Chapter-1: Mobile Computing Introduction
Chapter-1: Mobile Computing Introduction
Wireless Communication
Wireless Communication
Def
Transmitting/receiving
voice
and
data
using
electromagnetic waves in open space The information from sender to receiver is carrier over a well-defined frequency band (channel) Each channel has a fixed frequency bandwidth and Capacity (bit-rate) Different channels can be used to transmit information in
Global Coverage
Communications can reach where wiring is infeasible or costly
Stay Connected
Roaming allows flexibility to stay connected anywhere and any time Rapidly growing market attests to public need for mobility and uninterrupted access
Flexibility
Services reach you wherever you go (Mobility). E.g, you dont have to go to your lab to check your mail Connect to multiple devices simultaneously (no physical connection required)
1915 Wireless voice transmission New York -San Francisco 1920 Discovery of short waves by Marconi
reflection at the ionosphere smaller sender and receiver, possible due to the invention of the vacuum tube (1906, Lee DeForestand Robert von Lieben)
1928 many TV broadcast trials (across Atlantic, color TV, news) 1933 Frequency modulation (E. H. Armstrong) 1958 A-Netz in Germany
analog, 160MHz, connection setup only from the mobile station, no handover, 80% coverage, 1971 11000 customers
1983 Start of the American AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System, analog) 1984 CT-1 standard (Europe) for cordless telephones
1880-1900MHz, ~100-500m range, 120 duplex channels, 1.2Mbit/s data transmission, voice encryption, authentication, up to several 10000 user/km2, used in more than 50 countries
Iridium
66 satellites (+6 spare), 1.6GHz to the mobile phone
decision about IMT-2000several members of a family: UMTS, cdma2000, DECT, Start of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and i-mode
first step towards a unified Internet/mobile communication system access to many services via the mobile phone
first GPRS trials with up to 50 kbit/s (packet oriented!) UMTS auctions/beauty contests
Hype followed by disillusionment (50 B$ paid in Germany for 6 licenses!) Iridium goes bankrupt
2002
WLAN hot-spots start to spread
2003
UMTS starts in Germany Start of DVB-T in Germany replacing analog TV
2005
WiMax starts as DSL alternative (not mobile) first ZigBee products
2006
HSDPA starts in Germany as fast UMTS download version offering > 3 Mbit/s WLAN draft for 250 Mbit/s (802.11n) using MIMO
2007
over 3.3 billion subscribers for mobile phones
2008
real Internet widely available on mobile phones (standard browsers, decent data rates) 7.2 Mbit/s HSDPA, 1.4 Mbit/s HSUPA available in Germany, more than 100 operators support HSPA worldwide, first LTE tests (>100 Mbit/s)
2009 the story continues with netbooks, iphones, VoIPoWLAN 2010 LTE available in some cities, new frequencies allocated
Reuse of old analog TV bands, LTE as DSL replacement for rural areas
Radio Transmission
Easily generated, omni-directionally travel long distances, easily penetrate buildings Problems:
Frequency-dependent Relative low bandwidth for data communication Tightly licensed by the governments
Microwave Transmission
Widely used for long distance communication Gives a high S/N ratio, relatively inexpensive Problems:
dont pass through buildings well weather and frequency-dependent
Lightwave Transmission
Unguided optical signal, such as laser Connect two LANs in two buildings via laser mounted on their roof Unidirectional, easy to install, dont require license Problems:
Unable to penetrate rain or thick fog
High rate of work in configuring each access point with each MAC
address
Greater use of Laptops - using wireless card Wireless connection eliminates the need of searching of a hub Greater integration of the technology into the curriculum Saves time With access easy, setup is fast.
Wireless systems are slower. Does not offer the performance of wired systems. Harder to supervise Security is major issue
Mobility
Physical objects :
Mobility relate to movements of matters
Virtual objects:
Mobility relate to movements of bits and bytes
Bell Labs
Limited to national boundaries Same device can not be used in another network in
another country
So some standard for mobile phone is required In 1982, Conference of Posts and Telegraphs (CEPT) formed a study group called Group Special Mobile (GSM) to develop a standard for mobile system
European
(ETSI)
Telecommunication
Standards
Institute
Communication
between different components, internetworking between different vendors International roaming between networks Emergence of SMS
1G
Uses Analog technology FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) for modulation Data is transmitted over circuits, - circuit switched data E.g. AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) in US
2G
Digital technology Combination of TDMA and FDMA E.g. GSM Data is transmitted over circuits, - circuit switched data Modem is used to make connection between device and network Like dial up connection
2.5 G
Voice is digitized Packet switched technology Combination of TDMA and FDMA E.g. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
3G
Spread spectrum technique for media access and encoding Both data and voice use packet
Wireless PAN(Bluetooth, Infrared), wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11 family) , wireless WAN (GSM, GPRS, 3G)
Mobile Computing
A computing environment of physical mobility Useful to access data, information or other logical objects from any device in any network while on move
It allows user to perform task from anywhere using computing device (mobile device or desktop PC)
Different name
Mobile computing : computing environment moves with user Virtual Home environment : User experiences the same computing
environment at workplace as well as home Nomadic (travelling) computing : Same environment for both local/remote user Pervasive (persistent) computing Ubiquitous (everywhere) computing
User Mobility
User should be able to move from one location to another and use the same
service
Network Mobility
User moves from one network to another and uses same service. User using WiFi network in campus and changes to 3G network outside Network itself is mobile like Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) Each node is a router. When moves , it changes its routing table structure
Bearer Mobility
User should be able to move from one bearer to another and use the same
service User uses WAP at home and changes to SMS bearer outside, to access same application
Device Mobility
User should be able to move from one device to another and use the same service E.g. sales representative uses desktop at office and Palmtop when they are on the street
Session Mobility
User moves from one user-agent environment to another. E.g. user uses a service through his mobile device Suppose network connection is lost and he started unfinished session using
desktop at home
Agent Mobility
User-agent or application should be able to move from one node to another e.g. In cloud computing, applications will be moving from platform to platform
Network
Different network at different time
E.g. GSM, CDMA, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth
Gateway
Acts as interface between different transport bearers,
They convert specific bearer to another E.g. SMS gateway, WAP gateway
Middleware
Handles presentation and rendering of the content on particular device Handles security of user
Content
Origin server and contents are stored Original server application, aggregation system Databases and storage devices
Perishable (fresh) : Time sensitive (general news, breaking news, weather, sports)
Location-specific : related to geographic location e.g. GPS Corporate : corporate business information (mail, ERP ) Entertainment
Security : a special challenge Mobile service is on air which can not control Existing infrastructure aims for increase revenue Technology is very complex and dependent on network operator Security policy are decided/implemented content provider by operator, not by
Standards
Documented agreements containing technical specifications or other criteria to be used as rules, guidelines or definition of characteristics
They ensures that materials, products or services are fit for their defined and agreed purpose
Standards are provided by some special bodies at the regional, country as well as international level
Standards
In India, a standard body under government of India, called BIS (Bureau of Indian Standard)
Standards bodies
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Soc devices :
Small pc
Requires high memory which used to store data ,when it is not connected to network Ability to store large amounts of data which is useful to user
Soc client technology typically requires a PocketPC or WinCE device in order to have sufficient processing power and data
storage capability.
AOC clients have small amounts of data or no data on board the device.
AOC clients require a wireless connection to access data and the user interface, or screen image.
AOC clients typically use a browser for application interactions AOC clients require transmission of the data and screen image for each user action.
Mobile computing OS
Also known as handheld operating system. Controls mobile device Operating systems that can be found on smartphones include Nokia's Symbian, Google's Android, Apple's iOS, RIM's
User Interface
Deals with user facing device handling and rendering
Includes user system interface where user services (session, text input, dialog) resides
Process Management
Contains application programs or process management where business logic and rules are executed
Hundreds of users
Database management
Database access and management
For universal access, server should connect to ubiquitous network i.e. internet. Web browser ubiquitous Browser agent Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or Mozilla
Presentation (Tier 1)
User facing system in the first tier Layer of agent application and systems Tier is responsible for presenting the information to the end user To receive information visual and audio means To send information keyboard, pen, touch screen, voice Includes web browser , WAP browser and customized client program Mobile computing agent needs to be context aware and device independent
Application (Tier 2)
Engine of ubiquitous application Performs the business logic of processing user input, obtaining data and making decisions Includes technologies CGIs, Java, JSP, .NET services, PHP deployed in the product likes Apache, web sphere, Web logic, iPlanet etc.. Application tier is independent from presentation and database tier
Another
functionalities
decision
on
rendering,
network
management, security, data store access etc. Different available middle wares (software/middleware framework)are
Communication Middleware
Connects one application to another through some software like telnet
Transcoding Middleware
Used to transcode one format of data to another format to suit the need of
client, device
E.g. to access a web site through mobile phone supporting WAP, we need to transcode HTML page to WML page so that the mobile phone can access it Accessing a map through PDA Used for content adaptation which is also required for meeting network bandwidth needs ICAP (Internet Content Adaption Protocol)
Ways in which content and behavior should be adapted are with context awareness
1. Content
User will use computer to access service through Internet-big web pages, drop down menus, advertisement for new schemes For PDA device, the screen will be small-no product animation For WAP service, the completely different interface
Fig. 2.5
CC/PP
Proposed W3C standard specially for wireless devices (mobiles / PDAs) CC/PP is based on RDF (Resource Description Framework) and is coded in XML CC/PP profile contains a number of attribute names and associated values that are used by an application to determine the appropriate form of a resource to
deliver to a client
This helps the client to describe its capabilities to origin server and other sender of data Simple steps followed by server to use CC/PP profile
Device sends serialized profile model with request for content
Origin server receives RDF profile and converts it into an in-memory model (Document model) The profile for the requested document is retrieved and an in-memory is created (Device profile model) The device profile model is matched against the document profile model A suitable representation of the document is chosen or dynamically generated Document is returned to device and presented
Policy Manager
It specifies rules for adaptation when a user is at certain location, regardless of the information provided in an application or document profile A policy is a set of rules needs to be followed under certain conditions Policy manager will be able to define policy for documents / services and assign roles to users Each role will have permissions, prohibitions and obligations associated with it Each policy will have access rights associated with respect to read, write and execute A policy with role and current context information will be able to determine what actions a user is allowed to perform, or what actions a user is obliged to perform
Semantic Web
Policies are set of rules. Semantic web is useful to make machine understand policies and behave in expected fashion Data in the Web is generally hidden away in HTML files Some contents are useful in some context but not all context
Semantic web is targeted to provide facilities to put machine understandable data on web
not just for display, but for automation, security, filtering , integration and reuse of data across various application Large number of semantic web applications - variety of different tasks- increasing the
Security Manager
Provides a secure connection between the client device and the original server Security policies Confidentiality : Nobody will be able to see the message (Encryption) Integrity : Nobody will be able to change the content (Hashing) Availability : Nobody will be able to stop the service (Web Server, Firewall) Non-repudiation : Nobody after using the system can claim otherwise (Digital Signature) Trust : Complex issues of knowing what resources, services and agents to trust. The system will be trusted (Trusted Third Party)
well
The goal is to increase user trust and confidence in the web Provides a technical mechanism to inform users about privacy policies about the site To help the users to decide whether to release personal information or not P3P does not provide any mechanism for ensuring that sites act according to their policies
Adaptability Manager
Responsible for adapting content, behavior, and other aspects according to context and policy May take actions depending on the information passed to it by context manager They providing transcoding of content so that it may be viewed on a particular device Appends location specific information to documents
capabilities
Can be quite effective for static images Not very effective for streaming payload delivery Content adaptation at Middleware provides transparent service to device and content Main drawbacks Content providers do not have control over how their content will appear to
client device
HTML tags mainly provide formatting information rather than semantic information Transcoding could be difficult to apply to many media such as video and audio
W3C proposed a standard PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) for
rating of web content
Depending upon rating, filtering of contents will take place PICS specification is a set of technical specifications for labels (meta-data) that help software and rating service to work together
Rating and labeling service chooses their own criteria for proper identification and filtering of contents
Seamless Communication
Ubiquitous system will be available and accessible from anywhere, anytime
hybrid network
Session migration
IP mobility
Autonomous Computing
The purpose of autonomous system is to free users and system administrators from the details of system operation and maintenance complexity. The essence of autonomous system is self-management, which is a combination of the following function
Self-configurable : System will configure itself automatically in accordance with highlevel policies Self-optimizing : System will continuously look for ways to improve its operation with respect to resource, cost and performance Self-healing : System will detect , diagnose and repair localized problems resulting from bugs or failure Self-protecting : System will defend itself from external attacks and will not propagate and cascade failure to other parts of the system Self-upgradable : System will be able to grow and upgrade itself within the control of the above properties
A system is Context-aware if it can extract, interpret and use context-related information to adapt its functionality to the current context
Context manager has to collect information about location, mobile device, network, users , environment and any other context information
Location information
Helps us to identify the location of the user/device Collect through the device or through network From device : Find location through GPS(Global Positioning Systems) From Network : device can be determined through timing advance technology which relates to the successful call
Device information
Helps us to know the characteristics of the device Required to determine the resource capability and user interface capability Collect through the device or through network Through user agent parameter of HTTP protocol gives device information From network side, information can be obtained from EIR (Equipment Identity Register) database of the network
Network information
User moves from network to network, even in heterogeneous environment Network information is required to identify the capability of the network This information includes security infrastructures, services offered by the network
User Information
It is required to identify the user correctly From security point, whether user is authorized or not Need to ensure that nobody else is impersonating For charging the user properly we need to refer to some subscriber information available in the network
Environment Information
The temperature, elevation, moisture and other ambient-related information
The ways by which applications made ubiquitous and mobile computing capable
Enhance existing application Rent an application from ISP Write a new application Buy a packaged solution Bridge the gap through middleware