Mobile Computing Application Issues - Taking
measureby Reji K Paul (Software Programmer, Excellone Technologies)
The programs used in mobile devices like mobile
phones, laptops, palm computers, etc. for internet connectivity
and other computer related activities are called mobile computing
applications. The various issues and designs of mobile computing
application are discussed under various headings below.
Technical Design
First comes the Technical Design Issues, which
consist of network design, capacity planning, response time calculations,
data compression considerations, system availability design and
security issues. The technical design plays a key role in a mobile
computing project and offers unique challenges to the system professionals.
Network Design
Issues regarding Wireless LAN design and Wide Area
Radio Network Design which network design comprises are discussed
below.
a. Wireless LAN design issuess
- The number of mobile users who will use wireless LAN and the
number of them active during the peak period.
- The types of LAN application accessed by them. (Keeping in mind
that wireless LANs will not be acceptable for the intended users
as they operate at much slower speeds than wired LANs).
- Use of notebook with a wireless NIC as a primary and user device.
- Roaming areas, location & range of needed access point.
- Impact of construction materials in single penetration.
- Preferred technology-spread spectrum or frequency hopping.
- Radio frequency interference from any other devices in office,
factory or campus etc.
b. Wide Area Radio Network Design Issues
- The need of building a private radio network.
- Most appropriate radio network technology for the suite of applications.
- Matching of user application-usage profiles to a given network
capacity.
- Integration of RNA technology with a radio network infrastructure.
- Ensuring good coverage & minimum number of dead spots.
- If distributed wireless network design with several MCSSs must
be used?
- Managing the way logic networks will be influenced by network
design options.
The Capacity Planning & response time Calculations.
A mobile computing application transaction has
to cover a synchronous set of hardware as well as software components
before it reaches the destination server. Diverse physical links,
wireless & wired line in between the end user's client application
software and the information server are present in its reverse path
too. So scheduling on a network requires complex rules, which makes
it difficult to build a mathematical model to estimate response
times. Planning reliable capacities in advance is a hard task still.
The network providers give an estimate using complex queuing models
or rule-of thumb calculation based on the other customer's experience.
Data compression considerations.
As the bandwidth of wireless network is scarce
& inexpensive it is necessary to compress data to get the maximum
out of this bandwidth. This is usually done in the modem by going
beyond the modem hardware in reducing the quantity of traffic on
wireless networks using client application programs.
System availability Design
Rather than sticking on with the general base station
hardware & network controllers, redundancy & message switches are
typically built on fault-tolerant platforms. Public shared network
providers must be approached for details of their redundancies.
MCSS is another vital component that badly needs inbuilt redundancy.
Security issues
It is tough to track down securing information
by unauthorized access. Common security breaches of mobile computing
applications include,
- Network by criminal elements.
- Physical breach security at communication centers mainly unmanned
base stations.
- Interception of credit card authorization over wireless network.
- Careful security considerations including on-the-air encryption
& firewalls must be used.
Other than technical design the next major issue under Mobile
computing application is Ergonomics & Logistics Design where the
designers evaluates the following.
- Form factor of end user device
- Battery life
- Input method-keyboard, pen, touch or voice
- Ruggedness
- Whether Portable or fixed
- Safety & Health issues.
Mobile computing application deals with the future
of computer usage and is therefore of great relevance.
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