Introduction to Mobile Computing

The rapidly expanding technology of cellular communication, wireless LANs, and

satellite services will make information accessible anywhere and at any time. Regardless of
size, most mobile computers will be equipped with a wireless connection to the fixed part of the
network, and, perhaps, to other mobile computers. The resulting computing
environment, which is often referred to as mobile or nomadic computing, no longer
requires users to maintain a fixed and universally known position in the network and
enables almost unrestricted mobility. Mobility and portability will create an entire new class of
applications and, possibly, new massive markets combining personal computing and consumer
electronics.
APPLICATIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING
In many fields of work, the ability to keep on the move is vital in order to utilise
time efficiently. The importance of Mobile Computers has been highlighted in many fields of
which a few are described below:
1. Vehicles: Music, news, road conditions, weather reports, and other broadcast
information are received via digital audio broadcasting (DAB) with 1.5 Mbit/s.
For personal communication, a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS)
phone might be available offering voice and data connectivity with 384 kbit/s. The
current position of the car is determined via the global positioning system (GPS). Cars
driving in the same area build a local ad-hoc network for the fast exchange of
information in emergency situations or to help each other keep a safe distance. In case
of an accident, not only will the airbag be triggered, but the police and ambulance service will be
informed via an emergency call to a service provider. Buses, trucks, and trains are already
transmitting maintenance and logistic information to their homebase, which helps to improve
organization (fleet management), and saves time and money.
2. Emergencies: An ambulance with a high-quality wireless connection to a hospital can
carry vital information about injured persons to the hospital from the scene of the
accident. All the necessary steps for this particular type of accident can be prepared and
specialists can be consulted for an early diagnosis. Wireless networks are the only means
of communication in the case of natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes. In
the worst cases, only decentralized, wireless ad-hoc networks survive.
3. Business: Managers can use mobile computers say, critical presentations to major
customers. They can access the latest market share information. At a small recess, they
can revise the presentation to take advantage of this information. They can
communicate with the office about possible new offers and call meetings for discussing
responds to the new proposals. Therefore, mobile computers can leverage competitive
advantages. A travelling salesman today needs instant access to the company’s
database: to ensure that files on his or her laptop reflect the current situation, to enable
the company to keep track of all activities of their travelling employees, to keep
databases consistent etc. With wireless access, the laptop can be turned into a true
mobile office, but efficient and powerful synchronization mechanisms are needed to
ensure data consistency.
4. Credit Card Verification: At Point of Sale (POS) terminals in shops and Supermarkets, when
customers use credit cards for transactions, them intercommunication required between the bank
central computer and the POS terminal, in order to effect verification of the card usage, can take
place quickly and securely over cellular channels using a mobile computer unit. This can speed
up the transaction process and relieve congestion at the POS terminals.
5. Replacement of Wired Networks: wireless networks can also be used to replace wired
networks, e.g., remote sensors, for tradeshows, or in historic buildings. Due to economic reasons,
it is often impossible to wire remote sensors for weather forecasts, earthquake detection, or to
provide environmental information. Wireless connections, e.g., via satellite, can help in this
situation. Other examples for wireless networks are computers, sensors, or information displays
in historical buildings, where excess cabling may destroy valuable walls or floors.
6. Infotainment: wireless networks can provide up-to-date information at any
appropriate location. The travel guide might tell you something about the history of a
building (knowing via GPS, contact to a local base station, or triangulation where you
are) downloading information about a concert in the building at the same evening via a
local wireless network. Another growing field of wireless network applications lies in
entertainment and games to enable, e.g., ad-hoc gaming networks as soon as people
meet to play together.
Limitations of Mobile Computing
Resource constraints: Battery
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
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.
Dynamic changes in communication environment: variations in signal power within a region,
thus link delays and connection losses
Network Issues: discovery of the connection-service to destination and connection stability.
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.
Indirect TCP

Indirect TCP or I-TCP segments the connection no changes to the basic TCP
protocol for hosts connected to the wired Internet, millions of computers use this
protocol (or slight variants of it).It optimized TCP protocol for mobile hosts.It
splitting of the TCP connection at, e.g., the foreign agent into 2 TCP connections,
no real end-to-end connection any longer.In this hosts in the fixed part of the net
do not notice the characteristics of the wireless part.

 Advantages
 no changes in the fixed network necessary, no changes for the hosts
(TCP protocol) necessary, all current optimizations to TCP (Reno,
Vegas, etc.) still work
 transmission errors on the wireless link do not propagate into the fixed
network
 simple to control, mobile TCP is used only for one hop between, e.g.,
a foreign agent and mobile host
 therefore, very fast retransmission of packets is possible, the short
delay on the mobile hop is known
 Disadvantages
 loss of end-to-end semantics, an acknowledgement to a sender does
now not any longer mean that a receiver really got a packet, foreign
agents might crash
  higher latency possible due to buffering of data within the foreign
agent and forwarding to a new foreign agent.
. Snooping TCP I
 „Transparent“ extension of TCP within the foreign agent.In this buffering of
packets sent to the mobile host and lost packets on the wireless link (both
directions!) will be retransmitted immediately by the mobile host or foreign
agent, respectively (so called “local” retransmission).The foreign agent
therefore “snoops” the packet flow and recognizes acknowledgements in
both directions, it also filters ACKs and changes to the basic TCP only
within the foreign agent.
FA buffers data until it receives ACK of the MH, FA detects packet loss via
duplicated ACKs or time-out ,fast retransmission possible, transparent for
the fixed network.In this Data transfer from the mobile host FA detects
packet loss on the wireless link via sequence numbers, FA answers directly
with a NACK to the MH,MH can now retransmit data with only a very short
delay.it provide Integration of the MAC layer.MAC layer often has similar
mechanisms to those of TCP.thus, the MAC layer can already detect
duplicated packets due to retransmissions and discard them
Problems
 snooping TCP does not isolate the wireless link as good as I-TCP
 snooping might be useless depending on encryption schemes mobile tcp
 Special handling of lengthy and/or frequent disconnections
 M-TCP splits as I-TCP does
 unmodified TCP fixed network to supervisory host (SH)
 optimized TCP SH to MH
 Supervisory host
 no caching, no retransmission
 monitors all packets, if disconnection detected
set sender window size to 0
sender automatically goes into persistent mode
  old or new SH reopen the window
 Advantages
 maintains semantics, supports disconnection, no buffer forwarding
 Disadvantages
 loss on wireless link propagated into fixed network
 adapted TCP on wireless link
. Fast retransmit/fast recovery
 Change of foreign agent often results in packet loss
 TCP reacts with slow-start although there is no congestion
 Forced fast retransmit
 as soon as the mobile host has registered with a new foreign agent, the
MH sends duplicated acknowledgements on purpose
 this forces the fast retransmit mode at the communication partners
 additionally, the TCP on the MH is forced to continue sending with
the actual window size and not to go into slow-start after registration
 Advantage
 simple changes result in significant higher performance
 Disadvantage
 further mix of IP and TCP, no transparent approach
 Transmission/time-out freezing

Mobile hosts can be disconnected for a longer time then no packet exchange

possible, e.g., in a tunnel, disconnection due to overloaded cells or mux. with

higher priority traffic.TCP disconnects after time-out completely.

TCP freezing
 MAC layer is often able to detect interruption in advance
 MAC can inform TCP layer of upcoming loss of connection
 TCP stops sending, but does now not assume a congested link
 MAC layer signals again if reconnected
 Advantage
 scheme is independent of data
 Disadvantage
 TCP on mobile host has to be changed, mechanism depends on MAC
layer
Selective retransmission
 TCP acknowledgements are often cumulative
 ACK n acknowledges correct and in-sequence receipt of packets up to
n
 if single packets are missing quite often a whole packet sequence
beginning at the gap has to be retransmitted (go-back-n), thus wasting
bandwidth
 Selective retransmission as one solution
 RFC2018 allows for acknowledgements of single packets, not only
acknowledgements of in-sequence packet streams without gaps
 sender can now retransmit only the missing packets
 Advantage
 much higher efficiency
 Disadvantage
 more complex software in a receiver, more buffer needed at the
receiver
 Transaction oriented TCPTCP phases
  connection setup, data transmission, connection release
 using 3-way-handshake needs 3 packets for setup and release,
respectively
 thus, even short messages need a minimum of 7 packets!
 Transaction oriented TCP
 RFC1644, T-TCP, describes a TCP version to avoid this overhead
 connection setup, data transfer and connection release can be
combined
 thus, only 2 or 3 packets are needed
 Advantage
 efficiency
 Disadvantage
 requires changed TCP
 mobility not longer transparent