Mobile Computing: 353 (The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, 353) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792396979 ISBN 13: 9780792396970

Publisher: Springer, 1996

Synopsis

The rapid development of wireless digital communication technology has cre­ ated capabilities that software systems are only beginning to exploit. The falling cost of both communication and of mobile computing devices (laptop computers, hand-held computers, etc. ) is making wireless computing affordable not only to business users but also to consumers. Mobile computing is not a "scaled-down" version of the established and we- studied field of distributed computing. The nature of wireless communication media and the mobility of computers combine to create fundamentally new problems in networking, operating systems, and information systems. Further­ more, many of the applications envisioned for mobile computing place novel demands on software systems. Although mobile computing is still in its infancy, some basic concepts have been identified and several seminal experimental systems developed. This book includes a set of contributed papers that describe these concepts and sys­ tems. Other papers describe applications that are currently being deployed and tested. The first chapter offers an introduction to the field of mobile computing, a survey of technical issues, and a summary of the papers that comprise sub­ sequent chapters. We have chosen to reprint several key papers that appeared previously in conference proceedings. Many of the papers in this book are be­ ing published here for the first time. Of these new papers, some are expanded versions of papers first presented at the NSF-sponsored Mobidata Workshop on Mobile and Wireless Information Systems, held at Rutgers University on Oct 31 and Nov 1, 1994.

About this title

Synopsis

The desire and the necessity for accessing and processing information stored in computer networks 'anytime and anywhere' has been the impetus for the growing interest in mobile computing research. Wired computing networks and end devices such as PCs and workstations have effectively extended the data-only networking capability of a few years ago to sophisticated multimedia networking. The cost of such transformation to the end user turns out to be very nominal. Undoubtedly the wireless access technology has given a big boost to mobile cellular telephony and data networking. Processing general purpose multimedia information requires, besides higher bandwidth, means for controlling the available bandwidth and caring for quality of service issues.This problem is accentuated by the need for providing such service in the presence of wireless physical layer and host mobility. Thus, tetherless and ubiquitous mobile and wireless computing systems should carefully combine advances in computer networking and wireless communication.

While several experimental mobile computing platforms have sprung up, much research is needed to overcome technological obstacles in low power system design, sustainable battery life, unreliability and limited bandwidth of the wireless channel. "Mobile Computing" addresses some aspects of this new but rapidly growing field of research. A total of eight papers span the areas of protocols, network architecture, and performance issues.All of the papers deal with the complexities of host mobility in a wireless setting. They expose several challenges that affect system design of mobile computing networks at various levels. By addressing these challenges in an efficient and cost-effective manner, it is hoped that user-friendly, seamless and faster networks will emerge to serve the sophisticated and demanding applications of mobile users. "Mobile Computing" serves as an excellent reference, providing insights into some of the most important issues in mobile and wireless computing.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792396979
• ISBN 13: 9780792396970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 748
• Editor: Imielinski Tomasz, Korth Henry F.