Moblie Computing

Unit 1-INTRODUCTION
Mobile Computing–Mobile Computing Vs Wireless
Networking–Mobile Computing Applications–Characteristics
of Mobile computing–Structure of Mobile Computing
Application. MAC Protocols– Wireless MAC Issues–Fixed
Assignment Schemes–Random Assignment Schemes –
Reservation Based Schemes
 What is Mobile Computing?
 Mobile Computing is also called ubiquitous computing or nomadic
computing
 Mobile Computing is a technology that allows transmission of data, voice,
and video via a computer or any other wireless-enabled devices.
 Mobile Computing involves the following concepts or operations
1. Mobile Communication
2. Mobile Hardware
3. Mobile Software
Mobile Communication
 Mobile Communication specifies a framework(essential support
i.e, communication protocols, properties, formats of data ) that is
responsible for the working of mobile computing technology.

 In this case, mobile communication refers to an infrastructure

that ensures seamless and reliable communication among
wireless devices.
Mobile Communication
Mobile Communication
Mobile communication can be divided in the following four types:

Fixed and Wired: In Fixed and Wired configuration, the devices are fixed at
a position, and they are connected through a physical link to communicate
with other devices.
For Example: Desktop Computer.

Fixed and Wireless: In Fixed and Wireless configuration, the devices are
fixed at a position, and they are connected through a wireless link to make
communication with other devices.
For Example: Communication Towers, WiFi router
Mobile Communication
Mobile and Wired: In Mobile and Wired configuration, some devices are
wired, and some are mobile. They altogether make communication with other
devices.
For Example: Laptops.

Mobile and Wireless: In Mobile and Wireless configuration, the devices can
communicate with each other irrespective of their position. They can also
connect to any network without the use of any wired device.
For Example: WiFi Dongle.
Mobile Hardware

Mobile hardware consists of mobile devices or device

components that can be used to receive or access the service of
mobility. Examples of mobile hardware can be smartphones,
laptops, portable PCs, tablet PCs, Personal Digital Assistants,
etc.
Mobile Software
 Mobile software is a program that runs on mobile hardware.
 This is designed to deal capably with the characteristics and

requirements of mobile applications.

Mobile Computing Vs Wireless
Networking
 These two terms are not synonymous.
 It is backbone of mobile computing.
 It is an extension of physical wired network.
 It provides all the basic infrastructure for communications for mobile
computing.
 Mobile computing essentially denotes accessing information and remote
computational services while on the move
Mobile Computing Vs Wireless
Networking
 It should be clear that wireless networking is an important ingredient of
mobile computing, but forms only one of the necessary ingredients of
mobile computing.
 Mobile computing also requires the applications themselves—their
design and development, and the hardware at the client and server
sides.
 Instead of studying the different aspects of mobile computing applications,
their design and development, we need to have a good knowledge of the
basics of wireless communications technologies.
 Wireless networking is increasingly replacing traditional networks
(because of the low setup time and low initial investment required to set up
the wireless network).
Types of Wireless Networks

1. Wireless Network based on fixed

Infrastructure(Extension of wired networks)
2. Wireless Network having no fixed infrastructure
(Ad hoc Network)
Based on fixed Infrastructure(Extension
of wired networks)
Infrastructure Based
 Simply the extension of wired network.
 It uses the fixed Infrastructure such as base stations

provide essentially single hop wireless communication

with a wired networks.
 Single Hop Communication or Two Hop
Communication.
 Example: Wireless Lan (WLAN- Wireless LAN IEEE

802.11 protocol).
Wireless Network having no fixed infrastructure
(Ad hoc Network)
Wireless Network having no fixed
infrastructure
 It is also called as Ad-hoc Networks.
 An ad hoc network is also known as a Mobile Ad hoc

Network(MANET).
 It is a collection of mobile nodes that form a network on

the fly without requiring the support of any fixed

infrastructure.
 An Ad-hoc network does not use any fixed infrastructure

and is based on multi-hop wireless communication.

 Data channels through multiple hops.

 Stable Infrastructure is not necessary.

Wireless Network having no fixed
infrastructure
 PAN ( Personal Area Network - Created by Bluetooth
Devices ) are best examples.
 It requires the expertise knowledge and less reliable

than Infrastructure based wireless networks.

 Example: Wireless sensor networks are a special type

of wireless ad hoc networks

Bluetooth technology

 Bluetooth technology can also be used to establish direct

wireless connection of cell phones with devices such as
printers, cameras, scanners, and laptop and desk computers.
 Bluetooth is gradually replacing cables and infrared as the
dominant way of exchanging information between devices.
 In fact, the Bluetooth technology enables setting up of
personal area networks (PANs) known as piconets and
ad hoc networks known as scatternets
 It promises to eliminate the need to purchase additional or
proprietary cabling and configuration exercises needed to
connect the individual devices
MOBILE COMPUTING APPLICATIONS
Vehicles:
 Music, news, road conditions, weather reports, and other broadcast

information are received via digital audio broadcasting (DAB)

 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.
MOBILE COMPUTING
APPLICATIONS
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.
Business
 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.
MOBILE COMPUTING
APPLICATIONS
Credit Card Verification
 At Point of Sale (POS) terminals in shops and supermarkets,

when customers use credit cards for transactions, the

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.

MOBILE COMPUTING
APPLICATIONS
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.
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.
Characteristics of Mobile Computing

 Ubiquity.
 Location awareness.
 Adaptation.
 Broadcast.
 Personalization.
Characteristics of Mobile Computing
Ubiquity
❖ Present every where.
❖ Ability to perform computation anywhere
any time.
❖ Very essential for business people.
Characteristics of Mobile Computing
Location awareness
❖ GPS System ( Handheld devices are now
equipped with this ).
❖ It is useful provide personalized services.
❖ Services
➢ Maps
➢ Traffic Control.
➢ Emergency Services.
➢ Fleet Management. ( Managing
vehicles under one command )
Characteristics of Mobile Computing
Adaptation
❖ Adaptation in mobile computing context
that adjusting with bandwidth fluctuations
without inconveniencing the customers.
❖ It is very crucial for problems we have in
mobile technologies,
➢ Handoffs.
➢ Obstacles.
➢ Environmental noises.
Characteristics of Mobile Computing
Broadcast
❖ Effective data transmission for more than
one node in the network.
❖ Advertising services based on the locations
of the users.
Characteristics of Mobile Computing
Personalization
❖ Mobile should be personalized according to
the user profiles.
❖ We can personalize the information source
for correct information source.
❖ Subscribing for specific news channels or
news topics and get the valid information.
 Structure of Mobile Application
(App’s Structure)
❖ It is structured based on the functionality
implementations
❖ Most of them are 3 tier architecture.
Structure of Mobile Application
Elaborated View ( Sales System
)
Presentation Tier
❖ Top most level of mobile computing
application.
❖ Good user interface that is responsible to
produces the results in a meaningful
manner.
❖ Runs on client side.
❖ Compatible with browsers and customized
client applications.
❖ Eg : Flipkart Interface
Presentation Tier
Application Tier
❖ Vital responsibility of this layer is making
logical decisions and performing calculations.
❖ It moves and process the data between
presentation and data tiers.
❖ It is also considered engine of the application.
❖ It gets the user input information and process
with the logic and makes the decisions.
❖ It is implemented using the technology like
Java, .NET services, ColdFusion.
Data Tier
❖ It provides the basic facilities of data.
➢ Storage.
➢ Access.
➢ Manipulations
❖ This layer contains databases and Query
processors.
❖ This layer implemented in the fixed server.
 MAC Protocols
Protocols in Networking
A protocol is a set of rules and guidelines for
communicating data.
Why we need MAC?
 More than one node is sharing the same medium at a
time.
 We need disciplined behaviour to use the shared

resources (channel) for effective access.

MAC = Medium Access
Control
 The MAC protocol is a sublayer of the data link layer
protocol and it directly invokes the physical layer protocol
 The primary responsibility of a MAC protocol is to enforce
discipline in the access of a shared channel when multiple
nodes contend to access that channel.
 At the same time, two other objectives of any MAC protocol
are :
1) maximization of the utilization of the channel
2) minimization of average latency of transmission.
Is that all MAC Protocols are
the same ... ?
Properties Required of MAC Protocols
 It should implement some rules that helps to enforce
discipline when the multiple nodes contend for a same
channel.
 It should help maximize the utilization of the channel.
 Channel allocation needs to be fair. No node should be
discriminated against at any time and made to wait for an
unduly long time for transmission
 It should be capable of supporting several types of traffic
having different maximum and average bit rates.
 It should be robust in the face of equipment failures and
changing network conditions
MAC Protocols for wireless network
❖ We have standardized MAC protocol for wireless
network.
❖ IEEE 802.11 is WLAN Protocol for WiFi Cards.
❖ Still the researchers are concentrated towards
improve it’s efficieny.
Wireless MAC Protocol Issues
❖ In wireless medium implementing MAC protocol is
difficult.
❖ Collision detection is very hard in a wireless medium.
❖ So implementing a collision detection system in
wireless is hard.
❖ There are two common problems are found in wireless
network,
➢ Hidden Terminal Problem
➢ Exposed Terminal Problem
Hidden Terminal Problem
Hidden Terminal Problem
 A, B, C are the nodes are terminals for data transmission.
 Bigger circle is transmission range.

 Individual Transmission between A to B and C to B has no

problem at all.
 But if A and C are want to transmit to B at same time the problem

arises, Because,
➢ B is present in transmission range of both A and C.
➢ But A and C does not know each other.
➢ A is hidden form C.
➢ A cannot sense C is present and vice versa.
➢ This create an problem that need to be solved by MAC
protocol.
Exposed Terminal Problem
Exposed Terminal Problem
 In exposed terminal problem, MAC protocols usually inhibit
transmission when transmission from another terminal is
detected.
 A, B, C, are the nodes are terminals for data transmission.
 Bigger circle is transmission range.
 D wants to Transmit A.
 Normal conditions there is no problems.
 If B already transmitting to C means all the transmission are blocked

for A ,because A is exposed to B.

 Even simultaneous transmission from D to A and B to C is not

affecting each other.

 This is known as hidden terminal problem.
 It should be solved by MAC protocol.
Taxonomy of MAC Protocols

Types of MAC Protocols

There are three Types of MAC Protocols,
➢ Fixed Assignment Schemes.
➢ Random Assignment Schemes.
➢ Reservation Based Schemes.
Taxonomy of MAC Protocols
Fixed Assignment Schemes
(Strict Sharing)
 It is also called as circuit switched scheme.
 The Resource or Channel is shared by nodes based on

Time, Frequency or Code.

 There are three types of schemes available

➢ Frequency Division Multiple Access ( FDMA ).

➢ Time Division Multiple Access ( TDMA ).
➢ Code Division Multiple Access ( CDMA ).
Frequency Division Multiple
Access
FDMA
Frequency Division Multiple Access
( FDMA )
Frequency Division Multiple Access
( FDMA )
 In FDMA the available bandwidth is divided into many
narrow frequency band called channels.
❖ Each user need a two link
➢ Forward link ( Mobile to Base Station ).
➢ Reverse Link ( Base Station to Mobile ).
❖ Two channels are allocated to one user.
 These 2 channels are unable to allocate to other users

while on use.
Frequency Division Multiple Access
( FDMA )
 User never always uses this channel.
 When user on idle the channel utilization is very low.
 Implementation of this protocol is very easy.
 Big disadvantage is poor channel utilization
Time Division Multiple Access(Time
Division Multiple Access)
Time Division Multiple Access(Time
Division Multiple Access)
 TDMA allows the user to use multiple channels based
on different time slots.
 All sources are uses the same channel but it will wait

for time slots.

 The time slots are allocated in the round robin

manner.
 Unused time slot makes the channel idle so this to leads

to poor utilization of channel.

Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)
Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)
Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)
 In CDMA Technology multiple users can use the same
channel same time.
 No scheduling is needed.
 Message or data is encoded in the one end and

decrypted in the other end.

 Lot of users data are encoded and multiplexed and send

into same channel at time.

 Each user uses only one code.
Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)
 Maximum utilization of channel is obtained.
 But we need a special mechanism to generate code as

well encode and decode.

 Quite expensive procedure when compared to FDMA

and TDMA.
 In CDMA, multiple users are allotted different codes that consist of
sequences of 0 and 1 to access the same channel.
 A special coding scheme is used that allows signals from multiple users to
be multiplexed over the same physical channel.
 Different users who have been assigned separate codes are multiplexed on
the same physical channel.
 A code for a user should be orthogonal (that is, non-interfering) to the
codes assigned to other nodes.
 The term “orthogonal” means that the vector inner product is
zero(suppose p=(2,5,0) and q=(0,0,17) then inner product of
p*q=(2*0+5*0+0*17)=0), and good autocorrelation uses the bipolar
notation where a code sequence of binary 0 is represented as –1 and
binary 1 is represented as +1.
Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)
 Consider an example, where X, Y are the transmitters and Z is a receiver.
 Sender X_data = 1 and X_Key = (010011). Its autocorrelation representation is (–1, +1, –1, –
1, +1, +1). The signal to be calculated at sender X is Xs = X_data  X_key = +1(–1, +1, –1,
–1, +1, +1) = (–1, +1, –1, –1, +1, +1).

 Similarly, sender Y_data = 0 and Y_key = (110101) and the signal to be sent at Y is Ys = –
1Y_key = –1(+1, +1, –1, +1, –1, +1) = (–1, –1, +1, –1, +1, –1). The signal received by
receiver Z is Xs + Ys = (–1, +1, –1, –1, +1, +1) + (–1, –1, +1, –1, +1, –1) = (–2, 0, 0, –2, +2,
0).

 At the receiver, in order to receive the data sent by sender X, the signal Z is dispread. So now
if Z wants to get information of sender X data, then ZX_key = (–2, 0, 0, –2, +2, 0)(–1, +1, –
1, –1, +1, +1) = 2 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 0 = 6 > 0 (positive), that is the original bit was a 1.

 Similarly, the information of sender Y data may be obtained as ZY_key = (–2, 0, 0, –2, +2,
0)(+ 1, +1, –1, +1, –1, +1) = –2 + 0 + 0 – 2 – 2 + 0 = – 6 < 0 (negative). So the Y data
original bit was a 0.
 Formula is sum/m(num of digits in key)
Random Assignment Scheme
Everybody Owns a Chance
Random Assignment Scheme
Types of Schemes
 ALOHA.
 Slotted ALOHA.
 CSMA.
 CSMA/CD.
 CSMA/CA.
ALOHA
ALOHA Don’t Wait
ALOHA Scheme
1. It is a simple communication scheme, the basic (also called pure)
ALOHA scheme, is a simple protocol.
2. If a node has data to send, it begins to transmit.
3. Note that the first step implies that Pure ALOHA does not check
whether the channel is busy before transmitting.
4. If the frame successfully reaches the destination (receiver), the next
frame is sent. If the frame fails to be received at the destination, it is
sent again
5. The simple ALOHA scheme works acceptably, It works only small
amount of sender data is sent.
6. Collisions occurs when transmission is high.
7. Improvement over the pure ALOHA scheme is the slotted ALOHA.
Problem ALOHA Scheme
 It is very acceptable when the network is too small and
no.of transmitters is less.
 If no.of transmitters are increasing the collision is

unavoidable and it becomes unacceptably high.

 So this is inefficient for larger networks.
Slotted ALOHA Scheme
 The time is divided into equal-sized slots in which a packet
can be sent. Thus, the size of the packet is restricted.
 Only at the beginning of a slot packet can sent.
 The slotted ALOHA system employs beacon signals that are
sent at precise intervals that mark the beginning of a slot, at
which point the nodes having data to send can start to
transmit.
 If the number of stations contending to send data is high. In
such cases, the CSMA scheme works better..
Pure ALOHA differs from
slotted ALOHA
CSMA Scheme
 A popular MAC arbitration technique is the Carrier Sense
Multiple Access (CSMA).
 A node senses the medium before starting to transmit.
 Principle of CSMA :“sense before transmit”
 If it senses that some transmission is already underway, it
delay its transmission.
CSMA/CD

A popular MAC arbitration

technique is the Carrier
Sense Multiple Access
(CSMA).

A node senses the

medium before
starting to transmit.

If it senses that some

transmission is already
underway, it hold its
transmission.

Two popular
extensions of the basic
CSMA technique are
CSMA/CD

 In a wired network, the implementation of a collision detection

scheme is simple
 In wireless network it is very difficult for a transmitting node to
detect a collision, since any received signal from other nodes would
be too weak compared to its own signal and can easily be masked
by noise.
 As a result, a transmitting node would continue to transmit the
frame, and only the destination node would notice the corrupted
frame after it computes the checksum. This leads to retransmissions
and severe wastage of channel utilization.
 In contrast, in a wired network when a node detects a collision, it
immediately stops transmitting, thereby minimizing channel
wastage.
 Avoidance scheme works much better compared to a collision
detection-based scheme.
CSMA/CA
 A collision avoidance scheme is based on the idea that it is necessary to prevent
collisions at the moment they are most likely to occur, that is, when the bus is
released after a packet transmission.
 During the time a node is transmitting on the channel, several nodes might be
wanting to transmit
 These nodes would be monitoring the channel and waiting for it to become free.
 The moment the transmitting node completes its transmission, these waiting nodes
would sense the channel to be free, and would all start transmitting at the same
time.
 To overcome such collisions, in the collision avoidance scheme, all nodes are
forced to wait for a random time and then sense the medium again, before starting
their transmission.
 If the medium is sensed to be busy, a node waiting to transmit waits for a further
random amount of time and so on.
 Thus, the chance of two nodes starting to transmit at the same time would be
greatly reduced.
Reservation Based Scheme

Everybody Owns a Chance

Reservation Based Scheme
 The scheme is based on RTS/CTS Signals
➢ RTS = Ready To Send
➢ CTS = Clear To Send
 Before the transmission node must send RTS Signal to
receiver and
 Receiver sends CTS Signal and engages with transmission.
 Other nodes must wait until the data transmission is
completed.
 To avoid collision with RTS and CTS Signal each node must
wait in random time slot send or receive RTS or CTS Signal.
 MACA - Multiple Access Collision Avoidance
What CTS and RTS Contains
MACA Scheme (Hidden)
MACA Scheme (Exposed)