Mobile Computing and Wireless Communications

Book excerpt: This book, suitable for IS/IT courses and self study, presents a comprehensive coverage of the technical as well as business/management aspects of mobile computing and wireless communications. Instead of one narrow topic, this classroom tested book covers the major building blocks (mobile applications, mobile computing platforms, wireless networks, architectures, security, and management) of mobile computing and wireless communications. Numerous real-life case studies and examples highlight the key points. The book starts with a discussion of m-business and m-government initiatives and examines mobile computing applications such as mobile messaging, m-commerce, M-CRM, M-portals, M-SCM, mobile agents, and sensor applications. The role of wireless Internet and Mobile IP is explained and the mobile computing platforms are analyzed with a discussion of wireless middleware, wireless gateways, mobile application servers, WAP, i-mode, J2ME, BREW, Mobile Internet Toolkit, and Mobile Web Services. The wireless networks are discussed at length with a review of wireless communication principles, wireless LANs with emphasis on 802.11 LANs, Bluetooth, wireless sensor networks, UWB (Ultra Wideband), cellular networks ranging from 1G to 5G, wireless local loops, FSO (Free Space Optics), satellites communications, and deep space networks. The book concludes with a review of the architectural, security, and management/support issues and their role in building, deploying and managing wireless systems in modern settings.