Reasons Why Building Software for Wireless Devices Is Challenging
There is no universal standard setup for wireless applications. This has resulted in customization of software applications for each type of device to enable the application to communicate (Turban, 2008).
According to Conti (2003), portable computing devices have limited computational resources hence making it difficult for their software development even if they are standalone.
Five Major Components Associated With Mobile Computing
The five major components of a service management system comprise of core components, which include service discovery protocols, service management architecture, and system support components, which include fault tolerance, mobile management, and security and privacy (Obaidat, 2011).
Core components
Service discovery protocols
According to Obaidat (2011), service discovery protocols for wide area networks have separate design concerns. These types of networks contain a large number of devices and services that require management hence the developed service discovery protocol must be scalable.
Service management architecture
This architecture relieves the ISP execution and management of the services it offers. This architecture gives ISP customers the opportunity to control their network quality of service (Marshall & Agoulmine, 2003).
System Support Components
Fault tolerance and mobility support
There are two types of faults in the pervasive environment that is infrastructure related and software and service related. Infrastructure related faults cover hardware failures, such as, devices and network failure while service related faults cover failures of pervasive software and networked services. Existing service management mechanisms mostly interpret crash of service providers or manager nodes that give rise to service unavailability. Redundancy support helps to keep the operation ongoing if a manger node fails to correct this fault. User or device mobility and network disconnection can cause Service unavailability. Mobility is a very important component for infrastructure-less pervasive environments and special attention are vital to cope with the challenges. In case a service is unavailable, the manager must note it in order to keep the service information up-to-date and help free memory of stale service information. Maintenance of a soft service state is vital to achieve this, which the service provider renews at specified intervals. In case the service is unavailable and the service state is not renewed, the service is deleted from the registry (Obaidat, 2011).
Security and Privacy Support
Security is for service management in pervasive computing. For example, users may interact with possibly unknown devices acting as managers and service providers in different environments none of the parties involved is keen to take the first move for fear of breach in privacy. Proper security and privacy is paramount at all times.
References
Conti, M. (2003). Personal wireless communications IFIP-TC6 8th International Conference,
PWC 2003, Venice, Italy, September 23-25, 2003: proceedings. Berlin: Springer.
Marshall, A., & Agoulmine, N. (2003). Management of Multimedia Networks and Services 6th
IFIP/IEEE International Conference, MMNS 2003, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, September 7-10, 2003. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Obaidat, M. S. (2011). Pervasive computing and networking. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
Turban, E. (2008). Electronic commerce 2008: a managerial perspective (Pearson
International ed.). Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson.
