Mobile Computing
Optional module – Route B
15 credits
Recent developments in portable devices and high-bandwidth, ubiquitous wireless networks has made mobile computing a reality. Indeed, it is widely predicted that within the next few years access to Internet services will be primarily from wireless devices, with desktop browsing the exception. Such predictions are based on the huge growth in the wireless phone market and the success of wireless data services such as SMS in Europe and NTT Docomo in Japan. In this module we consider current research into the design and implementation of systems and applications software for use in mobile environments.
At the end of the module students will have an appreciation of the challenges of designing for mobile environments, an understanding of the key technologies involved and a working knowledge of the state-of-the-art in mobile computing research. Students will have gained an insight into future developments in the field of mobile computing. This knowledge could be transferred to any company interested in developments in this area.
Syllabus
The module covers a range of topics, including:
- Network and transport protocols for wireless networks, including mobile IP and variants of TCP
- Distributed systems platforms for mobile computing, including proxy based architectures and service discovery and interaction platforms
- A CS perspective on wireless networks including characteristics of local and wide-area technologies such as Bluetooth, 802.11 and GSM
- File systems support for mobile computing
- Developments in context-aware and ubiquitous computing, including recent work at PARC and Microsoft Research. This will provide a simple overview and highlight issues relevant to mobile computing systems.
- Case studies of novel applications
The module will be taught using a combination of traditional lectures and workshop-style sessions. There is a significant reading component to the module.
