Design principles for opportunistic communication in constrained computing environments

ABSTRACT

Constrained computing environments, such as smartphones and embedded wireless devices, are becoming increasingly prevalent. Driven by the need to minimize power usage, these devices are characterized by their low-power CPUs, limited memory, slow yet vast amounts of persistent storage, and one or more wireless network interfaces. As the dominant form of future computing, understanding and adapting to the trade offs that exist between computing and communication resources and energy consumption will become increasingly important.

In this paper we consider the effect of a constrained computing environment on opportunistic communication. Drawing from our experiences with two existing mobile systems, we detail the constraints that inhibit opportunistic communication. We also show how these constraints can be satisfied using a set of design principles for systems that depend on opportunistic communication.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES
      D.1.0 General

General Terms:
Design, Performance

Keywords:
KioskNet, MobiClique, constrained computing environment, design principles, mobile, opportunistic communication