Ubiquitous computing and nomadic

computing are synonymous with mobile computing.

Mobile computing helps users to be productive
MOBILE immediately by reducing the training requirements
associated with traditional automated data collection

COMPUTING
methods and provides a higher level of portability than
keyboard-based systems.

ABSTRACT
Mobile computing has been undergoing a
bit of a renaissance lately. A few years ago it was a
simple matter of finding a data-compatible mobile
phone, a PC card modem, and a matching cable and
installing it as a modem. Then people started to use
PDA’s (Personal Data Assistants) as well. Cell phones
started to come with infrared ports to allow
communication with laptops. Then cell phones started to
come with modems built in. The connecting methods of
mobile computing, its introduction, connection types,
factors affecting connections, mobile applications and its
limitations will be discussed.
Mobile computing evolved during the last
few years as a result of shrinking portables and growing
(wireless) networks. It enlarges the usability of
computers, but raises demanding challenges. A mobile
user has to deal with the problems of slow albeit
expensive connection lines, frequent interruption of
wireless connections, and limited host performance.
"Requirements” for mobile services are stability,
bandwidth / cost considerations, and integration into the
familiar environment, application transparency, security
and extendibility.
The concept of zigbee is associated with
controlling all electronic devices and communicating
with themselves with the surrounding by using simple
our mobile or pc by using this latest technology.
Mobile computing is a new style of
computer access emerging at the intersection of the two
currently dominant trends: producing portable
computers in computer industry and wireless
communications in telecommunication industry. This
abstract discusses some key issues involved in realizing
a mobile wireless computing environment by examining
the characteristics required of each main component:
mobile computer, wireless communications network, and
coordination software.
INTRODUCTION:
Field-based users can access any information
available from the system at any time to make critical
business decisions. This information is available at the
point of use, wherever and whenever they need it.
Portable devices like laptop and palm top
computers give mobile users access to diverse sources of
global information anywhere and at any time.
One of the most important and highly publicized
recent developments in the PC world has been the
introduction of the pen interface .The pen interface
allows users to interact with the computer in a very
natural and familiar way by entering text, numbers, and
graphics in “electronic ink” directly on the screen.
ZigBee is the name of a specification for a suite of
high level communication protocols[1] using small, low-
power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard
for wireless personal area networks (W P A N s).
ARCHITECTURE:
The architecture consists of a
Mobility Service Architecture, describing the way we
implement our mobility services in a computer system,
and a Mobility Environment Architecture describing how
data are transmitted between computers in mobile
environments and what tasks the different stations fulfill
in our architecture.

The term "Mobile computing" is used to

describe the use of computing devices--which usually
interact in some fashion with a central information
system--while away from the normal, fixed workplace.
Mobile computing technology enables the mobile worker
to: (a) create; (b) access; (c) process; (d) store; and (e)
communicate information without being constrained to a
single location. By extending the reach of an
organization's fixed information system, mobile
computing enables interaction with organizational
personnel that were previously disconnected.
Wireless networking technology has engendered
a new era of computing, called mobile computing.
Mobile Computing is an umbrella term used to describe
technologies that enable people to access network
services any place, anytime, and anywhere.

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 Mobility Services Architecture:
Mobility services can be classified into
three groups. First there are services designed to
overcome common restrictions of mobile computing,
which arise mainly from the slowness, insecurity and
instability of wireless or analogous connection lines
utilized by the mobile user. These services are called
common mobility services (CMS).The second group of
services handles the management and administration of
mobile users moving around and connecting their
portables to networks at different places. These mobility
management services (MMS) include tasks such as the
authentication of users, accounting and billing issues or
profiling of the users' habits. The tasks necessary to adapt
certain existing applications to mobile usage are
implemented by high level services, which are called
special mobility services (SMS). Special mobility
services adapt existing services to the mobile conditions.
For example to allow remote database access over a
wireless connection line one has to take special care of
possible frequent connection losses especially in the
context of the state of the database. Viewing services as
distinct building blocks, we are able to sketch
architecture for a "mobility services enhanced system".
Mobility Environment Architecture:
To overcome restrictions in mobile
computing the above architecture was designed; the
architecture consists of the following parts: The network
environment consists of mobile hosts fixed hosts and
certain access points. The fixed hosts are all connected to
a backbone (i.e. the Internet). Mobile hosts usually don't
contact them directly, but use physically closer located
hosts as access points to the backbone for means of
minimizing the distance which has to be bridged by a
mobile connection line.
To distinguish from conventional client-
server and network tunneling systems we chose the
notions front-end for a mobile host, backend for a fixed
host that is servicing mobile nodes and relay for an
access point to the backbone. The system could be
modeled using the familiar client-server notion when full
connectivity is guaranteed. But when dealing with weak
and sometimes fully broken lines, traditional client-
server terms are not sufficient any more to model the
system. E.g. in the case of full disconnection the front
end will simulate the connection to the server using
cached data. Similarly a relay in our system provides
more functionality than a convenient gateway does. It
offers important services for mobile hosts, especially an
elaborate authentication and authorization service which
is of special importance for a secure mobile system.
IMPORTANCE OF MOBILE COMPUTERS:
Mobile computing is becoming
increasingly important due to the rise in the number of
portable computers and the desire to have continuous
network connectivity to the Internet irrespective of the
physical location of the node. The Internet infrastructure
is built on top of a collection of protocols, called the
TCP/IP protocol suite.
The Mobile Internet Protocol
(Mobile IP) is an extension to the Internet Protocol
proposed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
It enables mobile computers to stay connected to the
Internet regardless of their location and without changing
their IP address. More precisely, Mobile IP is a standard
protocol that builds on the Internet Protocol by making
mobility transparent to applications and higher level
protocols like TCP.
DESIGN ISSUES OF MOBILE COMPUTING:
1. Reliability, coverage, capacity, and
cost: At present wireless network is less reliable, have
less geographic coverage and reduced bandwidth, are
slower, and cost more than the wired-line network
services. It is important to find ways to use this new
2
resource more efficiently by designing innovative
applications.
2. Integration with legacy mainframe and
emerging client/server applications:
Application development paradigms are
changing. As a result of the IT industry’s original focus
on mainframes, a huge inventory of applications using
communications interfaces that are basically
incompatible with mobile connectivity have been
accumulated. Still the application development trend is
geared towards wired network platform and little thought
has been given to applications necessary for mobile
platform. This practice must change for successful
integration of mobile connectivity.
3. End-to-end design and performance:
Since mobile computing involves multiple networks
(including wired) and multiple application server
platforms, end-to-end technical compatibility, server
capacity design, and network response time estimates are
difficult to achieve.
4. Security: Wireless networks have relatively
more security requirements than wired network. A
number of approaches have been suggested and also the
use of encryption is has been proposed.
5. Revising the technical architecture:
Mobile users are demanding. They are important to the
business world. To provide complete connectivity among
users the current communication technology must be
revised to incorporate mobile connectivity. Additionally,
application and data architectures must also be revised to
support the demands put upon them by the mobile
connectivity.
Mobile devices
Mobile computing devices come in a
variety of forms, such as PDAs, Cell Phones, Laptop
Computers, Tablet Computers and Bar Coding /
Automated Data collection devices.
There are seven different types of mobile
devices:
 Laptop computers
 PDA’s and handheld PCs
 Pagers
 Smart phones and cellular phones
 Task devices, such as bar code
scanners
 Blue tooth
 Bridge
Achieving the Benefits of Mobile Computing
Accurately recognizing situations where
mobile computing is an appropriate technology to
address an organization's problems, opportunities, and
directives is important if the promised benefits of mobile
computing are to be achieved.
The six categories are:
M the need for mobility
O the need to improve operations
B the need to break business barriers
I the need to improve information quality
L the need to decrease transaction lag
E the need to improve efficiency
 Mobility
1. Freedom of movement is required to
accomplish the task.
2. Information must be gathered, accessed, or
processed during movement or while at a remote
location.
3. Contact must be made while personnel are
mobile or at remote locations.
4. The location or status of personnel must be
known throughout the workday.
 Operations
1. Current operations are not keeping pace with
competitors due to a technological disadvantage.
2. Management is not able to properly oversee
operations due to a lack of information.
3. Workers lack information required to
operate at their full potential.
 Barriers
1. Geography. Business operations or
expansion is hindered by the geographical dispersion of
business activities. Key business processes or activities
are not being accomplished where they are best
performed or most needed.
2. Cost. Current processes carry significant
costs in labor, inventory, operating locations, or travel
expenses.
 Information
1. Information sent to or received from mobile
personnel is not timely, current, or frequent enough.
2. Information sent to or received from mobile
personnel is not accurate, complete, concise, or relevant
enough.
 Lag
1. The mobile worker cannot quickly complete
a transaction while at the remote location because access
to information or authorization from a central location is
required.
2. Return trips to a remote location or multiple
contacts are required to complete a transaction.
 Efficiency
1. Data is input from paper, input more than
once, or not captured at its source.
2. Questions must be re-asked or locations
must be revisited because data was not completely or
correctly gathered on initial visit due to a mistake or
oversight.
3. Work cannot be completed at remote site
due to lack of information from the central Business
location.
Market opportunity for mobile computing:
3

Market forecast for mobile devices,
applications and services.
The total revenues for healthcare mobile
devices, applications and services were approximately
$50 million in 2002. This market is anticipated to grow
significantly with a compound annual growth rate of 120
percent to $1.2 billion in 2006
Challenges in mobile computing:
Wireless and mobile environments bring
different challenges to users and service providers when
compared to fixed, wired networks. Physical constraints
become much more important, such as device weight,
battery power, screen size, portability, quality of radio
transmission, error rates. Mobility brings additional
uncertainties, as well as opportunities to provide new
services and supplementary information to users in the
locations where they find themselves.
The major challenges in mobile computing
are described including: low bandwidth, high error rate,
power restrictions, security, limited capabilities,
disconnection and problems due to client mobility.
 Low Bandwidth
Wireless networks deliver lower bandwidth
than wired networks. As a result, mobile applications
have to be carefully designed to control the bandwidth
consumption. Software techniques required to improve
effective bandwidth usage include data compression
logging requests to combine multiple short ones, lazy
write back, difference-based updates, caching,
perfecting, usage of proxy, priority scheduling, etc.
 High Error Rate
The network quality varies as the mobile
computer moves across the heterogeneous network
connections. The wireless environment exhibits higher
error rates, which results in retransmission and affects
the Quality of Service. By minimizing the usage of
wireless transmission, the data is less exposed to
transmission errors. In addition, error correction schemes
can be employed to improve performance. However,
these schemes also add to the communication overhead
and reduce the usable bandwidth.
 Power Limitations
Mobile computers are concerned with the
limited power supply, an issue that does not appear in
distributed wired environment. Hardware improvements
on batteries can help to lengthen the life of a charge and
reduce battery weight. In addition, efficient software
operations can help to lower the power consumption.
Examples include: shifting the processing to a fixed host,
aggressively caching and perfecting data to reduce disk
traffic, and transmitting less data while receiving more
Security
Security and privacy are of specific
concerns in wireless communication because of the ease
of connecting to the wireless link anonymously.
Common problems are impersonation, denial of service
and tapping. The main technique used is encryption. In
personal profiles of users are used to restrict access to the
mobile units.
 Limited Capabilities
Unlike stationary computers, mobile
computers are smaller in physical size and have smaller
storage capacity. PDA’s like Infopad and ParcTab are
designed to have extreme portability and provide
ubiquitous information access. However, their
applications rely heavily on the interoperability of the
pads and other servers. Even ordinary laptops typically
have less RAM and smaller hard disks than stationary
computers.
To overcome these limitations, some useful
techniques are proposed including: Compressing file
systems, accessing remote storage over the network,
sharing code libraries and compressing virtual memory
pages. In addition, the user interface has to be designed
to adapt to the small screen size of the portable
computers.
Mobility
There are two types of mobility described:
(a) mobility of clients and (b) mobility of resources.
Mobility of clients raises the issues of
unique naming of the clients and finding their current
locations. Unlike stationary computers, where
information on location is configured statically mobile
computers have to configure information dynamically
Mobility of resources addresses this problem. When a
mobile host moves into a new cell or administrative
domain, it has to discover the resources available there.
At the same time, any server that needs to communicate
with the mobile host has to identify its new location.
Location transparency should be provided to the mobile
applications by the underlying runtime system so that the
users are not aware of the effects of mobility.
One of mobile computing technology, Zigbee:
What is Zigbee?
Zigbee is a wireless networking standard
that is aimed at remote control and sensor applications
which is suitable for operation in harsh radio
environments and in isolated locations. It builds on IEEE
standard 802.15.4 which defines the physical and MAC
layers. Above this, Zigbee defines the application and
security layer specifications enabling interoperability
between products from different manufacturers. In this
way Zigbee is a superset of the 802.15.4 specification.
4
 The 802.15.4 standard is primarily aiming
at monitoring and control applications. Low power
consumption is the most important feature that makes
battery operated devices operates for a long time[2]. The
amount of data throughput (bandwidth) is relatively low
compared to wireless LAN for example, but with
250kbps for many applications more than enough. The
distance between 2 nodes can be up to 50 meters but be
aware the each node can relay data to the next making a
very big network, covering significant distances, possible
Hardware (Physical and MAC layers):

The 2.4GHz frequency band is a license

free band, so a ZigBee product may be used all over the
world. All current products seem to be using the 2.4GHz
band at the moment. Take a look at the next table for a
few differences between the bands:

Frequency 868 MHz 915 MHz 2.4GHz

In all bands DSSS (Direct sequence Bandwidth 20 kbps 40 kbps 250 kbps
spread spectrum) is used. 868 and 915 MHz are using Nr. of
Binary Phase Shift Keying and 2.4GHz uses O-QPSK 1 10 16
channels
(Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying). Like in any
network data is transmitted in packets. ZigBee's packets
have a maximum size of 128 bytes including protocol
overhead. In total there is room for a maximum of 104
bytes. For real time features, ZigBee has the possibility
to define high priority messages. This is achieved by use
of a guaranteed timeslot mechanism so that the high
priority messages can be send as fast as possible. ZigBee
uses 2 kinds of addressing. There is a 64 bit IEEE
address that can be compared to the IP address on the
internet. There is also a 16 bit short address.
The ZigBee upper layers
The layers above that what 802.15.4
specifies is what we call the ZigBee standard (look above
for a graphical overview). Many aspect of the network
are specified in this layer, like: Application profiles,
security settings and the messaging. ZigBee is known
because of its mesh network architecture but it does also
support a star topology or cluster tree or hybrid
architecture[3]. Depending on the application or situation
each kind of topology has its own advantages and
disadvantages.
A star topology is very simple, all
nodes directly communicate with one central node (like a
star...). The mesh topology is more complicated, each
node may communicate with any other node within
range.
It's easy to understand that this gives
many possible routes through the network; this makes it
a very robust topology because bad performing routes
can be ignored.
The cluster tree topology is basically a combination of Figure 1: Layers in Zigbee
star and mesh.
Why choose ZigBee?

• Reliable and self healing

• Supports large number of nodes
• Easy to deploy
• Very long battery life
• Secure
• Low cost
• Can be used globally

5
APPLICATIONS OF ZIGBEE:
Zigbee protocols are intended for use in embedded
applications requiring low data rates and low power
consumption. ZigBee's current focus is to define a
general-purpose, inexpensive, self-organizing, mesh
network that can be used for industrial control,
embedded sensing, medical data collection, smoke and
intruder warning, building automation, home automation,
etc.
Merits:
The benefits of automating data collection
applications with mobile computing are the reduction of
hard and soft costs, enhancement of revenue potential,
and a distinct competitive advantage through:
• Improving the data collection process
• Improving data accuracy
• Reducing paperwork
• Enforcing collection of more
complete information
• Facilitating collection of more useful
information
• Eliminating redundant data entry
• Reducing administrative costs
• Reducing billing errors
• Reducing data backlog
• Improving information flow
• Allowing faster adaptation to
changing business conditions
• Increasing responsiveness and
customer satisfaction
• Providing access to previously
unavailable information
Demerits
The demerits of the mobile computing are
discussed as follows:
 Information access via a mobile
device is plagued by low available bandwidth, poor
connection maintenance, poor security, and addressing
problems. Unlike their wired counterparts, design of
software for mobile devices must consider resource
limitation, battery power and display size. Consequently,
new hardware and software techniques must be
developed. For example, applications need to be highly
optimized for space, in order to fit in the limited memory
on the mobile devices.
 Mobility brings additional
uncertainties, as well as opportunities to provide new
services and supplementary information to users in the
locations where they find themselves. In general, most
application software, operating systems, and network
infrastructures are intended for more conventional
environments, and so the mobile, wireless user has great
difficulty exploiting the computational infrastructure as
fully as he or she might. There is an emerging consensus
among researchers that a new architecture and dynamic
infrastructure is an appropriate way to address this
problem.
 Day by day as the standard of the
mobile computing is increasing the boons of mobile
computing are changing to banes. Eg: The most deadly
terrorist attack occurred on sept 11, 2001.
Applications:
New technical and application
developments have established that mobile systems can
be a cost-effective, efficient, and productive solution in
several different types of application environments. They
are:- a new generation of satellites, especially Low-Earth
Orbit systems (LEOS) are under development with the
Internet in mind. Companies like Teledesic and
Orbcomm are actively promoting Internet access.
Vertical industries where mobile technology has already
been successfully adopted include Consumer Goods,
Delivery and Route Sales, Government, Healthcare,
Market Research, Pharmaceuticals, Transportation, and
Utilities.
• Consumer Good: Typical applications include
inventory, merchandising, order entry, and
sales automation. Features found in these
applications usually provide access to stock
and pricing information, monitor promotions,
and perform shelf space analysis including
number of facings and product age. Customer
detail helps reps to act more as consultants than
order takers.
• Delivery & Route Sales: With fierce
competition and an increasing inventory,
having timely and accurate information is more
important than ever.
• Government: Applications center on
assessments, inspections, and work orders.
Most of these applications involve auditing
some sort of facility or process (food service,
restaurant, nursing home, child care, schools,
commercial and residential buildings).
• Healthcare: The focus in this industry has
been on automating patient records, medication
dispension, and sample collection. A common
goal is to leverage mobile computing in the
implementation of positive patient
identification.
• Taxi/Truck Dispatch: Using the idea of a
centrally controlled dispatcher with several
mobile units (taxis), mobile computing allows
the taxis to be given full details of the
dispatched job as well as allowing the taxis to
communicate information about their
whereabouts back to the central dispatch office.
This system is also extremely useful in secure
deliveries i.e Securicor.
6
 Major Trends in Computing

Indeed, technologies such as Interactive

Taxi Dispatch Network television and Video Image Compression already
imply a certain degree of mobility in the home, i.e. home
shopping etc. Using the mobile data communication
• Utilities. Eliminating the rekeying of data and technologies discussed, this mobility may be pushed to
providing a means to perform on site analysis extreme.
are instrumental to an industry that is required The future of Mobile Computing is very
to perform inspections on a routine basis. promising indeed, although technology may go too far,
causing detriment to society.
THE FUTURE:
Conclusion:
With the rapid technological
Mobile computing is rapidly becoming
advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Integrated
popular, and user demand for useful wireless applications
Circuitry and increases in Computer Processor speeds,
is increasing. Additionally, this paper shows how these
the future of mobile computing looks increasingly
behavioral extensions serve as a powerful abstraction for
exciting.
practical systems.
With the emphasis increasingly on
In this paper, we have looked at issues
compact, small mobile computers, it may also be
related to portable devices, merits, demerits and
possible to have all the practicality of a mobile computer
applications in mobile environment. Because of the
in the size of a hand held organizer or even smaller.
banes of mobile computing the security level should be
Use of Artificial Intelligence may allow
improved.
mobile units to be the ultimate in personal secretaries,
ZigBee is all set to provide the consumers
which can receive emails and paging messages,
with ultimate flexibility, mobility, and ease of use by
understand what they are about, and change the
building wireless intelligence and capabilities into every
individual’s personal schedule according to the message.
day devices. ZigBee technology will be embedded in a
This can then be checked by the individual to plan
wide range of products and applications across
his/her day.
consumer, commercial, industrial and government
The working lifestyle will change, with
markets worldwide. For the first time, companies will
the majority of people working from home, rather than
have a standards-based wireless platform optimized for
commuting. This may be beneficial to the environment
the unique needs of remote monitoring and control
as less transportation will be utilized. This mobility
applications, including simplicity, reliability, low-cost
aspect may be carried further in that, even in social
and low-power.
spheres, people will interact via mobile stations,
eliminating the need to venture outside of the house.
This scary concept of a world full of
REFERENCES:
inanimate zombies sitting, locked to their mobile
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zig\wireless-zigbee\ZigBee - Wikipedia, the
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zig\wireless-zigbee\What is ZigBee.htm-
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