 Authors::

K.Chandra kala M.V.L.Mydhili

(O3001A0548)
(03001A0524)
ID:: kala_csejntu@yahoo.co.in ID::lalithamydhili@yahoo.com
phone no:08554 553408 phone no:9885950534
YEAR: III/IV YEAR: III/IV

Department of Computer science and Engineering

JNTU College of Engineering
Anantapur
 Abstract

Mobile computing has been undergoing a bit of a renaissance lately. A few years ago it
was a simple matter of finding a data-compatible mobile phone, a PC card modem, and a
matching cable and installing it as a modem. Then people started to use PDA’s as well. Cell
phones started to come with infrared ports to allow communication with laptops. Then cell
phones started to come with modems built in. The connecting methods of mobile computing,
its introduction, connection types, factors affecting connections, mobile applications and its
limitations are explained.

Introduction
What is mobile computing?
A view on portable devices.

Distinction between "wireless" and "mobile."

Mobile Devices
Challenges in mobile computing
Merits and Demerits

Applications

Wireless Internet Future

Conclusion
Bibliography
 Introduction

Wireless networking technology has engendered a new era of computing, called mobile
computing. Mobile Computing is an umbrella term used to describe technologies that enable
people to access network services any place, anytime, and anywhere.
Ubiquitous computing and nomadic computing are synonymous with mobile computing.
Mobile computing helps users to be productive immediately by reducing the training
requirements associated with traditional automated data collection methods and provides a
higher level of portability than keyboard-based systems.
Field-based users can access any information available from the system at any time to make
critical business decisions. This information is available at the point of use, wherever and
whenever they need it.
Portable devices like laptop and palm top computers give mobile users access to diverse
sources of global information anywhere and at any time.

One of the most important and highly publicized recent developments in the PC world has
been the introduction of the pen interface. By using a stylus to replace the keyboard, mobile
computers are turning thousands of computer illiterate people especially those involved with
field-based data collection into computer users. The market potential and breadth of
application requirements for mobile computing has prompted numerous hardware and
software companies to focus their efforts in providing solutions to the vertical, form-
oriented marketplace.
The pen interface allows users to interact with the computer in a very natural and
familiar way by entering text, numbers, and graphics in “electronic ink” directly on
the screen. The pen interface also provides users with highly intuitive and efficient
applications, whether tapping graphical icons to navigate through applications or selecting
options from scrolling lists and checkboxes.
 Mobile computing applications can closely simulate the original paper form,
providing users with a familiar look and feel. Through the use of the latest PCMCIA
technology, data storage is large, fast, and more efficient with minimal power
consumption and the highest level of ruggedness, while communications via modem
or wireless is also tightly integrated, fulfilling the requirements of the mobile user.
And standardized ports give users access to printers, barcode readers, and various
other peripheral devices.

Distinction between "wireless" and "mobile."

Wireless refers to the method of transferring information between computing devices, such as
a personal data assistant (PDA), and a data source, such as an agency database server, without
a physical connection. Not all wireless communications technologies are mobile. For
example, lasers are used in wireless data transfer between buildings, but cannot be used in
mobile communications at this time.
Mobile simply describes a computing device that is not restricted to a desktop. A mobile
device may be a PDA, a "smart" cell phone or Web phone, a laptop computer, or any one of
numerous other devices that allow the user to complete computing tasks without being
tethered, or connected, to a network. Mobile computing does not necessarily require wireless
communication. In fact, it may not require communication between devices at all.

 Mobile devices

Here we have seven different types of mobile devices:

 Laptop computers
 PDA’s and handheld PCs
 Pagers
 Smart phones and cellular phones
 Task devices, such as bar code scanners
 Blue tooth
 Bridge

Laptops are typically used and supported in the same way as desktop PCs. In fact, many
organizations have replaced desktops with their portable cousins, as the workforce has grown
increasingly mobile.
PDA’s, however, are the least planned for and supported devices. They are undergoing
rapid evolution and are being brought into organizations in the same way the earliest PCs
were. That is, adventurous early adopters buy the devices for their personal use and then ask
IT departments to integrate the devices into the corporate IT environment.
At present, PDA’s are most often used for storing and synchronizing personal information
such as addresses, schedules, and E-mail. However, the medical industry has developed
numerous applications for PDA’s. At least one Web ring a collection of Web sites with a
common topic) has been created to discuss medical software that automates functions such
as patient and diagnostic data entry, patient monitoring and diagnosis, and messaging. In a
hospital setting, these applications may include wireless communication between staff
members’ handheld devices and a base station at which patient information is stored.
Smart phones that allow users to access phone calls, two-way radio transmissions, and
paging and data transmissions on one device are also finding applications in hospitals and
other situations that have intense and constant need for time sensitive communications.
Pagers that support one- and two-way text messaging are also used in similar situations.
Third party vendors most often provide support for these devices.
Task devices such as the parcel tracking devices used by Federal Express (FedEx) and the
United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery personnel are most often bought as part of a complete
system from a third-party vendor. Because they are frequently mission-critical, most
corporations support task devices as rigorously as desktop computers.
Bluetooth:- A short-range wireless standard that specifies radio connections between
devices within a 10-meter range of each other. Bluetooth is designed as a Personal Area
Network (PAN, or WPAN for "Wireless Personal Area Network") technology with a wide
variety of theoretical uses.
Bridge:- A device that connects two local-area networks (LANs), or two segments of the
same LAN. Bridges simply forward packets from one segment to another without analyzing
or routing messages. This allows them to connect dissimilar networks (e.g., a bridge can
connect an Ethernet and Token-Ring network).

 Challenges in mobile computing

Wireless and mobile environments bring different challenges to users and service providers
when compared to fixed, wired networks. Physical constraints become much more important,
such as device weight, battery power, screen size, portability, quality of radio transmission,
error rates. Mobility brings additional uncertainties, as well as opportunities to provide new
services and supplementary information to users in the locations where they find themselves.
The major challenges in mobile computing are described including: low bandwidth, high
error rate, power restrictions, security, limited capabilities, disconnection and problems due to
client mobility.

 Low Bandwidth

Wireless networks deliver lower bandwidth than wired networks. As a result, mobile
applications have to be carefully designed to control the bandwidth consumption. Software
techniques required to improve effective bandwidth usage include data compression logging
requests to combine multiple short ones, lazy write back, difference-based updates, caching,
prefetching, usage of proxy, priority scheduling, etc.

 High Error Rate

The network quality varies as the mobile computer moves across the heterogeneous network
connections. The wireless environment exhibits higher error rates, which results in
retransmission and affects the Quality of Service. By minimizing the usage of wireless
transmission, the data is less exposed to transmission errors. In addition, error correction
schemes can be employed to improve performance. However, these schemes also add to the
communication overhead and reduce the usable bandwidth.

 Power Limitations

Mobile computers are concerned with the limited power supply, an issue that does not appear
in distributed wired environment. Hardware improvements on batteries can help to lengthen
the life of a charge and reduce battery weight. In addition, efficient software operations can
help to lower the power consumption. Examples include: shifting the processing to a fixed
host, aggressively caching and prefetching data to reduce disk traffic, and transmitting less
data while receiving more

 Security

Security and privacy are of specific concerns in wireless communication because of the ease
of connecting to the wireless link anonymously. Common problems are impersonation, denial
of service and tapping. The main technique used is encryption. In personal profiles of users
are used to restrict access to the mobile units.

 Limited Capabilities

Unlike stationary computers, mobile computers are smaller in physical size and have smaller
storage capacity. PDA’s like Infopad and ParcTab are designed to have extreme portability
and provide ubiquitous information access. However, their applications rely heavily on the
interoperability of the pads and other servers. Even ordinary laptops typically have less RAM
and smaller hard disks than stationary computers.
To overcome these limitations, some useful techniques are proposed including: Compressing
file systems, accessing remote storage over the network, sharing code libraries and
compressing virtual memory pages. In addition, the user interface has to be designed to adapt
to the small screen size of the portable computers.

 Disconnection

Disconnection can be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary disconnection occurs when mobile

users want to disconnect the mobile unit from the network temporarily, like working on a
plane. Involuntary disconnection is mainly due to network failures.
The mobile application should not be disrupted under these circumstances.
Some applications are designed to run entirely locally on the mobile unit, but it may not be
feasible for distributed applications where users have to communicate with one another.
Again, prefetching and lazy write-back are some useful techniques that allow to work under
disconnection.
The CMU CODA file system allows shared files to be modified even during disconnections.
Upon reconnection, application-specific conflict resolution schemes are used in the file
servers to reconcile any update conflicts made by various clients. It also uses concurrency
control and prefetching techniques. However, this approach is designed mainly for file
systems and does not work for all kinds of applications.

 Mobility

There are two types of mobility described: (a) mobility of clients and (b) mobility of
resources.
Mobility of clients raises the issues of unique naming of the clients and finding their current
locations. Unlike stationary computers, where information on location is configured statically
mobile computers have to configure information dynamically Mobility of resources addresses
this problem. When a mobile host moves into a new cell or administrative domain, it has to
discover the resources available there. At the same time, any server that needs to
communicate with the mobile host has to identify its new location. Location transparency
should be provided to the mobile applications by the underlying runtime system so that the
users are not aware of the effects of mobility.
  Merits

The benefits of automating data collection applications with mobile computing are the
reduction of hard and soft costs, enhancement of revenue potential, and a distinct competitive
advantage through:

 Improving the data collection process

 Improving data accuracy
 Reducing paperwork
 Enforcing collection of more complete information
 Facilitating collection of more useful information
 Eliminating redundant data entry
 Reducing administrative costs
 Reducing billing errors
 Reducing data backlog
 Improving information flow
 Allowing faster adaptation to changing business conditions
 Increasing responsiveness and customer satisfaction
 Providing access to previously unavailable information

 Demerits

The demerits of the mobile computing are discussed as follows:

 Information access via a mobile device is plagued by low available bandwidth, poor
connection maintenance, poor security, and addressing problems. Unlike their wired
counterparts, design of software for mobile devices must consider resource limitation,
battery power and display size. Consequently, new hardware and software techniques
must be developed. For example, applications need to be highly optimized for space, in
order to fit in the limited memory on the mobile devices.
 Mobility brings additional uncertainties, as well as opportunities to provide new services
and supplementary information to users in the locations where they find themselves. In
 general, most application software, operating systems, and network infrastructures are
intended for more conventional environments, and so the mobile, wireless user has great
difficulty exploiting the computational infrastructure as fully as he or she might. There is
an emerging consensus among researchers that a new architecture and dynamic
infrastructure is an appropriate way to address this problem.
 Day by day as the standard of the mobile computing is increasing the boons of mobile
computing are changing to banes. Eg: The most deadly terrorist attack occurred on sept
11, 2001.
 Applications

New technical and application developments have established that mobile systems
can be a cost-effective, efficient, and productive solution in several different types of
application environments. They are:- a new generation of satellites, especially Low-
Earth Orbit systems (LEOS) are under development with the Internet in mind.
Companies like Teledesic and Orbcomm are actively promoting Internet access.
Vertical industries where mobile technology has already been successfully adopted include
Consumer Goods, Delivery and Route Sales, Government, Healthcare, Market Research,
Pharmaceuticals, Transportation, and Utilities.

Consumer Goods. Typical applications include inventory, merchandising, order entry, and
sales automation. Features found in these applications usually provide access to stock and
pricing information, monitor promotions, and perform shelf space analysis including number
of facings and product age. Customer detail helps reps to act more as consultants than order
takers.

Delivery & Route Sales. With fierce competition and an increasing inventory, having timely
and accurate information is more important than ever.

Government. Applications center around assessments, inspections, and work orders. Most of
these applications involve auditing some sort of facility or process (food service, restaurant,
nursing home, child care, schools, commercial and residential buildings).

Healthcare. The focus in this industry has been on automating patient records, medication
dispension, and sample collection. A common goal is to leverage mobile computing in the
implementation of positive patient identification.

Market Research. Automating the survey process has enabled these companies to get their
data more accurately and quickly while being able to customize their queries at will.

Pharmaceuticals. In addition to the reps need to perform account management and call
reporting functions, the FDA’s requirement for physician signatures for all drug samples
dispensed was an added complication that was eliminated through the use of mobile
technology.

Transportation. Transforming freight damage inspections from paper to mobile computing

greatly expedites the process and reduces costs by providing on-line pre-shipment
inspections. This technology also offers a more efficient means of storing and transmitting
maintenance inspection reports. In conjunction with GPS (global positioning systems),
mobile computing allows companies to provide better customer service by being continually
aware of exactly where any given shipment is when in transit.

Utilities. Eliminating the rekeying of data and providing a means to perform on site analysis
are instrumental to an industry that is required to perform inspections on a routine basis
Wireless Internet Future

There's more happening than many people suspect. The difficulty, though, is to provide the
right network, the right device, the right price and the right applications. Wireless is not
wired, and there are numerous advantages and disadvantages. The wireless industry
"mindset" is different from the computer community's. These different philosophies produce
what we call a "wireless-Web culture clash." Also, much of the information we obtain via the
Internet isn't worth paying for in a mobile environment. The Internet will change is already
changing the way mobile companies and computer companies offer products and services,
and deal with customers. Indeed, many wireless subscribers will demand these changes,
ranging from online customer service to electronic bill-paying to creating profiles that
automatically transmit personalized information via the Internet to wireless devices.
We are in a period of tremendous change. It's mobile computing jungle where old
technologies must evolve to survive and where proponents of new technologies are jockeying
for dominance. It is a dangerous and exciting time where existing business models can
crumble and more nimble, innovative companies can usurp established institutions.

Uncovering these developments, analyzing their impact and recommending solutions to

corporations is what Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing consulting is all about.

Conclusion

Mobile computing is rapidly becoming popular, and user demand for useful wireless
applications is increasing.
Additionally, this paper shows how these behavioral extensions serve as a powerful
abstraction for practical systems.
In this paper, we have looked at issues related to portable devices, merits, demerits and
applications in mobile environment.
Because of the banes of mobile computing the security level should be improved.

Bibilography

Terri Watson. : Application design for wireless computing.

Application design for wireless computing : M-Mail: A Case Study of Dynamic Application
Partitioning in Mobile Computing

Christine Julien and Gruia-Catalin Roman : Active Coordination in Ad Hoc Networks

Raymond J. Brunsting : Quality of Service Issues in Wireless Networks