Mobile Service Discovery Research Articles

Mobile services discovery framework using DBpedia and non-monotonic rules

Mobile services are constantly evolving, thanks to improvements in performance of mobile devices and wireless networks. As a result, there is a need for and efficient supply of discovery processes that will even allow non-technical users and developers to publish, discover and access services in a mobile environment where non-functional properties (context and quality of service information) play an important role in the discovery process in conjunction to functional properties. In this paper, we propose a user-centric mobile services discovery framework that enriches functional descriptions of mobile services with semantic annotations from DBpedia knowledge (the semantically-structured version of Wikipedia) which covers multiple domains and provides lightweight ontologies. In addition, it offers open tools that can be used to simplify the provisioning and discovery of mobile services. The framework allows users to rank services using non-monotonic rules, which define their desired choices based on the context and quality of service information. Experimental results show that our framework provides efficient discovery results of efficient mobile services.

Decentralized Plan-Free Semantic-Based Service Composition in Mobile Networks

The inefficiency of one-to-one matching of user requirements to a single service has given rise to service composition. Service composition allows simple services to be dynamically combined into more complex services. In mobile environments, service discovery and integration involves cooperation between various service nodes where reliance on a centralized service registry introduces efficiency and single point of failure problems. Plan- and workflow-based composition solutions restrict service discovery to defined abstract models. Semantic similarity measurements play an important role in service integration. In this paper we introduce a semantic similarity and semantic nearness service composition method. The objective of our work is to free service nodes from adherence to restrictive composition plans. Our work also enables compositions to succeed in dynamic environments through a decentralized solution even when nodes are unaware of nearby service nodes. This paper presents a service composition solution that semantically advances composition paths towards users’ needs with each service hop while guaranteeing a user-acceptable QoS level. Simulation results showcase the effectiveness of the presented solution and its compatibility with underlying service discovery methods.

The Ubiquitous Semantic Web

The Semantic Web represents an evolution of the World Wide Web towards one of entities and their relationships, rather than pages and links. Such a progression makes it possible to represent, integrate, query and reason about structured online data. Recent years have witnessed tremendous growth of mobile computing, represented by the widespread adoption of smart phones and tablets. The versatility of such smart devices and the capabilities of semantic technologies form a great foundation for a ubiquitous Semantic Web that will contribute to further realising the true potential of both disciplines. In this paper, the authors argue for values provided by the ubiquitous Semantic Web using a mobile service discovery scenario. They also provide a brief overview of state-of-the-art research in this emerging area. Finally, the authors conclude with a summary of challenges and important research problems.

Movement-aware and QoS-driven indoor location and mobile service discovery framework

The ever evolving wireless technology and the advances in mobile devices induced a growing interest in indoor location-based services ILBS. In this paper, we propose an ILBS discovery framework that finds the accurate indoor location of mobile users and provides information about services within the users' surrounding area keeping in mind the client's Quality of Service QoS. It also provides support for movement-aware services where the path the mobile user takes is recorded to provide richer awareness of the client's context than pure location. An ontology chain is proposed to support service discovery and to capture context information dynamically from different client's locations, then map it to both single and composite web services. Comprehensive experiments, comparative study with other ILBS approaches, and performance evaluation were conducted. The results demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms the state-of-the-art methods presented in the literature and achieves very high localisation and service discovery accuracy.

A Cluster Based QoS-Aware Service Discovery Architecture Using Swarm Intelligence

The existing mobile service discovery approaches do not completely address the issues of service selection and the robustness faced to mobility. The infrastructure of mobile service must be QoS-aware plus context-aware (i.e.) aware of the user’s required-QoS and the QoS offered by the other networks in user’s context. In this paper, we propose a cluster based QoS-aware service discovery architecture using swarm intelligence. Initially, in this architecture, the client sends a service request together with its required QoS parameters like power, distance, CPU speed etc. to its source cluster head. Swarm intelligence is used to establish the intra and inter cluster shortest path routing. Each cluster head searches the QoS aware server with matching QoS constraints by means of a service table and a server table. The QoS aware server is selected to process the service request and to send the reply back to the client. By simulation results, we show that the proposed architecture can attain a good success rate with reduced delay and energy consumption, since it satisfies the QoS constraints.

MobiEureka: an approach for enhancing the discovery of mobile web services

While several service discovery protocols and standards have been proposed for supporting service discovery from mobile devices, this remains a challenging problem. In many cases, mobile clients may discover services which they consider relevant but soon realize that such services are not completely usable on their mobile devices due to compatibility and interoperability issues. Without integrating device capabilities into the discovery process, or a device-aware mobile service discovery, it becomes extremely difficult to determine whether discovered services may or may not function properly within the device's constraints. This paper introduces a solution known as MobiEureka, a mobile device-aware system for enhancing the discovery of mobile web services from mobile devices. Experimental validation, results, and analysis of the introduced ideas are discussed.

SmartCon: a context-aware service discovery and selection mechanism using Artificial Neural Networks

In this paper, we present SmartCon, a context-aware system for the discovery and selection of mobile services using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The solution we have developed is a mobile agent-enabled system that adaptively and iteratively learns to select the best available mobile service derived from the extraction of a series of features utilising contextual information such as the Composite Capabilities/Preference Profiles (CC/PP), service-specific and non-uniform user-specific features which are supplied to a Back-Propagation Neural Network. Based on the features provided, the neural network classifies the most relevant mobile service. In the present work, the system is also capable through iterative learning to generalise and gather information using cognitive feedback based on the user's decisions and interactivity with a Mobile Device. SmartCon is evaluated using a series of preliminary empirical data and results show an 87% success rate in the discovery and selection of the best or most relevant mobile service.

Scavenger - Mobile Remote Execution

<p>This report describes the design and implementation of a mobile, peerto- peer, remote execution system called Scavenger. A peer running Scavenger is capable of automatically discovering available, unused computing resources in its vicinity, and, by means of mobile code, utilising these resources to its own good.<br />Designing a system such as Scavenger a number of challenges are raised. In this report only the two main challenges are presented: service discovery and mobile code security.<br />Service discovery in a fixed network is a well-documented process, but mobile service discovery is less so. Scavenger assumes nothing about its operating environment—it may be executing services on stationary as well as mobile peers—and it therefore needs a highly flexible service discovery protocol.</p><p>When working with mobile code, security becomes paramount since peers are executing unknown (and thus untrusted) code. Scavenger uses the Python programming language for its mobile code, and Python does not, like for example Java, have any built-in security models that enable the user to sandbox a Python process. When using such an ”insecure” programming language in a mobile code setting, other means of securing the code must be employed. This report describes the development of such a safe execution environment where mobile Python may be executed in a secure manner.</p>

Discovery and Selection Protocols for Multi-Hop Wireless Internet Access

Discovery and selection of mobile services are essential functions in mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). Particularly, connecting MANETs to the Internet in order to provide mobile nodes with multi-hop wireless Internet access depends on the interface between both networks. Our proposed architecture uses mobile gateways as "moving" access points to connect MANET nodes to the edge of the Internet. The purpose of this paper is to propose a location-based discovery protocol of mobile gateways and a selection technique used by MANET nodes to register with these gateways and get Internet access. While the discovery protocol is based on the geometrical properties of Voronoi diagrams, the selection technique uses a hybrid criterion based on the normalized weighted sum of the Euclidean distance between MANET nodes and mobile gateways, and the load of mobile gateways.

A new approach to service discovery in wireless mobile ad hoc networks

Service discovery is essential for many wireless applications, yet it is more difficult to achieve in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETS) than in both wired and traditional wireless networks due to the lack of central control. In addition, the heterogeneity, mobility and limited energy of the mobile devices precludes the use of traditional service discovery protocols. This paper presents HESED, a fundamentally different service discovery protocol based on multicast query and multicast reply. Clients multicast service queries and matching servers multicast their response to all nodes. The service information is cached by all and may be used in place of future queries. HESED also eliminates the effect of asymmetric links, providing reliability for its forwarding algorithms. The packet complexity of HESED is shown to be O(N) for N-node MANETs, as opposed to O(N) for traditional service discovery schemes. Simulation results show that HESED significantly outperforms a Traditional On-demand Service Discovery (TOSD) algorithm.

Guest editor's preface to the special section on discovery and interaction of mobile services

Mobile services are wireless mobile computing applications and services located on remote servers or peer's devices in a mobile ad hoc setting (MANET). In order to use these services, users of handheld wireless devices must be able to locate them first. One of the fundamental challenges in mobile computing is the discovery of relevant services in dynamically changing environments such as MANETs. Many of the available service discovery protocols were designed for infrastructure-based wired networks and therefore are not suitable for MANETs. The few discovery protocols designed for MANETs do not offer location-based and context-aware service selection, and feature minimal interaction methods.

Konark: a system and protocols for device independent, peer-to-peer discovery and delivery of mobile services

The proliferation of mobile devices and the pervasiveness of wireless technology have provided a major impetus to replicate the network-based service discovery technologies in wireless and mobile networks. However, existing service discovery protocols and delivery mechanisms designed for traditional infrastructure-based networks fall short of accommodating the complexities of the ad hoc environment. Konark is a service discovery and delivery protocol designed specifically for ad hoc, peer-to-peer networks, and targeted toward device-independent services in general and m-commerce oriented software services in particular. It has two major aspects-service discovery and service delivery. For discovery, Konark uses a novel decentralized, peer-to-peer mechanism that provides each device the ability to advertise and discover services in an efficient way. The approach toward service description is XML-based. It includes a description template that allows services to be described in a human and software understandable forms. A micro-HTTP server present on each device handles service delivery, which is based on SOAP. Konark provides a framework for connecting isolated services offered by proximal pervasive devices over a wireless medium.