MOBILE COMPUTING

Mobile Computing

Mobile Computing

Introduction

Mobile computing is growing beyond the original usage model where users carry their laptops with them, wherever they go. Slowly, it is merging with the vision of pervasive computing (Satyanarayanan, 2001) largely fostered by modern trends in virtualization and cloud computing. In this newly emerging opportunistic mobile computing model, users are no longer burdened by the need to carry heavy-weight" hardware in order to interact with their personal computing environments. Instead, users are free to take advantage of whatever PC hardware resources are available to them within their locality. By leveraging such local computing resources, users are able to carry out their computing tasks on this borrowed" hardware. The key effect of this is a reduction of the size, weight, and energy demand of what must be carried to be effective on the go; a user's mobility footprint.

Mobile Computing

Mobile computing is computing using a device that can communicate through a wireless channel. The field of mobile computing is as broad as traditional computing. Consumers expect the same convenience and computing power in the mobile device as in the computer which sits on the desk. Furthermore, mobility opens up new venues for interesting and unique products and services. Freedom from geographic constraints can allow a more effective, convenient, and timely use of computing and communication. As people tend to think and work in places other than at their office desks, mobile computing lets the computer be used as a tool where it is needed, not where it is tied by a wire.

As a user's mobility footprint is reduced, as close to zero as possible, challenges emerge. These challenges are due to the weakening of the tight binding between the location of a user's data and the computer environment from where it is being accessed. The need for users to carry their computers in preparation for all possible computing tasks they may require is being retired, but at the same time, this challenge is being replaced by new challenges that affect the adoption of the opportunistic computing model.

Central to personal computing is that users have safe and efficient access to their data. This data can be generalized to include not only the directories of a user's system structure, but also the applications, associated libraries, and preferences that make up the complete personal computing user experience. Although computing resources can be borrowed in an opportunistic fashion, mobile users cannot simply borrow their data. It is unique to them and cannot simply be foraged" from the local environment around them.

While pervasive computing (Weiser, 1995) concepts are steadily being realized and accepted in people's daily lives, the world of mobile computing has attempted to adopt the seamless feel of pervasiveness. The concept of cyber foraging, for example, trades user preparedness in favor of adaptability. Under this model of mobile computing, a mobile individual is willing to shed some (perhaps most) of her technological devices, lightening her load in terms of what must be carried to satisfactorily meet her ...