Introduction To Mobile Computing

GSM 522

G Krishnamurthy Sep 14-21 2012

Session Plan
The Vision of Mobile Computing Going Beyond Mobile Computing: An Idea of Pervasive Computing Wireless Infrastructure Mobile Processors Mobile Protocols References and Reading

The Computer In The 21st Century

The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it
Mark Weiser The Computer In the 21st Century, Scientific American 1991

Forms of Computing In the 21st Century

Wireless Computing Nomadic Computing Mobile Computing Ubiquitous Computing Pervasive Computing Invisible Computing

Distributed Computing (Client/Server)

Nomadic, Mobile & Ubiquitous

No Network

Fixed Network

Fixed Wireless Network

Wireless Network (A)

Wireless Network (B)

Nomadic Computing

Mobile Computing

Ubiquitous Computing

Beneficiaries of Ubiquitous Computing

Internet

Intranet

Commuters Travelers Stock traders Medical Law enforcement Package delivery Education Insurance Emergency Trucking Intelligence Military

Adhoc network

Servers

Clients

Characteristics of Mobile Computing

Mobile Networking improving performance and security in TCP networks, mobile IP and ad hoc protocols Mobile Information Access bandwidthadaptive file access, control over data consistency Adaptive Applications managing adaptive resources System-level energy saving techniques for processor and memory Location Sensitivity location sensing and location-aware behavior

Example - Mobile Information Access

Consider the following set of simple scenarios:
Scenario 1: A set of students enter a class with their teacher. The problem is to mark attendance for all the students and the teacher and assign different rights to the two categories. Scenario 2: Teachers have the right to initiate a class session, download data, look at student assignments et al. Students have far greater restrictions on looking at other peoples assignments.

Example - Mobile Information Access

Consider the following set of simple scenarios:
Scenario 3: Students in class have upto 1 MB of download ability during the session. Unless authorized by the teacher, this cannot be changed. Teachers could have upto 1 GB of download ability for any session.

Example Adaptive Applications

Consider the following example of an adaptive application Scenario: I am working desperately at an airport to complete an assignment against time. I am downloading files from the Internet and then uploading completed files to the desired website. Suddenly, the app at the airport gets back asking me when I need to complete.

Example Adaptive Applications

Based on my response, the app suggests that I move from my gate, which is loaded with passengers to the next gate, which is free and likely to remain so for the next 2 hours. My download and upload speeds increase dramatically. After I finish, I return to my gate.

Example Location Sensitivity

Location sensitivity uses apps that depend upon the location of people or instruments Background: Classes in SLT mode today require the instructor to sit at one place and talk. That is not what happens in a regular classroom. Scenario: The idea is that the camera tracks me regularly, along with the background and keeps that image in focus.

Going Beyond Mobile Computing Context-Aware Applications

The idea behind context-aware applications is two-fold:
Understand what the user is doing now Understand the type of distractions that he may have

The work that a user is doing now is his/ her primary activity

Going Beyond Mobile Computing Context-Aware Applications

The distractions a user may have are:
Snap: does not interrupt primary work, e.g. looking at the watch Pause: when we stop the primary activity, handle the related activity, and then resume e.g. while driving, pull over to the side for directions Tangent: when we pull over to the side of a road to handle a call; could be of medium duration Extended: when we pull over for a meal, hence an extended activity

Going Beyond Mobile Computing Context-Aware Applications

Many apps could qualify as context-aware
Meeting reminders, especially when the meeting time draws near If location-awareness is there, then the meeting reminder would automatically remind you in time for you to reach the location of the meeting Handle help desk queries such as Where is the nearest ATM?

Going Beyond Mobile Computing Cyber-Foraging

The big problem that we often face is that the most useful apps for a mobile are the least likely to be available
If I am in a foreign country, an app that handles voice recognition and automatic translation would be ideal A great idea for medical databases would be to have a computer scan an Alzheimers patient and turn up his/ her address from a local database

Going Beyond Mobile Computing Cyber-Foraging

However, all these apps need a lot of hardware and software, which outstrips the requirement of a mobile To implement cyber foraging, we need three steps
The mobile device must locate a server The device must establish a trust relation Finally, the app must be partitioned so as to execute efficiently on local and remote machines

Going Beyond Mobile Computing Invisibility

The user interface is such that there are no unpleasant surprises thrown up. That would result in total lack of distraction, i.e. complete invisibility Given the way our systems are created, there is a lot of distraction presently.

Application: Microsoft Intellimirror

Have we started using some of the tools already discussed? Yes, let us consider Microsoft Intellimirror
Manages user data Manages user settings Handles software installation and maintenance

Implemented by MS Active Directory Available in MS Server 2000 and Windows 7

Class Exercise (Group)

Please look up the usage of Intellimirror in Windows 7 and Windows Vista from the MS website (or elsewhere) and summarize its advantages and disadvantages in 2 or 3 slides, or in upto 300 words Check if you can find any applications of Intellimirror on your laptop Time allotted = 30 minutes

Wireless Infrastructure

Wireless Infrastructure

Global Satellite

Suburban
Urban In-Building

Micro-Cell Macro-Cell

Pico-Cell dik

In-Room (BlueTooth)

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecomm. Standard

Global seamless operation in multi-cell environment (SAT, macro, micro, pico) Global roaming: multi-mode, multi-band, low-cost terminal, portable services & QoS High data rates at different mobile speeds: 144kbps at vehicular speed (80km/h), 384 kbps at pedestrian speed, and 2Mbps indoor (office/home) Multimedia interface to the internet Based on core GSM
ITU

IMT

IMT-2000 FPLMTS

ETSI

SMG

UMTS

Wireless Network Convergence

2G/3G Mobility-Bandwidth Trade-off
Mobility
Global National
Regional Metropolitan

GSM
D-AMPS/IS-95

1-7 GHz 0.1-2 GHz

UMTS
0.1-2.3 GHz
2-4 GHz

Campus
Office Room DECT 10K 100K 1M 10M 100M 1G 20-50 GHz DECT

2-7 GHz WLAN

>2 GHz

Bandwidth

Today

Android

The iphone
MyVu

The iPad

Plastic Logic QUE

22Moo

Portable projectors

Limitations of the Mobile Environment

Limitations of the Wireless Network
heterogeneity of fragmented networks frequent disconnections limited communication bandwidth

Limitations Imposed by Mobility Limitations of the Mobile Computer

Frequent Disconnections
Handoff blank out (>1ms for most cellulars) Drained battery disconnection Battery recharge down time Voluntary disconnection (turned off to preserve battery power, also off overnight) Theft and damage (hostile environment) Roam-off disconnections

Limited Communication Bandwidth

Orders of magnitude slower than fixed network Higher transmission bit error rates (BER) Uncontrolled cell population
Difficult to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) Availability issues (admission control)

Asymmetric duplex bandwidth Limited communication bandwidth exacerbates the limitation of battery lifetime.

Limitations of the Mobile Computer

Short battery lifetime (max ~ 5 hours) Subject to theft and destruction => unreliable Highly unavailable (normally powered-off to conserve battery) Limited capability (display, memory, input devices, and disk space) Lack of de-facto general architecture: handhelds, communicators, laptops, and other devices

Limitations Imposed by Mobility

Lack of mobility-awareness by applications
inherently transparent programming model (object-, components-oriented, but not aspect-oriented) lack of environment test and set API support

Lack of mobility-awareness by the system

network: existing transport protocols are inefficient to use across heterogeneous mix of fixed/wireless networks session and presentation: inappropriate for the wireless environment and for mobility operating systems: lack of env. related conditions and signals client/server: unless changed, inappropriate and inefficient

Mobile Processors CISC vs RISC

Introduction
There are two fundamentally different ways of designing CPUs The CPU can be designed to have an instruction set with:
very basic instructions OR a wide range of complex instructions

RISC vs CISC
The reduced instruction set computer architecture can be highly optimised because the number of operations is small The overall transistor count can be corresponding low and the chip area small and hence low cost However to implement a line of a high level language may take many instructions
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RISC vs CISC
The complex instruction set computer architecture cannot easily be fine tuned It requires a high transistor count and a large chip size and a correspondingly higher cost However to implement a line of a high level language may only take one complex instruction

What is CISC
Complex Instruction Set Computer High level Instruction Set Executes several low level operations Ex: load, arithmetic operation, memory store

Features of CISC
Instructions can operate directly on memory Small number of general purpose registers Instructions take multiple clocks to execute Few lines of code per operation

What is RISC?
Reduced Instruction Set Computer RISC is a CPU design that recognizes only a limited number of instructions Simple instructions Instructions are executed quickly

Features of RISC

Reduced instruction set Executes a series of simple instruction instead of a complex instruction Instructions are executed within one clock cycle Incorporates a large number of general registers for arithmetic operations to avoid storing variables on a stack in memory Only the load and store instructions operate directly onto memory Pipelining = speed

Pipelining
Assembly Line Technique to process multiple instructions at the same time Allows instructions to be executed efficiently

Pipelining Example

RISC vs CISC
In practice real computer architectures are neither pure RISC or CISC RISC CPUs may have units which support Floating Point Operations and Multimedia Operations CISC CPUs may preprocess the instruction queue (trace cache) into internal RISC-like instructions
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RISC products (e.g. ARM)

Many modern RISC designs originate with the design company ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) founded in 1990 ARM designs were originally targeted at the PC market, however the designs are particularly suited to low power applications (e.g. mobile computing) A good example is the ARM Cortex-A9
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CISC products (e.g. Intel)

The classic CISC product is the x86 family Intel has delivered 90% of these processors The current mainstream chips have a transistor count of over 1 billion and TDP Thermal Design Power ratings > 35 Watts (Sandy Bridge) Such chips are unsuitable for ultra-mobile applications x86 has an unrivaled range of support including Operating Systems, Development Tools and existing Software

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Mobile Processors
Mobile applications originally focused on battery life e.g. classic mobile phone The requirements of current systems is more diverse typical mobile systems require both battery life and processing performance e.g.
Netbooks Tablets/ Slates/ Pads Smartphones

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Mobile Processors
ARM designs are ideal for the hardware of systems such as mobile phones, slates, netbooks etc There is however a problem Windows does not execute on the ARM architecture (other than Windows Phone) This is mainly of interest to netbook products

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Mobile Processors
Intel mainstream processors consume too much power for the truly mobile market However the stripped down Atom x86 is a potential candidate It has the advantage of running Windows 7

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ARM Cortex-A9
The ARM Cortex-A9 processor delivers exceptional capabilities for less power than consumed by high performance compute platforms, including
Unrivalled performance with 2GHz typical operation with the TSMC 40G hard macro implementation Low power targeted single core implementations into cost sensitive devices Scalable up to four coherent cores with advanced MPCore technology Optional NEON media and/or floating point processing engine

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Atom vs ARM Cortex-A9

ARM compare the performance of Atom processors with an ARM Cortex-A9 system Both use the same OS, browser and network The Atom system runs at 1.6 GHz and has a graphics unit and the dual core ARM system at 500 MHz without a dedicated graphics unit The web browsing performance is very similar but the power requirements arent
http://www.osnews.com/story/22704/Intel_Atom_vs_ARM_Cortex-A9

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 98% of mobile phones use at least one ARM processor 90% of embedded 32-bit systems use ARM

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CISC vs RISC
CISC RISC Complex instructions require multiple cycles Many instructions can reference memory Instructions are executed one at a time Few general registers Reduced instructions take 1 cycle

Only Load and Store instructions can reference memory Uses pipelining to execute instructions Many general registers

Mobile Protocols

Whats a typical WLAN?

Its a hub without wires

Wireless LANS (WLANs) use Cells

Channel Overlap to cover distance

Wireless LAN Hardware?

Access Points Client Adapters Bridge Antennas

Devices In a Wireless Network

Access Point: An AP operates within a specific frequency spectrum and uses an 802.11 standard specified modulation technique. It also informs the wireless clients of its availability and authenticates and associates wireless clients to the wireless network. An AP also coordinates the wireless clients' use of wired resources.

Access Point Example

Wireless Components
Network interface card (NIC)/client adapter: A PC or workstation uses a wireless NIC to connect to the wireless network. The NIC scans the available frequency spectrum for connectivity and associates it to an access point or another wireless client. The NIC is coupled to the PC/workstation operating system using a software driver.

Wireless Components
Bridge: Wireless bridges are used to connect multiple LANs (both wired and wireless) at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer level. Used in building-to-building wireless connections, wireless bridges can cover longer distances than APs (IEEE 802.11 standard specifies 1 mile as the maximum coverage range for an AP).

Wireless Components
Antenna: An antenna radiates the modulated signal through the air so that wireless clients can receive it. Characteristics of an antenna are defined by propagation pattern (directional versus omnidirectional), gain, transmit power, and so on. Antennas are needed on both the AP/bridge and the clients.

Wireless Protocols

WLAN Road Map

*
802.11g 2.4 GHz OFDM* >20Mbps 802.11a Standard 5 GHz OFDM* 54 Mbps
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

Network Radio Speed

802.11b uses complementary Code Keying (CCK) as its modulation scheme

802.11b Standard 2.4 GHz DSSS 11Mbps

*Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

Proprietary
IEEE

802.11a/b Ratified

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Wi-Fi
Popular term for the 802.11 wireless networking standards Used extensively for wireless access Range of wi-fi is of the order of 1000 meters

Bluetooth
Popular term for the 802.15 wireless networking standard, which is used to create small personal-area networks (PANs) in the 2.4 GHz range Has extremely low power requirements and is therefore used for PDAs, cell phones and handheld computers FedEx uses Bluetooth to transmit delivery data to cellular transmitters

Wi-Max Microwave Access

New set of 802.16 standards created to allow access to wireless over 31 miles (as against WiFis 300 feet and Bluetooths 30 feet) Being supported by Sprint Nextel to build a national network in USA

References and Readings

Mark Weiser, The Computer In The 21st Century, Scientific American, 1991, Page 9410 M Satyanarayanan, Pervasive Computing: Vision and Challenges, 2001