CS364 – Mobile Computing

Module-I
Introduction to Mobile Computing
Prepared by
Shyam Krishna K
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engnieering
Syllabus
Introduction to mobile computing, Middleware and Gateways,
Application and services, Internet-Ubiquitous networks, Architecture
and three-tier architecture for Mobile Computing, Design consideration
for Mobile Computing.
Introduction to mobile computing
• Can be defined as “a computing environment over physical mobility”
• The user should be able to access data, information, or other logical
objects from any device in any network while on the move.
• It should allow a user to perform a task from anywhere using a
computing device in the public, corporate and personal information
spaces.
• The communication bearer should be spread over both – wired and
wireless media.
Different names of Mobile Computing
• VHE – Virtual Home Environment
• Anywhere, anytime information
• Nomadic computing
• Pervasive computing
• Ubiquitous computing
• Global service portability
• Wearable computers
• Context aware computing
Attributes of ubiquity
• Network Mobility
• Bearer Mobility
• Device Mobility
• Session Mobility
• Service Mobility
• Host Mobility
• User Mobility
Network Mobility
• User should be able to move from one network to another network and
use the same service.
• Example: User moves from Hong Kong to Singapore and uses the
same GSM phone to access the corporate application.
Bearer Mobility
• User should be able to move from one bearer to another while using
the same service.
• Example: User is unable to access the WAP bearer due to some
problem in the GSM network then he should be able to use voice or
SMS bearer to access that same corporate application.
Device Mobility
• User should be able to move from one device to another and use the
same service.
• Example: User is using a PC to do his work. During the day, while he
is on the street he would like to use his Palmtop to access the corporate
application.
Session Mobility
• A user session should be able to move from one user - agent
environment to another.
• Example: An unfinished session moving from a mobile device to a
desktop computer is a good example.
Service Mobility
• User should be able to move from one service to another.
• Example: User is writing a mail. Suddenly, he needs to refer to
something else. In a PC, user simply opens another service and moves
between them. User should be able to do the same in small footprint
wireless devices.
Host Mobility
• User should be able to move while the device is a host computer.
• Example: The laptop computer of a user is a host for grid computing
network. It is connected to a LAN port. Suddenly, the user realizes that
he needs to leave for an offsite meeting. He disconnects from the LAN
and should get connected to wireless LAN while his laptop being the
host for grid computing network.
User Mobility
• User should be able to move from one physical location to another
location and use the same service.
• Example: User moves from London to New York and uses the Internet
in either place to access the corporate application.
Mobile Computing Functions
Middleware and Gateways
• A software layer between a user application and operating system can be
termed as middleware.
• Gateways are deployed when there are different transport bearers or
networks with dissimilar protocols.
• The various types are:
• Communication middleware
• Transaction processing middleware
• Behavior management middleware
• Communication gateways
• Database middleware
Applications and services
There are six basic categories:
• Personal (wallet, diary, etc.)
• Perishable (news, sports, stock quotes, etc.)
• Transaction oriented (bank transactions, mobile shopping, etc.)
• Location specific (restaurant guide, map service, etc.)
• Corporate (ERP, inventory, business alerts, etc.)
• Entertainment (fun, games, etc.)
Internet-Ubiquitous network
• Two ubiquitous network existing now are:
• Telecommunication network
• Internet network
• 3 types of basic contents
• Audio
• Video
• Text
• Packet switched network (Internet) – Suited for content which can
tolerate little delays
Internet-Ubiquitous network
• Circuit Switched Network (Telecommunication) – Suited for real-time
content that cannot tolerate delays.
• Network can be divided into 3 segments:

Core

Network Edge

Access
Internet-Ubiquitous network
Core
• Backbone of the network
• Innermost part
• Function is to deliver traffic efficiently at least cost.
• It looks traffic from the bit stream point of view

Edge
• It is at the edge of the network
• Managed & owned by the ISPs or local switches & exchanges.
• Looks traffic from the service point of view
• Responsible for distribution of traffic.
Internet-Ubiquitous network
Access
• Services the end point or the device.
• Deals with last part of transmission.
• This part can be either through a wireline or wireless.
Internet-Ubiquitous network
• Internet is the most popular network.
• Preferred bearer n/w for audio, video & text.
• Supports many protocols.
• For ubiquitous access we need web-based applications.

Uses HTTP protocol & works

like request/response service
Architecture for mobile computing
• In main frame computers mission critical systems use a Transaction
Processing (TP) environment.
• Core of TP s/m is TP Monitor s/w.
• Resources of TP system:
• Terminal resources(objects) – VDU, POS(Point of Scale Terminal), printers etc.
• Processing resources(objects) – Performs processing tasks like transactions,
messages etc.
• Database resources(objects)
Architecture for mobile computing
• TP monitor manages all these objects & connects them through policies
& rules.
• Other functions of TP Monitor:
• Queuing
• Application Execution
• Database Staging
• Journaling.
• TP architecture developed into three-tier s/w architecture.
Architecture for mobile computing
• The network-centric mobile computing architecture has three-tier
architecture.
1. User Interface or Presentation Tier
2. Process Management or Application Tier
3. Database Management or Data Tier
• The three-tier architecture is best suited for networked client/server
design.
• Characteristics of 3-tier architecture:
Increased performance, flexibility, maintainability, reusability,
scalability and it hides the complexity of distributed processing
from the user
Three-tier Architecture
Presentation Tier
• Responsible for presenting the information to the end user
• Run on the client device and offer all the user interfaces
• Includes web browsers, WAP browsers and client programs
• Humans use audio and video to receive information from the machine
• Information is given to the system from keyboard(computer, laptop,
cell phones ), pen (tablet, palmtop) etc.
Application Tier
• Independent of presentation and database management
• Handles functions related to middleware
• Middleware – layer of software sitting between the operating system
and user facing software
• Many types of middleware – Message Oriented Middleware,
Transaction Processing Middleware, Communication Middleware,
Distributed Objects and Components, Transcoding Middleware, Web
Services, etc.
Message Oriented Middleware
• Loosely connects different applications through asynchronous
exchange of messages
• Works independent of platform or processor configuration
• Generally asynchronous and peer to peer
• Works in publish / subscribe fashion
• Examples – MQ series from IBM, JMS, etc.
Transaction Processing Middleware
• Provides tools and environment for developing transaction based
distributed applications
• Capable of providing services to thousands of clients in a distributed
client – server environment q Independent of database architecture
• Example – CICS from IBM
Communication Middleware
• Used to connect one application to another
• Quite useful in the telecommunications world
• Uses mediation server to automate the telnet protocol to communicate
to nodes in the network
• Example – Using telnet to connect one application to another
Distributed Objects and Components
• Handles open distributed object computing infrastructure
• Example – Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
• CORBA – a vendor independent infrastructure
• CORBA – highly interoperable across heterogeneous platforms
Transcoding Middleware
• Used to transcode one format of data to another suiting the needs of
the client
• Useful for content adaptation to fit the needs of device
• Example – Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) from IETF
ICAP
• Aimed at providing simple object based content vectoring for HTTP
services
• Lightweight protocol to do transcoding on HTTP messages
• Similar to executing a RPC on a HTTP request
• Adapted messages can either be HTTP requests or HTTP responses
Data flow in an ICAP environment
Data flow in an ICAP environment
1. A user agent makes a request to an ICAP-capable surrogate (ICAP client)
for an object on an origin server.
2. The surrogate sends the request to the ICAP server.
3. The ICAP server executes the ICAP resource’s service on the request and
sends the possibly modified request, or a response to the request back to
the ICAP client.
4. The surrogate sends the request, possibly different from the original client
request, to the origin server.
5. The origin server responds to the request.
6. The surrogate sends the reply (from either the ICAP server or the origin
server) to the client.
Web Services
• Provides a standard means of communication and information
exchange among different software applications
• Public interfaces and bindings are defined using XML
• Standards for service requestor and service provider
• Service requestor – find and discover the description of services
• Service provider – publish the description of services it provides
Data Tier
• Used to store data needed by the application and acts as a repository
for both temporary and permanent data
• Can use XML for interoperability of data with other systems and data
sources
• Might incorporate the use of Database Middleware and SyncML
• Database Middleware – interfaces application programs and the
database
• Database Middleware – helps business logic run independent and
transparent from database technology and database vendor
SyncML
• Emerging standard for synchronization of data access from different
nodes
• Promotes a single common data synchronization protocol that can be
used industry wide
• Supports naming and identification of records and common protocol
commands to synchronize local and network data
• Works over all networks used by mobile devices – wired and wireless
Design Considerations
Design Considerations
• Context information is the information related to the surrounding
environment of an actor in that environment.
• Mobility implies that attributes associated with devices and users will
change constantly.
• Such changes shall mean that content and behavior of applications
should be adapted to suit the current situation
• Some examples are:
➢Content with context awareness
➢Content switch on context
➢Content transcoding on context
Client Context Manager (CCM)
• Maintains information pertaining to:
1. Mobile devices
2. Users
3. Location
4. Network
5. Environment around each mobile device
Challenges with CCM
• Context definition: Defining context attributes with interoperability in
mind
• Context sensing: The way context data is obtained
• Context representation: The way context information is stored and
transported.
• Context interpretation: The way the context data is interpreted
Functions of the CCM
• Responsible for receiving raw context data, collating the data into a
useful form and disseminating it to context consumers.
• Present context information to consumers in suitable and interoperable
form.
• Context model should allow aggregation.
• Dynamic updates should be possible.
• Context history should be available.
• Context should be filtered.
Policy Manager
• Responsible for controlling policies related to mobility
• Should be able to define policy for documents/services and assign
roles to user
• Should assign roles to users like
• Permission
• Prohibition
• Obligations
Semantic Web
• Facilitates putting machine understandable data on the web
• Facilitates web definition and linking in a way to be useful for
machines in the context of automation, security, filtering, integration
and data reuse
• Increases the modularity of web applications
Security Manager
• Secures connection between client device and origin server
• Should handle
– Confidentiality (managed by encryption)
– Integrity (managed by algorithms)
– Availability (relates to peripheral security)
– Non – repudiation (managed by digital signatures)
Platform for Privacy Preference Project
• Emerging standard defined by W3C
• Enables websites to express their privacy practices in a standardized
format retrievable and interpretable by user agents
• Any discrepancies between a site’s practices and the user preferences
can be flagged as well
• Does not provide any mechanism for ensuring that websites act
according to their policies
Content adaptation
• Content should be able to adapt to dynamic situations.
• Adaptation can be static or dynamic.
• Content adaptation can be performed either at content level in server
or agent level in client.
• Content adaptation can be handled by middleware as well.
• Content adaptation needs to consider the physical and logical
capabilities of the device, effective network bandwidth and payload
(total number of bits delivered to the agent for static parts).
Content transcoding
• The resource requirements for the client devices can be determined by:
➢Static content size in bits
➢Display size
➢Streaming bit rate
➢Colour requirements
➢Compression formats
➢Hardware requirements
Content Aggregation
• From the content aggregator’s perspective, services are of two
categories:
• Single service request – works at user level and for one user.
Example : A user may request a webpage in Hindi from proxy server. Here,
the user buys both the content and translation service.
• Group service request – works for a group of users
Example : The content aggregator has some arrangement for advertisement.
It examines all HTML pages and inserts an advertisement at an appropriate
place.
Seamless Communication
• A ubiquitous system involves availability and accessibility from
anywhere, anytime and through any network or device.
• Seamless communication shall involve seamless handovers and
seamless roaming.
• Handoff is the process by which the connection to the network is
moved from one base station to another within the same network
without discontinuing the service.
• Roaming shall involve the point of attachment moving from one base
station of one network to a base station of another network.
Autonomous Computing
• The purpose of autonomous computing is to free users and system
administrators from the details of the system operation and
maintenance complexity. It combines the following functions:
➢Self configurable
➢Self optimizing
➢Self healing
➢Self protecting
➢Self upgradable
Context aware systems
• The following information needs to be handled in a mobile computing
environment for making a system context aware:
➢Location information
➢Device information
➢Network information
➢User information
➢Environment information
Thank you…
Shyam Krishna K
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engineering

CS206 Object Oriented Design and Programming - Module I 56