, wireless networks appear in various
forms such as WLANs (WirelessLANs),mobile cellular networks,
personal area networks(PANs), and ad hoc networks, etc.
Wireless networks can be classified into two basic types. One
is an extension of wired networks. It uses fixed infrastructures
such as base stations to provide essentially single hop wireless
communication with a wired network as illustrated in Fig. 2.1 or
a two-hop wireless cellular communication with an other mobile
as explained earlier in Fig.1.4.
The other type of wireless network is an ad hoc network. An
ad hoc network does not use any fixed infrastructure and is based
on multi-hop wireless communication as shown in Fig. 2.2.
One popular example of a fixed infrastructure wireless
network is a Wireless LAN (WLAN) that implements the IEEE
802.11 protocol. Observe from Fig. 2.1 that only the last hop is
through the wireless medium. An accesspoint(AP)provides the
last hop connectivity of the mobile nodes to a wired network. All
communication goes through APs which perform
IntroductiontoMobileComputingandWirelessNetworking 26
Figure2.1Wireless network based on fixed infrastructures.
Figure2.2Wireless network having no fixed infrastructures.
bridging† between the wireless and the wired mediums. A station
must be recognized by an AP to be able to connect to the
network. The AP may require authentication and this in turn is
used as the basic means to keep out theun authorized [Link]
aninfrastructure less network, the communication between hosts
occurs directly or via a few intermediate nodes that form
[Link],stationAinFig.2.2can communicate with
station C using either the hops A–B,B–C or A–D,D–C.
A recent development in this context, is wireless networking
of various types of devices using the Bluetooth technology. As
already discussed in Chapter 1, the Bluetooth technology can also
be used to establish direct wireless connection of cell phones
with devices such as printers, cameras, scanners, laptop and desk
computers. Bluetooth is gradually replacing cables and infrared
as the dominant way of exchanging information between devices.
One of the objectives of the Bluetooth technology is to enable
users to easily connect to a wide range of personal computing
and telecommunication devices, without the need to buy, carry,
or lay out cables. Infact, the Bluetooth technology enables setting
up of personal area networks (PANs)known as piconets and ad
hoc networks known as scatternets. It provides opportunities for
rapid deployment of ad hoc connections, and the possibility of
automatic, transparent connections between devices. It promises
to eliminate the need to purchase additional or proprietary
cabling and configuration exercises needed to connect the
individual devices.
†
A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the datalink layer
(Layer2)of the OSI reference model.
IntroductiontoMobileComputingandWirelessNetworking 27
An ad hoc network is al so known as a Mobile Ad hoc
Network(MANET). It is a collection of mobile nodes that form a
network on the fly without requiring the support of any fixed
infrastructure. Wireless sensor networks area special type of
wireless ad hoc networks. Mobile ad hoc networks and sensor
networks are discussed in more detail in Chapters 7 and 8
respectively.