mobile communication middleware by:lekometsa mokhesi anisa ragalo supervisor: ken macgregor
TRANSCRIPT
Mobile Communication Middleware
By: Lekometsa Mokhesi
Anisa Ragalo
Supervisor:
Ken Macgregor
Presentation Structure
I Lekometsa will do: Introduction Project Description Questions Tackled
Anisa will continue with: Middleware Description Architecture Some Design Challenges
And in conclusion Risks Timeline
Introduction
Computing is going mobile and ubiquitous. We are reaching a situation where an increasing number of applications and services are available for mobile users.
In the ubiquitous paradigm, the user can access services anywhere, at any time, and with any terminal device he or she desires to use.
Challenges
Ubiquitous systems are highly dynamic – as the user is mobile, the set of available resources keeps changing all the time.
Thus, ubiquitous applications introduce great challenges to application developers, especially when resource limited mobile devices are in question.
Project Description
Communication between mobile devices and other mobile devices or servers, currently requires a knowledge of the type of communication required and the appropriate communication protocol.
This has unfortunate results because:– E.g. application which uses one of the SMS protocols
cannot be run using an "Always-on protocol" such as used by GPRS without being changed.
Questions tackled
What is being investigated– Middleware for mobile applications and ubiquity
Importance of the research– Reduce Application developers’ load by
providing Middleware that hides the complexity of the underlying infrastructure.
Eliminate the need to re-write applications in order to run on different infrastructure.
Questions tackled…
Expected results– "Mobile Middleware Toolkit" which provides the
application developer with a series of Application Program Interfaces which can be used irrespective of the underlying communication protocol to be used.
Key success factor– Using a test application and seeing how easily it
can be ported from one protocol to another type of protocol.
Plan of action
Model structure for all protocols (general protocol framework)
Model the handover mechanism i.e. agent and its knowledge base.
Security, sessions requirements
Middleware Description
Lightweight in order to run on resource constrained mobile devices– Should not be computationally expensive– Should use memory optimally
Flexibility- Should cater for a range of applications
Case for Middleware Agent
Information needed to select a protocol - Application quality of service requirements(bandwidth requirements, minimum latency)
- Application security and session requirements
- Available networks
- Mobile device properties(battery power)
- User preferences(pricing)
Case for a Middleware Agent
Mobile environments are highly unpredictable
Combinatorial explosion as to how these variables might occur
Case for Middleware Agent
Hence the middleware should be:• autonomous - It should own its thread of control and, under unpredictable circumstances, it should also able to take decisions;• proactive: The middleware should not only
react in response to external events (above mentioned input) but also exhibit a goal-
directed behaviour and, where appropriate, be able to take initiative.
Proposed Middleware Architecture
Agent Program
Runtime Environment
Mobile Application
Wireless network/wireless protocolGSM/GPRS/UMTS/Bluetooth/WLAN/Infra-red
Knowledge base
Security Layer
Dynamic memory (Agent input) Leko
Anisa
Us
KEY
Design Challenges
• The middleware needs to utilize minimum device resources, bearing in mind the limited capabilities of mobile devices (e.g. low memory, low CPU speed and battery power).
• There is no clarity on how many APIs the middleware should support.
• Session based and non-session based communication have different requirements and hence should be handled differently.
• Ideally the middleware should support switching between protocols when the protocol the application is running on degrades. This imposes a challenge of transferring session data from one protocol to another.
Resources
• 2 cell phones, a PDA and a laptop. These should all be able to operate the following protocols: GSM/GPRS, UMTS, Bluetooth, WLAN and Infra-red. The mobile devices should come with their accompanying USB cables.
• J2ME to write the middleware for the mobile devices• Java Agent Development framework (JADE) to
program the agent. It is J2ME compatible.• Access to GSM/GPRS, UMTS, Bluetooth, WLAN and
Infra-red networks.
Timeline
Testing and Refinement
Modelling phase1.5 months(14/5/07-2/7/07)
Prototype1 month(3/7/07-30/7/07)
Implementation phase1 month(2/8/07-3/3/07)
Thank you
Questions and suggestions??