Mobile Computing: CN-6117

School of Computing & Informatics

Dilla University

Dr. Eng. Mesay Adinew

 1. Introduction
 Mobile communication─ location of the device can vary either locally or
globally and communication takes place through a wireless, distributed,
or diversified network
 Two ways of signals transmission through guided(wired) and Unguided
(wireless)
1.1. Mobile Computing Overview
Mobile computing is used in different situations with different names. The
most common names are
 Mobile computing is wireless technology that lets you to broadcast the
data, video, and audio through devices which are not attached along with
any physical medium.
 The main feature of mobile computing is that all computing devices are
portable nature and linked over a computer network.
 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.
 Anywhere, Anytime Information: This is the generic definition of
ubiquity, where the information is available anywhere, all the time.
 Nomadic Computing: The computing environment is nomadic and
moves along with the mobile user. This is true for both local and remote
services.
 Ubiquitous Computing: A disappearing (nobody will notice Its
presence) everyplace computing environment. User will be able to use
both local and remote services.
 Pervasive Computing: A computing environment, which is can occur
with any device, at any time, in any place and in any data format across
any network and can hand tasks from one computer to another.
 Wearable Computers: Wearable computers are those computers that may be
adorned by humans like a hat, shoe or clothes (these are wearable
accessories).
 Wearable computers need to have some additional attributes compared to
standard mobile devices.
 Wearable computers are always on; operational while on move; hands free,
context aware (with different types of sensors). Wearable computers need to
be equipped with proactive attention and notifications. The ultimate wearable
computers will have sensors implanted within the body and supposedly
integrate with the human nervous system.
Nomadic, Mobile Computing and Ubiquitous
 1.2. Mobility
• The ability to change locations while connected to the network increases the
volatility of some information. Certain data considered static for stationary
computing becomes dynamic for mobile computing. For example, although a
stationary computer can be configured statically to prefer the nearest server, a
mobile computer needs a mechanism to determine which server to use.
• As volatility increases, cost-benefit tradeoff points shift, calling for appropriate
modifications in the design.
 The main problems introduced by mobility:
 the network address of a mobile computer changes dynamically;
 Its current location affects configuration parameters as well as answers to user
queries;
 As it away from a nearby server, the communication path between the two grows.
 Cover large geographi location
 Problems with Mobility in Internet
• The Internet uses topologically correct routing
–Routers in the Internet know about the location of other Networks (not
hosts)
•E.g. when Z.a sends to X.b, Internet routing finds a path to Network
X, then Router X.z uses direct delivery to send to X.b
–Therefore, if a mobile host changes Access Networks, then must
change IP address, otherwise routing will not work
•E.g. when X.b moves to Network Y, it cannot use the same IP
Internet
address X.b! X.a
Router
X.b Router Z.a
X.z
Z.z

Router
Host Y.z
mobility

Y.f 7
?
Y.e
 cont...
• Application Sessions depend on IP address
–Most Internet applications (and all using TCP) define a session as using the same:
•Source IP address, Source Port, Destination IP address, Destination Port
–Changing one of these identifiers, requires ending of the current session and starting a
new session
•E.g. stop a file transfer, lose context for web browsing, reconnect for a voice call,
interrupt a database transaction
–These interruptions are acceptable for nomadicity
•Turning your laptop off, move to another location, and restart laptop
•DHCP (and similar techniques) can be used to give your mobile host a new IP
address
–BUT these interruptions are not acceptable for true mobility
•A user changing access networks should not be aware of the change
•Mobility should be seamless (perhaps small delays of 10’s to 100’s of milliseconds
incurred)
•Very important for multimedia, streaming applications, e.g. voice over IP
• Solution: change the IP address, but hide the change from Transport/Application layers
8
–Solution is implemented by Mobile IP, an IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
 1.2.1. Address Migration
 As people move, their mobile computers will use different network access
points, or ‘addresses.’
 Today’s networking is not designed for dynamically changing addresses.
Active network connections usually cannot be moved to a new address.
 Once an address for a host name is known to a system, it is typically
cached with a long expiration time.
 In the Internet Protocol (IP), for example, a host IP name is inextricably
bound with its network address, moving to a new location means
acquiring a new IP name. Human intervention is often required to
coordinate the use of addresses.
• In order to communicate with a mobile computer, messages must be sent
to its most recent address.
• There are four basic mechanisms for determining the current address of a
mobile computer: broadcast, central services, home bases, and
forwarding pointers.
• These are the building blocks of the current proposals for ‘mobile-IP’ schemes.
• 1.Selective Broadcast: If a mobile computer is known to be in a set of cells,
then a message could be 'broadcasted' to these known cells asking the
required mobile unit to reply with its current network address.
• 2.Central Services: A logically centralized database contains the current
addresses of all mobile units. Whenever a mobile computer changes its
address, it sends a message to update the database.
• 3.Home Bases: This is essentially the limiting case of distributing a central
service, i.e. only a one server knows the current location of a mobile
computer.
• 4.Forwarding Pointers: This method places a copy of the new address at the
old location. Each message is forwarded along the chain of pointers leading to
the mobile computer. This requires an active entity at the old address to
receive and forward messages.
Home & Foreign Network Interactioon
Diagram
 1.2.2. Location Dependent Information

• Information that depends on location is configured

statically, such as the local name server, available
printers, and the time zone. Because traditional
computers do not move.
• A challenge for mobile computing is to factor out this
information intelligently and provide mechanisms to obtain
configuration data appropriate to the present location.
 1.2.3.Migrating Locality
• Mobile computing creates a new kind of locality that migrates as users
move.
• Even if a mobile computer spends the effort to find the server that is nearest
for a given service, over time it may stop to be the nearest due to migration.
• Because the physical distance between two points does not necessarily
reflect the network distance, the communication path can grow
disproportionately to actual movement. For example, a small movement can
result in a much longer path when crossing network administrative
boundaries.
• A longer network path means communication traverses more
intermediaries, resulting in longer latency and greater risk of disconnection.
• To avoid these disadvantages, service connections may be dynamically
transferred to servers that are closer.
 1.2.4 Constraints(Challenges) of Mobility
• Mobile computing is characterized by four constraints:
● Mobile elements are resource-poor relative to static elements. For a given cost and level of
technology, considerations of weight, power, size and ergonomics will exact a penalty in
computational resources such as processor speed, memory size, and disk capacity.
● Mobility is inherently hazardous.
A Wall Street stockbroker carring his laptop on more mugged streets is easy stolen than to have
his workstation in a locked office be physically subverted. In addition to security concerns,
portable computers are more vulnerable to loss or damage.
● Mobile connectivity is highly variable in performance and reliability.
• Some buildings may offer reliable, high-bandwidth wireless connectivity while others may only
offer low-bandwidth connectivity.
• Outdoors, a mobile client may have to rely on a low-bandwidth wireless network with gaps in
coverage.
● Mobile elements rely on a limited energy source.
While battery technology will improve over time, the need to be sensitive to power consumption
will not reduce. Concern for power consumption must span many levels of hardware and
software to be fully effective.
• These constraints are not artifacts of current technology, but are intrinsic to mobility.
 Limitations of Mobile Computing
1. Resource constraints: Battery
2. Interference: Radio transmission cannot be protected against interference using
shielding and result in higher loss rates for transmitted data or higher bit error rates
respectively
3. Bandwidth: Although they are continuously increasing, transmission rates are still
very low for wireless devices compared to desktop systems. Researchers look for more
efficient communication protocols with low overhead.
4. Dynamic changes in communication environment: variations in signal power within
a region, thus link delays and connection losses
5. Network Issues: discovery of the connection-service to destination and connection
stability
6. Interoperability issues: the varying protocol standards
7. Security constraints: Not only can portable devices be stolen more easily, but the
radio interface is also prone to the dangers of eavesdropping. Wireless access must
always include encryption, authentication, and other security mechanisms that must be
efficient and simple to use.
1.3. Networks in Mobile computing/Types of Networks
•Mobile computing will use different types of networks. These can be fixed telephone network, GSM,
GPRS, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), Frame Relay, ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network),
CDMA, CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet data), DSL (Digital Subscriber Loop), Dial-up, Wi-Fi (Wireless
Fidelity), 802.11, Bluetooth, Ethernet, Broadband, etc.

1.3.1 Wireline Networks

•This is a network, which is designed over wire or tangible conductors.
•This network is called fixed or wireline network. Fixed telephone networks over copper and fiber-optic
will be part of this network family. Broadband networks over DSL or Cable will also be part of wireline
networks. Wireline network are generally public networks and cover wide areas. Though microwave or
satellite networks do not use wire, when a telephone network uses microwave or satellite as a part of its
infrastructure, it is considered part of wireline networks.
•The Internet backbone is a wireline network as well.

1.3.2 Wireless Networks

•Mobile networks are generally termed as wireless network. This includes wireless networks used by
radio taxis, one way and two-way pager, cellular phones. Example will be PCS (Personal Cellular
System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), GSM, CDMA,etc.
•In a wireless network ,the last mile is wireless and works over radio interface.
 1.4. Wireless Telecommunicatins Networks
 personal area network (PAN)
• A wireless telecommunications network for device-to-device connections within a
very short range
 Bluetooth
• A set of telecommunications standards that enables wireless devices to
communicate with each other over short distances
 Wireless Local Area Networks and Wi-fi
 wireless local area network (WLAN)
• A telecommunications network that enables users to make short range wireless
connections to the Internet or another network
 Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity)
• The common name used to describe the IEEE 802.11 standard used on most
WLANs
 802.11b
• The most popular Wi-Fi standard; it is inexpensive and offers sufficient
speed for most devices; however, interference can be a problem
 802.11a
• This Wi-Fi standard is faster than 802.11b but has a smaller range
 802.11g
• This fast but expensive Wi-Fi standard is mostly used in businesses
 wireless access point
• An antenna that connects a mobile device to a wired LAN
 hotspot
• An area or point where a wireless device can make a connection to a
wireless local area network (using Wi-Fi)
Wireless Networks
 1.5. Ad-hoc Networks
 In Latin, ad hoc literally means `for this purpose only'. An ad-hoc (or
spontaneous) network is a small area network, especially one with
wireless or temporary plug-in connections.
 In these networks some of the devices are part of the network only for
the duration of a communication session.
 An ad-hoc network is also formed when mobile, or portable devices,
operate in close proximity of each other or with the rest of the network.
 When we beam a business card from our PDA (Personal Digital
Assistant) to another, or use an IrDA (Infrared Data Association) port
to print document from our laptop, we have formed an ad hoc network.
 The term 'ad hoc' has been applied to networks in which new devices
can be quickly added using, for example, Bluetooth or wireless LAN
(802.11x).
In these networks devices communicate with the
computer and other devices using wireless transmission.
Typically based on short-range wireless technology, these
networks don't require subscription services or carrier
networks.

Wireless Ad-Hoc Network