Mobile Computing: Challenges and Potential

By deﬁnition, the ﬁeld of mobile computing is just as broadas traditional computing. The average consumer is especiallydemanding of technology by expecting the same convenienceand computing power in the mobile device as the computerwhich sits on the desk. Furthermore, mobility opens up newvenues for interesting and unique products and services onlypossible in a mobile environment. The potential of location-independence can barely be underestimated as freedom fromgeographic constraints can allow for a more effective, conve-nient and timely use of computing and communication. Aspeople tend to think and work in places other than at the deskin their ofﬁce, mobile computing allows the use of the com-puter as a tool where it is needed, not where it is tied by a wire.Examples include the familiar executive working on a laptopwhile in transit and the ﬁeld engineer having remote electro nicaccess to technical documentation and diagnostics, as well asemergingapplicationssuch as automatedinventoryorbaggagechecking with RFID devices, and location-dependent servicessuch as local maps or weather reports.Several years ago it would have been commonplace to de-ﬁne mobile computing in terms of the laptops used. How-ever, this traditional view has changed signiﬁcantly. Alre adytoday, cellular phones allow web browsing and email recep-tion, palmtop computers come with scaled down versions ofdesktop operating systems and applications, and Radio Identi-ﬁcation Devices (RFID) are providing intelligent communic a-tion and computing power with nearly any type of object. Thismyriad of new devices spans the technological and budgetaryspectrums, making it harder to attach the deﬁnition of mobil ecomputing to any single device or application. However, thereis one underlyingsimilarity among all these devices and appli-cations that allow us to simply deﬁne a mobile computer as acomputing device which can communicate through a wirelesschannel.The explosion in mobile computing has been made possi-ble through the continued advancement of certain key tech-nological areas. It is possible to evaluate the past successes,current trends and future opportunities by considering the fol-lowing areas: First, we need to consider the relationship be-tween mobility, portability, human ergonomics and cost. Forexample, in order to make a device portable it must be smalland lightweight, which precludes the use of most standardhard drive and keyboard designs. Second, a fundamental re-quirement of today’s computer is network connectivity. Thisimplies, mostly, radio-frequency wireless communications formobile devices. Although infrared mobile computer commu-nications can be also used, interference from the sun as well asthedifﬁcultyofnon-line-of-sightcommunicationsmakeradio-frequency the preferred method for location independent mo-bile communications. Third and most important are the powerconsiderationsof mobile computers. Mobility implies relianceon a mobile portable power source in the form of a battery.Since the power available from a battery is closely related toits size and weight, it is fundamental that all the parts of themobile device are power-efﬁcient. As battery capacities arenot expected to increase more than 30% in the near future[3],while computing capabilities and features have ever increas-ing expectations, power efﬁciency has become a fundamentaltechnology.