Embedded Networks in Mobile Devices

Abstract

The concept of a mobile phone has recently transformed into a new concept of mobile multimedia devices capable of performing multiple complex tasks and integrating multiple functionalities. It has resulted in a significant increase of device integration costs and complicated deployment of new technologies. Device integrator companies favor modularity everywhere possible, which results in a new trend toward networked architectures for the mobile devices. However, comparing to the best-known embedded network solutions, e.g., SoC and NoC, these architectures have unique constraints and requirements, which also are significantly different from the wide area networks. The main constraints are power consumption and having a modular architecture to allow reuse of the components. Transition to the new architectures for mobile devices is a time consuming task that requires the analysis of many solutions applied in other contexts, especially for embedded protocols, QoS and resource management. This article reviews the state of the art in embedded networks research and the key assumptions, restrictions and limitations faced by designers of embedded networks architectures for mobile devices.