Mobile Computing – Professor Raj Kamal, Prestige Institute of Engineering

Mobile computing is the process of computation on a mobile device where a set of distributed computing systems or service provider servers participate, connect, and synchronize through mobile communication protocols. Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia on the Web) defines mobile computing as a technology to wirelessly connect to and use centrally located information and/or application software through the application of small, portable, and wireless computing and communication devices. It entails using all the latest mobile communication technologies such as HSPA, LTE, Wimax16e, HSOFDM, Wimax16m, Bluetooth, low power wide area (LPWA) as well as new mark-up language HTML 5 along with XML on the cloud-server, IOS, Android Oses and development platforms.

Mobile computing also offers mobility with computing power and provides decentralized (distributed) computations on diversified devices, systems, and networks, which are mobile, synchronized. In today’s world, devices used in Internet of Things (IOT) are also considered as mobile using connectivity to Internet directly instead of through a service provider.

The recent advancements are the 5G vision converging multiple technologies massive MIMO, advanced antenna systems, software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), Internet of Things (IOT), and cloud computing. This will fulfil the future needs of supporting the rapid development of enterprise businesses, big data, and digital media services. 5G

enables higher rate, higher connectivity, higher reliability and QOS, lower latency, and higher capacity. 5Guses new network architectures and mm wave technologies.

Mobile computing has changed the face of the industry in India. Internet of Things [IOT] makes machines intelligent by enabling them to talk to each other. A sensor attached to each machine provides a unique internet address to make this possible. Sensors trigger the action required. Other vital technologies are the (IOT), robotic manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, big data analytics, and block-chain.

Moreover, the ever increasing use of camera, video, e-mail, voice calls, video calls and Internet in the rapidly evolving world are widely used mobile computing applications in India that have accelerated processes in industry.

While a mobile device uses a service provider for the service, the cloud is used as Iaas (infrastructure as a service), Paas (platform a service), Daas (data as a service) and Saas (software as a service). Cloud consists of large number of servers for these services at many locations. cloud computing refers to computing using these services.

Mobile uses 2G/3G/4G/5G technologies for the connectivity. Cloud uses TCP/ IP connectivity for connecting to remote computers includes mobiles and things.

The scope of mobile computing is not limited to personal communication but is now used in almost all aspects of life, be it e-learning, reading novels, calling a cab, booking movie tickets, taking an examination test, or for banking and financial transactions. A mobile computing system in hand connects remotely for many applications including ordering of goods and services and making payments. Therefore, it is vital for people to understand the concept widely.

Most countries are adapting new technologies in various industries. For instance, the German government launched the “INDUSTRIE 4.0” project in 2010 to increase digitisation, the interconnection of products, and the value chains. China started ‘Made in China 2025’ in 2015 to upgrade. It is moving to become a leader in hi-tech industries like robotics, new materials, biotechnology, aerospace, agricultural machinery and new energy vehicles, etc. India too needs an urgent upgrade in terms of technology, invest in R&D and prepare for larger scale re-skilling and re-employment of workforce as majority of the workforce in the coming years will need IT and automation skills. ■

The author is Professor Emeritus at Prestige Institute of Engineering. He is the Author of Third edition of Mobile Computing Published by Oxford University Press.