Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Labels: Mobile Computing
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 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 are explained.
Introduction
What is mobile computing?
A view on portable devices.
§ Distinction between "wireless" and "mobile."
§ Mobile Devices
§ Challenges in mobile computing
§ Merits and Demerits
§ Applications
§ Conclusion
§ Bibliography
Introduction
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.
Ubiquitous computing and nomadic computing are synonymous with mobile computing. Mobile computing helps users to be productive immediately by reducing the training requirements associated with traditional automated data collection methods and provides a higher level of portability than keyboard-based systems.
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. By using a stylus to replace the keyboard, mobile computers are turning thousands of computer illiterate people especially those involved with field-based data collection into computer users. The market potential 
and breadth of application requirements for mobile computing has prompted numerous hardware and software companies to focus their efforts in providing solutions to the vertical, form-oriented marketplace.
Distinction between "wireless" and "mobile."
Wireless refers to the method of transferring information between computing devices, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), and
a data source, such as an agency database server, without a physical connection. Not all wireless communications technologies are mobile. For example, lasers are used in wireless data transfer between buildings, but cannot be used in mobile communications at this time.
Ø Mobile devices
Here we have 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
Laptops are typically used and supported in the same way as desktop PCs. In fact, many organizations have replaced desktops with their portable cousins, as the workforce has grown increasingly mobile.
PDA’s, however, are the least planned for and supported devices. They are undergoing rapid evolution and are being brought into organizations in the same way the earliest PCs were. That is, adventurous early adopters buy the devices for their personal use and then ask IT departments to integrate the devices into the corporate IT environment.
Smart phones that allow users to access phone calls, two-way radio transmissions, and paging and data transmissions on one device are also finding applications in hospitals and other situations that have intense and constant need for time sensitive communications.
Pagers that support one- and two-way text messaging are also used in similar situations. Third party vendors most often provide support for these devices.
Task devices such as the parcel tracking devices used by Federal Express (FedEx) and the United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery personnel are most often bought as part of a complete system from a third-party vendor. Because they are frequently mission-critical, most corporations support task devices as rigorously as desktop computers.
Bluetooth:- A short-range wireless standard that specifies radio connections between devices within a 10-meter range of each other. Bluetooth is designed as a Personal Area Network (PAN, or WPAN for "Wireless Personal Area Network") technology with a wide variety of theoretical uses.
Bridge:- A device that connects two local-area networks (LANs), or two segments of the same LAN. Bridges simply forward packets from one segment to another without analyzing or routing messages. This allows them to connect dissimilar networks (e.g., a bridge can connect an Ethernet and Token-Ring network).
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