E.G.

S PILLAY ENGINEERING COLLEGE – NAGAPATTINAM

DEPARTMENT OF IT
OPEN ELECTIVE - MOBILE COMPUTING - 1902IT602

Introduction – UNIT 1
❖ Mobile Computing
➢ Mobile Computing Vs Wireless Networking
➢ Applications
➢ Characteristics
➢ Structure
❖ MAC Protocols
➢ Wireless MAC Issues
➢ Fixed Assignment Schemes
➢ Random Assignment Schemes
➢ Reservation Based Schemes
Mobile computing
• Mobile Computing is a technology that allows transmission of data, voice and
video via a computer or any other wireless enabled device without having to be
connected to a fixed physical link.
• Mobile Computing is the use of portable computing devices conjunction with
mobile communications technologies to enable users to access the Internet and
data on their home or work computers from anywhere in the world.
• It provides decentralized (distributed) computations on diversified devices, systems,
and networks, which are mobile, synchronized, and interconnected via mobile
communication standards and protocols.
The main concept involves
➢ Mobile communication
➢ Mobile hardware
➢ Mobile software
Mobile communication
• It refers to a form of communications which does not depend on a physical
connection between the sender and receiver.
• These would include devices such as protocols, services, bandwidth, and portals
necessary to facilitate and support the stated services.
• That is, the signals are carried over the air to intended devices that are capable of
receiving and sending similar kinds of signals.

• the devices are fixed at a position, and they are connected through a physical link
to communicate with other devices. (Desktop Computer.)
• the devices are fixed at a position, and they are connected through a wireless link
to make communication with other devices.(WiFi router)
 • some devices are wired, and some are mobile. They altogether make communication
with other devices.(Laptops)
• 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.(WiFi Dongle.)
Mobile Hardware
• Mobile hardware includes mobile devices or device components that receive or
access the service of mobility. They would range from portable laptops, smart
phones, tablet Pc's, Personal Digital Assistants(PDA).
• These devices will have a receptor medium that is capable of sensing and receiving
signals. These devices are configured to operate in full- duplex, whereby they are
capable of sending and receiving signals at the same time.
Mobile software :
• Mobile software is the actual program that runs on the mobile hardware. It deals
with the characteristics and requirements of mobile applications. This is the engine of
the mobile device. In other terms, it is the operating system of the appliance. It's the
essential component that operates the mobile device.

Advantages of Mobile Computing :

• Location Flexibility
• Saves Time
• Enhanced Productivity
• Ease of Research
• Entertainment
• Streamlining of Business Processes
Disadvantages of Mobile Computing
• Quality of Connectivity
• Security Concerns
• Power Consumption
CHARACTERISTICS OF MOBILE COMPUTING
• Portability - The Ability to move a device within a learning environment or to
different environments with ease.
• Social Interactivity - The ability to share data and collaboration between users.
• Context Sensitivity - The ability to gather and respond to real or simulated data
unique to a current location, environment, or time.
 • Connectivity - The ability to be digitally connected for the purpose of communication
of data in any environment.
• Individual - The ability to use the technology to provide scaffolding on difficult
activities and lesson customization for individual learners.

• Programming languages are used for mobile system software. Operating system
functions to run the software components onto the hardware. Middleware
components deployment. Layered structure arrangement of mobile computing
components is used. Protocols and layers are used for transmission and reception
Programming Languages :
• C and C++
• Visual C++
• Visual Basic
• Java - J2SE.
• J2ME (Java2 Micro edition)
• JavaCard (Java for smart card)
Operating System:
❖ Symbian OS, Window CE, Mac OS are the operating systems used in
Mobile computing applications.
❖ It offers the user to run an application without considering the hardware
specifications and functionalities.
❖ It provides functions which are used for scheduling the multiple tasks in a system.
It provides the functions required for the synchronization of multiple tasks in the
system.
 ❖ It uses multiple threads synchronization and priority allocation. Management
functions (such as creation, activation, deletion, suspension, and delay) are used
for tasks and memory.
❖ It provides Interfaces for communication between software components at the
application layer, middleware layers, and hardware devices.
❖ It facilitates the execution of software components on diversified hardware
❖ It provides Configurable libraries for the GUI (graphic user interface) in the device.
❖ It provides User application‘s GUIs, VUI (voice user interface) components, and
phone API.
❖ It provides the device drivers for the keyboard, display, USB, and other devices.
Middleware :
• Software components that link the application components with the network-
distributed components.
• It is used to discover the nearby device such as Bluetooth. It is used to discover the
nearby hot spot for achieving device synchronization with the server or an enterprise
server.
• It is used for retrieving data (which may be in Oracle or DB2) from a network
database. It is used for service discovery at network.
• It is used for adaptation of the application to the platform and service availability

Architecture of Mobile Computing Applications :

• Client/server architecture (and its variants) is often adopted for this kind of
applications. However we have to take into consideration some specific aspects
related to the mobile devices (clients), and their connectivity with servers.
Clients :
• There are many mobile device types, including RIM devices, cellular telephones,
PDAs, Tablet, PCs, and Laptop PCs. These mobile devices can typically operate as
thin clients or fat clients, or they can be developed so that they can host web pages
STRUCTURE OF MOBILE APPLICATION :
• It is structured based on the functionality implementations
• Most of them are 3 tier architecture

Presentation layer:
➢ Top most level of mobile computing application.
➢ Good user interface that is responsible to produces the results in a meaningful manner.
➢ Run on client side.
➢ Compatible with browser and customized client application.
• Eg : amazon, flipkart
Application layer:
Data layer :

MAC PROTOCALS :
Protocols :
• It is a set of rules that need to be followed by the communicating parties in order to
have successful and reliable data communication.

Ex: Internet, Intranet, LAN

• Each protocols has its own method of how data is formatted when sent and what to do
with it once received, how that data is compressed or how to check for errors in data.

MAC:

• Medium access control protocol designed by engineers at data link level.

 • The data link layer is used in a computer network to transmit the data between two
devices or nodes. It divides the layer into parts such as data link control and
the multiple access resolution/protocol. The upper layer has the responsibility to
flow control and the error control in the data link layer, and hence it is termed
as logical of data link control. Whereas the lower sub-layer is used to handle and
reduce the collision or multiple access on a channel. Hence it is termed as media
access control or the multiple access resolutions.
• When a sender and receiver have a dedicated link to transmit data packets, the data
link control is enough to handle the channel. Suppose there is no dedicated path to
communicate or transfer the data between two devices. In that case, multiple stations
access the channel and simultaneously transmits the data over the channel. It
may create collision and cross talk. Hence, the multiple access protocol is
required to reduce the collision and avoid crosstalk between the channels.

Wireless MAC Protocols issue :

• There are several issues related to MAC protocols that can affect the performance of
wireless networks.
❖ Hidden Node Problem
❖ Exposed Node Problem
Hidden Node problem
• Also known as Hidden Station Problem
• When two stations hidden from each other i.e., not in range of each other send signals
to third station at the same considering third station is free. It causes collision at third
station and is known as Hidden Station Problem. It reduces capacity of network
due to possibility of collision.

How HSP is created?

How HSP is created?
In the above shown diagram, station B and C both covers station A in their own range. Each
station B and C can send data to station A separately. Both stations B and C are outside of range
of each other. Suppose station B is sending data to station A and in middle of transmission
station C also has to send data to station A. Since station B and station C are out of each other
range therefore station C thinks that station A is free. Station C send data to station A and
collision occurs at station A.

How to prevent HSP?

Hidden Station Problem (HSP) can be prevented by using handshake frames.

• In the below shown diagram, RTS (request to send )message from B reaches A but not
C. However, both B and C are within range of A. CTS(clear to send) message containing
duration of data transmission from B to A, reaches C. Thus C knows some hidden
station is using channel and does not transmit until that duration is over.

EXPOSED TERMINAL PROBLEM :

• the exposed terminal problem is a transmission problem that arises when a transmitting
station is prevented from sending frames due to interference with another transmitting
station. This is prevalent in decentralized systems where there aren’t any entity for
controlling transmissions. This occurs when a station is visible from a wireless access
point (AP), but not from other stations that communicate with the AP.

Problem Illustration

• Suppose that there are four stations labelled STA, STB, STC, and STD, where STB
and STC are transmitters while STA and STD are receivers at some slot of time.
The stations are in a configuration such that the two receivers STA and STD are out
of radio range of each other, but the two transmitters STB and STC are in radio
range of each other.
 • The above diagram shows that a transmission is going on from STB to STA. STC falsely
concludes that the above transmission will cause interference and so stops its
transmission attempts to STD. However, the interference would not have occurred since
the transmission from STC to STD is out of range of STB. This prevention of
transmission is called exposed terminal problem.

Fixed Assignment Schemes

• It is also called as circuit switched scheme.
• The resources or channel is shared by nodes based on TIME, FREQUENCY,
CODE
• TYPES :
➢ TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
➢ FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)
➢ CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
TDMA :
• Time Division Multiple Access

• the communication channel is divided into fixed time slots, and each device is assigned
a specific time slot for its transmissions. This ensures that each device gets a fair share
of the channel and reduces the likelihood of collisions.

• It 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.

• TDMA technology was more popular in Europe, Japan and Asian countries
 • CDMA is widely used in North and South America. But now a days both technologies
are very popular through out of the world

Advantages of TDMA :
• TDMA can easily adapt to transmission of data as well as voice communication.
• TDMA has an ability to carry 64 kbps to 120 Mbps of data rates.
• TDMA allows the operator to do services like fax, voice band data, and SMS as well as
bandwidth-intensive application such as multimedia and video conferencing.
Disadvantages of TDMA:
• Disadvantage using TDMA technology is that the users has a predefined time slot.
When moving from one cell site to other, if all the time slots in this cell are full the user
might be disconnected.
• Another problem in TDMA is that it is subjected to multipath distortion. To overcome
this distortion, a time limit can be used on the system. Once the time limit is expired
the signal is ignored.
FDMA :
• Frequency Division Multiple Access

• The communication channel is divided into fixed frequency channels, and each device
is assigned a specific frequency channel for its transmissions. This ensures that each
device gets a dedicated frequency band and reduces the likelihood of interference.

• It is often used in the first generation of analog mobile phone.

CDMA

• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a digital wireless technology that uses
spread-spectrum techniques. CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user.
Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum.

• Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence. CDMA

consistently provides better capacity for voice and data communications than other
commercial mobile technologies, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given
time, and it is the common platform on which 3G technologies are built.

Advantages
• Increased user capacity is an advantage of the CDMA as it supports a lot more users
in comparison to TDMA or FDMA.
• CDMA is more secure as the information transmitted is below the noise floor making
the intrusion of the spectrum difficult.
• CDMA systems have comparatively fewer dropouts than GSM. Thus, it can also be
used in rural areas.
• The cost of the calls in CDMA is lower in comparison to the cost in GSM.
 • CDMA provides a high quality of voice with almost no noise during the calls.
• Using CDMA problems like multipath and fading do not occur.
• CDMA has a very low power requirement.
Disadvantages
• CDMA lacks the facility of international roaming which is provided by GSM.
• Since there is no limit to the number of users the system performance degrades with
an increase in the number of users.
• Self-jamming problem occurs in CDMA systems because of loss of orthogonality.
• The problem of channel pollution occurs in CDMA systems which thus degrades the
quality of audio.
• Since most of the mobile companies use GSM thus there is a lack of handsets for
CDMA technology.

RANDOM ASSIGNMENT SCHEMES

• Random Assignment Schemes are comparable to the connection-less packet-
switching schemes. In this, no resource reservations are made, the nodes simply
start to transmit as soon as they have a packet to send.
some random assignment schemes.
❖ ALOHA
❖ CSMA
❖ CSMA/CD
❖ CSMA/CA
ALOHA
• It is designed for wireless LAN (Local Area Network) but can also be used in a shared
medium to transmit data. Using this method, any station can transmit data across a
network simultaneously when a data frameset is available for transmission.
• Aloha Rules
1. Any station can transmit data to a channel at any time.
2. It does not require any carrier sensing.
3. Collision and data frames may be lost during the transmission of data through
multiple stations.
4. Acknowledgment of the frames exists in Aloha. Hence, there is no collision detection.
5. It requires retransmission of data after some random amount of time.
Pure Aloha
• Whenever data is available for sending over a channel at stations, we use Pure Aloha.
In pure Aloha, when each station transmits data to a channel without checking whether
the channel is idle or not, the chances of collision may occur, and the data frame can be
lost.

• When any station transmits the data frame to a channel, the pure Aloha waits for the
receiver's acknowledgment. If it does not acknowledge the receiver end within the
specified time, the station waits for a random amount of time, called the backoff time
(Tb). And the station may assume the frame has been lost or destroyed. Therefore, it
retransmits the frame until all the data are successfully transmitted to the receiver.

Slotted Aloha:

• The slotted Aloha is designed to overcome the pure Aloha's efficiency because pure
Aloha has a very high possibility of frame hitting. In slotted Aloha, the shared channel
is divided into a fixed time interval called slots. So that, if a station wants to send a
frame to a shared channel, the frame can only be sent at the beginning of the slot,
and only one frame is allowed to be sent to each slot. And if the stations are unable
to send data to the beginning of the slot, the station will have to wait until the
beginning of the slot for the next time. However, the possibility of a collision remains
when trying to send a frame at the beginning of two or more station time slot.

CSMA

• It is a carrier sense multiple access based on media access protocol to sense the
traffic on a channel (idle or busy) before transmitting the data. It means that if the
channel is idle, the station can send data to the channel. Otherwise, it must wait until
 the channel becomes idle. Hence, it reduces the chances of a collision on a
transmission medium.

CSMA Access Modes

❖ 1-Persistent

❖ Non-Persistent

❖ P-Persistent

❖ O- Persistent

❖ 1-Persistent: In the 1-Persistent mode of CSMA that defines each node, first sense the
shared channel and if the channel is idle, it immediately sends the data. Else it must
wait and keep track of the status of the channel to be idle and broadcast the frame
unconditionally as soon as the channel is idle.

❖ Non-Persistent: It is the access mode of CSMA that defines before transmitting the
data, each node must sense the channel, and if the channel is inactive, it
immediately sends the data. Otherwise, the station must wait for a random time
(not continuously), and when the channel is found to be idle, it transmits the frames.

❖ P-Persistent: It is the combination of 1-Persistent and Non-persistent modes. The

P-Persistent mode defines that each node senses the channel, and if the channel is
inactive, it sends a frame with a P probability. If the data is not transmitted, it waits for
a (q = 1-p probability) random time and resumes the frame with the next time slot.

❖ O- Persistent: It is an O-persistent method that defines the superiority of the station

before the transmission of the frame on the shared channel. If it is found that the
channel is inactive, each station waits for its turn to retransmit the data.
CSMA/ CD

• It is a carrier sense multiple access/ collision detection network protocol to transmit

data frames. The CSMA/CD protocol works with a medium access control layer.
Therefore, it first senses the shared channel before broadcasting the frames, and if
the channel is idle, it transmits a frame to check whether the transmission was
successful.

• If the frame is successfully received, the station sends another frame. If any collision
is detected in the CSMA/CD, the station sends a jam/ stop signal to the shared
channel to terminate data transmission. After that, it waits for a random time before
sending a frame to a channel.

CSMA/ CA

• It is a carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance network protocol for carrier

transmission of data frames. It is a protocol that works with a medium access control
layer. When a data frame is sent to a channel, it receives an acknowledgment to
check whether the channel is clear.

• If the station receives only a single (own) acknowledgments, that means the data
frame has been successfully transmitted to the receiver. But if it gets two signals (its
own and one more in which the collision of frames), a collision of the frame occurs in
 the shared channel. Detects the collision of the frame when a sender receives an
acknowledgment signal.

Reservation Based Scheme:

• In the reservation schemes, a node makes explicit reservation of the channel for an
entire call before transmitting. This is analogous to a connection based packet-
switching scheme.

• reservation-based MAC schemes are suitable to handle calls with widely varying traffic
characteristics.

❖ Polling

➢ Polling cycle

➢ Roll call polling

➢ Hub polling

❖ Token bus

Polling

• Polling is the process where the computer or controlling device waits for an external
device to check for its readiness or state, often with low-level hardware.

• For example, when a printer is connected via a parallel port, the computer waits until
the printer has received the next character. These processes can be as minute as only
reading one bit.

• Polling is sometimes used synonymously with busy-wait polling. In this situation, when
an I/O operation is required, the computer does nothing other than check the status of
the I/O device until it is ready, at which point the device is accessed. In other words,
the computer waits until the device is ready. Polling also refers to the situation where a
device is repeatedly checked for readiness, and if it is not, the computer returns to a
different task. Although not as wasteful of CPU cycles as busy waiting, this is generally
not as efficient as the alternative to polling, interrupt-driven I/O.
Algorithm

Polling can be described in following steps:

1. The host repeatedly reads the busy bit of the controller until it becomes clear.
2. When clear, the host writes in the command register and writes a byte into the data-out
register.
3. The host sets the command-ready bit (set to 1).
4. When the controller senses command-ready bit is set, it sets busy bit.
5. The controller reads the command register and since write bit is set, it performs
necessary I/O operations on the device. If the read bit is set to one instead of write bit,
data from device is loaded into data-in register, which is further read by the host.
6. The controller clears the command-ready bit once everything is over, it clears error bit
to show successful operation and reset busy bit (0).
• A polling cycle is the time in which each element is monitored once. The optimal
polling cycle will vary according to several factors, including the desired speed of
response and the overhead (e.g., processor time and bandwidth) of the polling.

• In roll call polling, the polling device or process queries each element on a list in a
fixed sequence. Because it waits for a response from each element, a timing mechanism
is necessary to prevent lock-ups caused by non-responding elements. Roll call polling
can be inefficient if the overhead for the polling messages is high, there are numerous
elements to be polled in each polling cycle and only a few elements are active.

• In hub polling, also referred to as token polling, each element polls the next element in
some fixed sequence. This continues until the first element is reached, at which time
the polling cycle starts all over again.

• Polling can be employed in various computing contexts in order to control the execution
or transmission sequence of the elements involved. For example, in multitasking
operating systems, polling can be used to allocate processor time and other resources
to the various competing processes. In networks, polling is used to determine which
nodes want to access the network. It is also used by routing protocols to retrieve routing
information, as is the case with EGP (exterior gateway protocol).

• An alternative to polling is the use of interrupts, which are signals generated by devices
or processes to indicate that they need attention, want to communicate, etc. Although
polling can be very simple, in many situations (e.g., multitasking operating systems) it
is more efficient to use interrupts because it can reduce processor usage and/or
bandwidth consumption.
Token Bus :

• Token Bus is described in the IEEE 802.4 specification, and is a Local Area Network
(LAN) in which the stations on the bus or tree form a logical ring. Each station is
assigned a place in an ordered sequence, with the last station in the sequence being
followed by the first, as shown below. Each station knows the address of the station to
its "left" and "right" in the sequence.

• This type of network, like a Token Ring network, employs a small data frame only a
few bytes in size, known as a token, to grant individual stations exclusive access to the
network transmission medium. Token-passing networks are deterministic in the way
that they control access to the network, with each node playing an active role in the
process. When a station acquires control of the token, it is allowed to transmit one or
more data frames, depending on the time limit imposed by the network.
Token Bus Network

• When the station has finished using the token to transmit data, or the time limit has
expired, it relinquishes control of the token, which is then available to the next station
in the logical sequence. When the ring is initialized, the station with the highest number
in the sequence has control of the token. The physical topology of the network is either
a bus or a tree, although the order in which stations are connected to the network is not
important.