Mobile Intelligence

8.1 INTRODUCTION

The proliferation of cellular and ad hoc networks and the penetration of Internet services are changing many aspects of ubiquitous mobile computing. Constantly increasing mobile client populations utilize diverse mobile devices to access the wireless medium and various heterogeneous applications (e.g., streaming video, Web) are being developed to satisfy the eager client requirements. The realization of such a demanding environment requires addressing many technical issues, related to radio management, networking, data management, and so on.

Most of the challenging issues and problems in this area are due to the fact that the underlying environment is extremely resource-starving and inherently uncertain. For instance, the wireless communication channels are bandwidth-limited and error prone. The uncertainty due to node (user) mobility has fundamental impacts, since it induces uncertainly in the network topology and hence causes problems in routing and in data delivery. Additionally, traffic load and resource demands in cellular and in ad hoc wireless networks are also uncertain, depending a lot on the user trajectories.

In this harsh environment, seamless and ubiquitous connectivity is a fundamental goal. This goal calls for smart techniques for determining the current and future location of a mobile. The ability to determine the mobile client's (future) location can significantly improve the wireless network's overall performance. Consider for instance the handover ...