Research Highlight: Pervasive and mobile computing
According to a 2004 EMC report, there are about 1.5 billion cell phone users worldwide — more than three times the number of personal computers — and the number is expected to exceed 4 billion users by 2010. The main goal of mobile computing is anytime, anywhere access, liberating people from relying on a computing or communication device at a fixed location.
Mobile devices however have strict resource limitations as compared to traditional personal computers. This includes battery lifetime, memory storage, and processing speed. To combat the current limitations of mobile computing, one possibility is to introduce new technologies for long lifetime batteries, fast and abundant memory, and fast processors. Significant research efforts are also spent in designing resource-aware algorithms and protocols for software running on these devices so as to consume minimal battery power and memory.
Main Author: Dr. Sanaa Sharafeddine.