Mobile Computing

From the Publisher: The rapid development of wireless digital communication technology has created capabilities that software systems are only beginning to exploit. The falling cost of both communication and of mobile computing devices (laptop computers, hand-held computers, etc.) is making wireless computing affordable not only to business users but also to consumers. Mobile computing is not a "scaled-down" version of the established and well-studied field of distributed computing. The nature of wireless communication media and the mobility of computers combine to create fundamentally new problems in networking, operating systems, and information systems. Furthermore, many of the applications envisioned for mobile computing place novel demands on software systems. Although mobile computing is still in its infancy, some basic concepts have been identified and several seminal experimental systems developed. Mobile Computing contains chapters that describe these concepts and systems, and the book describes applications that are currently being deployed and tested. Mobile Computing serves as a valuable reference book and may also be used as a text for a course on the subject.