Impact of mobility on distributed computations

Abstract

The integration of mobile/portable computers within existing static networks introduces a new set of issues to distributed computations. A mobile host can connect to the network from different locations at different times; distributed algorithms therefore, cannot rely on the assumption that a participant maintains a fixed and universally known location in the network at all times. Mobile hosts communicate with the rest of the network via a wireless broadcast medium and portable computers such as laptops and palmtops, often operate in a "disconnected" or "doze" mode to conserve battery power. These unique physical features of a mobile computing environment need to be considered as well, while designing distributed algorithms for such systems.