Fundamental Challenges in Mobile Computing
M. Satyanarayanan
Abstract
This paper is an answer to the question: "What is unique and conceptually
different about mobile computing?" The paper begins by describing a
set of constraints intrinsic to mobile computing, and examining the impact
of these constraints on the design of distributed systems. Next, it summarizes
the key results of the Coda and Odyssey systems. Finally, it describes
the research opportunities in five important topics relevant to mobile
computing: caching metrics,
semantic callbacks and validators,
resource revocation, analysis
of adaptation, and global estimation from
local observations.