Survey on Grid Computing on Mobile Consumer Devices

Abstract

Grid computing offers exciting possibilities for mobile consumer devices. The sharing of resources makes new, demanding applications feasible and helps to exploit previously unused potential. As the number of mobile devices for communication and computation increases, so does the appeal of a mobile grid. However, transferring the paradigm of grid computing to the domain of mobile devices is difficult: limited resources, intermittent connectivity, increased heterogeneity, and network dynamics are some of the many complicating factors. There are different approaches to tackling the isolated facets of this task. These avenues vary according to management structure, network architecture, the kind of shared resources, and whether the mobile devices merely use resources or also contribute resources to the grid. This chapter introduces a scheme for classifying approaches to establishing mobile grids with respect to these aspects. Furthermore, it provides a survey of these efforts and identifies remaining challenges and future trends.