MOBILE COMPUTING

MOBILE COMPUTING INTRO

 OVERVIEW

 Topics Covered
 Introduction and Key Terms
 Forms of Computing
 Mobile Computing
 Wireless Network Infrastructure
 Universal Mobile Telecommunication
Standard (UMTS)
 Mobile Computing Functions
 Mobile Computing
Characteristics/Functions
 Logical Functions of Mobile
Computing

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 INTRODUCTION

 What is a Wireless Network?

 A technology that enables two or more entities to communicate
without network cabling.

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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Evolution of Wireless LAN

 In late 1980s, vendors started offering wireless products, which were to substitute
the traditional wired Local Area Network (LAN) products.

 The idea was to use a wireless LAN to avoid the cost of installing LAN cabling and
ease the task of relocation or otherwise modifying the network's structure.
 Necessity is the mother of invention

 The question/problem of interoperability between different wireless LAN

(WLAN/LAWN) products became critical.

 IEEE standard committee took the responsibility to form the standard for WLAN.

 As a result IEEE 802.11 series of standards emerged  Reading Assignment

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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Evolution of Wireless LAN Contd.

 WLAN uses the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM)
band that different products can use as long as they comply with
certain regulatory rules.

 WLAN is also known as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)  Reading

Assignment

 There are many products which use these unlicensed bands along
with WLAN

 Examples could be cordless telephone, microwave oven, etc 

Reading Assignment
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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Evolution of Wireless LAN Contd.

 There are 3 bands within the ISM bands. These are
 900-MHz ISM band which ranges from 902 to 928 MHz;
 2.4-GHz ISM band which ranges from 2.4 to 2.4853 GHz;
 5.4 GHz band  which range from 5.275 to 5.85 GHz.

 WLAN uses 2.4 GHz and 5.4 GHz bands.

 WLAN works both in infrastructure mode and ad hoc mode

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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Evolution of Wireless LAN Contd.

 There are two types of wireless networks:
1. Infrastructured Network  Base stations are the bridges

 A mobile host will communicate with the nearest base

station

 Handoff is taken when a host roams from one base to

another
 Handoff is the process of transferring an active call or

data session from one cell in a cellular network or from

one channel to another.
 In a satellite network it the process of transferring
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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Infrastructured Network Contd.

Mobile Computing Intro 8

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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

2. Ad Hoc Network  Infrastructureless: it has no fixed base

stations

 Without the assistance of base stations for communication

 Due to transmission range constraint, two MHs need multi-hop

routing for communication

 Characteristics  Quickly and unpredictably changing topology

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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Evolution of Wireless PAN

 Techniques for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) use
infrared and radio waves.

 Most of the Laptop computers support communication through

infrared, for which standards have been formulated by IrDA
(Infrared Data Association  [Link]).

 Through WPAN, a PC can communicate with another IrDA

device like another PC or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or a
Cellular phone.

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 INTRODUCTION Contd.

 Evolution of Wireless PAN

 The other best known PAN technology standard is Bluetooth.

 Bluetooth uses radio instead of infrared.

 It offers a peak over the air speed of about 1 Mbps over a short range of
about 10 meters.

 The advantage of radio wave is that unlike infrared it does not need a line of
sight.

 WPAN works in ad hoc mode only

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 DIFFERENT WIRELESS
NETWORKS

 IrDA (Infrared Data Association)

 Uses beams in the infrared light spectrum

 Bluetooth
 Uses 2.45 gigahertz radio waves, but emits weak signals
 Limits distance to 10 feet, but travels through walls

 HomeRF Short for home Radio Frequency (SWAP) – developed by

businesses
 6 voice channels and 1 data channel

 Slow, and limited range, but cheap

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 WIRELESS FIDELITY (WI-FI)

 Essentially, this technology is a variation of the IEEE 802.11

specification known as 802.11b

 Focuses on Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

 High data rate (max of 11 Mbps)

 In the case of interference, speed drops in halves (11 Mbps to

5.5 Mbps to 2 Mbps to 1 Mbps)

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 WIRELESS FIDELITY (WI-FI) Contd.

 Advantages:
 Fast (11 Mbps)
 Reliable
 Long Range (up to 1000 ft outdoors, 400 ft indoors)
 Easy integration to wired networks
 Compatible with original 802.11 DSSS standard

 Disadvantages:
 Speed may fluctuate

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 IEEE 802.11a Vs. 802.11b

 Frequency
 802.11b transfers at 2.4 gigahertz
 802.11a transfers at 5 gigahertz

 Coverage Distance
 802.11b goes about 400 feet indoors
 802.11a goes about 60 feet indoors
 Need more access points to cover a location

 Compatibility
 Compatible to each other?  Not yet ??????

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MOBILE COMPUTING

MOBILE COMPUTING
 FANTASTIC BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY

 Wireless Communication Networks

 Multiple networks “covering” the globe
 World-wide deregulation and spectrum auctions
 Standard communication systems and air link interfaces

 Portable Information Processing Appliances

 Laptops, notebooks, sub-notebooks, etc ???
 Hand-held computers
 PDAs and Smartphones
 Internet
 TCP/IP & de-facto application protocols

Ubiquitous web content

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 MOBILE COMPUTING

 Mobile Computing  A technology that allows transmission of data, via

a computer, without having to be connected to a fixed physical link.
 It can be defined as a computing environment over physical mobility.

 The user of a mobile computing environment will be able to access data,

information or other logical objects from any device in any network while
on the move.

 Mobile Computing System  allows a user to perform a task from

anywhere using a computing device in the public (the Web), corporate
(business information) and personal information spaces (medical record,
address book).

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 MOBILE COMPUTING Contd.

 NB:
1. Mobile voice communication is widely established throughout the
world and has had a very rapid increase in the number of subscribers
to the various cellular networks in the past  Communication
Authority (CA) of Kenya.

2. An extension of this technology is the ability to send and receive

data across these cellular networks. This is the principle of mobile
computing.

3. Mobile Data Communication has become a very important and

rapidly evolving technology as it allows users to transmit data from
remote locations to other remote or fixed locations.
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 MOBILE COMPUTING Contd.

 Using  Small size portable computers, hand-helds, Mobile

Network Code (MNC) devices, and other small wearable
computers (Reading Assignment).

 To  Run stand-alone applications (or access remote

applications)

 Via  Wireless networks: IR, Blue Tooth, W-LANs, Cellular, W-

Packet Data networks, SAT. etc.  (Reading Assignment).

 By  Nomadic and mobile users (animals, agents, trains,

cars, cell phones, etc) (Reading Assignment).

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 NEW FORMS OF COMPUTING

 Wireless Computing
 Nomadic Computing
 Distributed  Mobile Computing
Computing  Ubiquitous
(Client-Server
Computing
Model)
 Pervasive Computing
 Invisible Computing
 Cloud Computing
 Quantum Computing

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 MOBILE COMPUTING Cont.

 Mobile Computing is used in different contexts with different

names. The most common names are:
 Mobile Computing  The computing environment is mobile

and moves along with the user.

 This is similar to the telephone number of a GSM (Global
System for Mobile) communication phone, which moves with
the phone.
 The offline (local) and real-time (remote) computing
environment will move with the user.
 In real-time mode users will be able to use all their remote
data and services online.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING Cont.

 Ubiquitous Computing  A disappearing (nobody will notice its

presence) everyplace computing environment. User will be able to use
both local and remote services.
 Anywhere, Anytime Information This is the generic definition of
ubiquity, where the information is available anywhere, all the time.
 Also Known as Pervasive Computing  A computing environment,
which is omnipresent in nature and can be made available in any
environment.

 Nomadic Computing The computing environment is nomadic and

moves along with the mobile user.
 This is true for both local and remote services.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING Cont.

 Virtual Home Environment (VHE)  is defined as an

environment in a foreign network such that the mobile users can
experience the same computing experience as they have in their
home or corporate computing environment.
 E.g., one would like to put ones room heater on when one is
about 15 minutes away from home.
 Internet of Things (IOT)

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 MOBILE COMPUTING Cont.

 Global Service Portability  Making a service

portable and available in every environment. Any
service of any environment will be available globally.

 Wearable Computers  Wearable computers are

those computers that may be adorned by humans like a
hat, shoe a watch, or clothes (these are wearable
accessories).

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 NOMADIC, MOBILE & UBIQUITOUS

Fixed Wireless Wireless

No Fixed Wireless Network Network
Network Network Network (A) (B)

Nomadic Computing Mobile Computing

Ubiquitous Computing
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IMPRESSIVE WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE

Global

Satellite

Suburban
Urban
In-Building

Micro-Cell Pico-Cell
Macro-Cell
dik ©
In-Room
(BlueTooth)

Mobile Computing Intro 27

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 WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY

(IMT-2000)

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 WIRELESS NETWORK CONVERGENCE
2G/3G Mobility-Bandwidth Trade-off

Global GSM 1-7 GHz

Mobility
National D-AMPS/IS-95 0.1-2 GHz
UMTS
Regional 0.1-2.3 GHz

Metropolitan 2-4 GHz

Campus

DECT 2-7 GHz

Office
WLAN >2 GHz
Room
DECT 20-50 GHz
10K 100K 1M 10M 100M 1G
Bandwidth

Mobile Computing Intro 29

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 WIRELESS NETWORK OVERLAY

Global

Satellite
Suburban
Urban
In-Building

Micro-Cell Pico-Cell

Macro-Cell
dik ©

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UNIVERSAL MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARD
(UMTS)
 Global seamless operation in multi-cell environment (SAT,
macro, micro, pico). ITU

 Global roaming: multi-mode, multi-band, low-cost terminal,

portable services & QoS. IMT IMT-2000
FPLMTS

 High data rates at different mobile speeds: 144kbps at

vehicular speed (80km/h), 384 kbps at pedestrian speed, and
2Mbps indoor (office/home)
ETSI
 Multimedia interface to the internet

 Based on core GSM, conforms to IMT-2000. Deployment as SMG UMTS

early as 2002.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS

 We can define a computing environment as mobile if it supports

one or more of the following functions/characteristics:-

 User Mobility User should be able to move from one physical

location to another location and use the same service.

 The service could be in the home network or a remote network.

 An example could be a user moves from London to New York

and uses Internet to access the corporate application the same
way the user uses in the home office.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS
Contd.

 Network Mobility  User should be able to move from one

network to another network and use the same service.

 Example could be a user moves from Hong Kong to New

Delhi and uses the same GSM phone to access the
corporate application through Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP).

 In home network he/she uses this service over GPRS

(General Packet Radio Service) whereas in Delhi he
accesses it over the GSM network.

Mobile Computing Intro 33

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS
Contd.

 Bearer Mobility  User should be able to move from one

bearer to another and use the same service.

 Example could be a user was using a service through WAP

bearer in his home network in Bangalore.

 He/she moves to Coimbatore, where WAP is not supported,

he switch over to voice or Short Message Service (SMS)
bearer to access the same application.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS Contd.

 Device Mobility  User should be able to move from one

device to another and use the same service.

 Example could be sales representatives using their

desktop computer in home office.

 During the day while they are on the street they would
like to use their Palmtop to access the application.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS Cont.

 Session Mobility  A user session should be able to move from one

user-agent environment to another.

 Example could be a user was using his service through a Code

Division Multiple Access (CDMA) IX network.

 The user entered into the basement to park the car and got
disconnected from his/her CDMA network.

 User goes to home office and starts using the desktop. The
unfinished session in the CDMA device moves from the mobile device
to the desktop computer.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS Contd.

 Service Mobility  User should be able to move from one

service to another.

 Example could be a user is writing a mail. To complete the mail

user needs to refer to some other information.

 In a desktop PC, user simply opens another service (browser)

and moves between them using the task bar.

 User should be able to switch amongst services in small

footprint wireless devices like in the desktop.

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 MOBILE COMPUTING FUNCTIONS Contd.

 Host Mobility  The user device can be either a client or server.

 Clients call on the services of the Server  request services
form the Server.

 The Server fulfills the requests from the client

 When it is a server or host, some of the complexities change.

 In case of host mobility the mobility of IP (MIP)* needs to be

taken care of.

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LOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING

 The mobile computing functions can be logically divided into

following major segments:-

1. User With Device  The user device, this could be a

fixed device like desktop computer in office or a portable
device like mobile phone.

 Example  laptop computers, desktop computers, fixed

telephone, mobile phones, digital TV with set-top box,
palmtop computers, pocket PCs, two way pagers,
handheld terminals, etc.

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LOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING Contd.

2. Network  Whenever a user is mobile, he will be

using different networks at different places at
different time.

 Example: GSM, CDMA, iMode, Ethernet, Wireless LAN,

Bluetooth etc.

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LOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING Contd.

3. Gateway  This is required to interface different transport bearers.

 These gateways convert one specific transport bearer to another transport

bearer.

 Example  From a fixed phone (with voice interface) we access a service

by pressing different keys on the telephone. These keys generate Dual
Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signals.

 These analog signals are converted into digital data by the Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) gateway to interface with a computer application.
 Other examples will be WAP gateway, SMS gateway, etc.

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LOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING
Contd.

4. Middleware  This is more of a function rather than a

separate visible node.

 In the present context middleware handles the

presentation (I/O) and rendering of the content on a
particular device.

 It will also handle the security and personalization for

different users.

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LOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING Contd.

5. Content  This is the domain where the original server and

content is.

 This could be an application, system, or even an aggregation

of systems.

 The content can be mass market, personal or corporate

content.

 Origin server will have some means to accessing the database

and the storage devices.
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LOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING Contd.

Mobile Computing Intro 44

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 LIMITATIONS OF THE MOBILE
ENVIRONMENT

 Limitations of the Wireless Network

 Heterogeneity of fragmented networks

 Frequent disconnections

 Limited communication bandwidth

 Limitations Imposed by Mobility

 Limitations of the Mobile Computer

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 FREQUENT DISCONNECTIONS

 Handoff blank out (>1ms for most cellulars)

 Drained battery disconnection

 Battery recharge down time

 Voluntary disconnection (turned off to preserve battery power, also off

overnight)

 Theft and damage (hostile environment)

 Roam-off disconnections

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 LIMITED COMMUNICATION BANDWIDTH

 Orders of magnitude slower than fixed network

 Higher transmission Bit Error Rates (BER)

 Uncontrolled cell population

 Difficult to ensure Quality of Service (QoS)
 Availability issues (admission control)

 Asymmetric duplex bandwidth

 Limited communication bandwidth exacerbates the limitation of battery

lifetime.

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 LIMITATIONS OF THE MOBILE
COMPUTER

 Short battery lifetime (max ~ 5 hours)

 Subject to theft and destruction => unreliable

 Highly unavailable (normally powered-off to conserve battery)

 Limited capability (display, memory, input devices, and disk

space)

 Lack of de-facto general architecture: hand-helds, communicators,

laptops, and other devices

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 LIMITATIONS IMPOSED BY MOBILITY

 Lack of Mobility-Awareness by Applications

 Inherently transparent programming model (object-, components-oriented, but not

aspect-oriented)
 Lack of environment test and set API support

 Lack of Mobility-Awareness by the System

 Network  existing transport protocols are inefficient to use across heterogeneous
mix of fixed and wireless networks.

 Session and Presentation  inappropriate for the wireless environment and for
mobility.

 Operating Systems  lack of environment-related conditions and signals.

 Client-Server  unless changed, inappropriate and inefficient

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 The End!!!!

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